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Leonid Saharovici lives a quiet life. The 79-year-old retiree has two grown sons and five grandchildren and lives happily with his wife in their Germantown home. But Saharovici's life wasn't always so pleasant. When World War II broke out, he was a 13-year-old Jewish boy living in Romania. "The Germans occupied Romania, and my father was taken to a labor camp, leaving me with my mother and grandmother," recalls Saharovici, a soft-spoken man who, despite living over 30 years in Memphis, still speaks with a heavy accent. Two years later, Saharovici was also forced into a labor camp where he and other children dismantled bombs, gardened, and shoveled snow. Saharovici's story is one of 14 featured in Transported Lives, a documentary on Holocaust survivors living in Memphis. It is set to premiere on WKNO on October 5th at 8:30 p.m. The film was an independent project of Lunar Productions, a locally owned company that specializes in videos for corporate marketing. For the past six years, president Mark Wender and senior director Trish Warren interviewed survivors. "Most people in Memphis don't know that there are people who survived the Holocaust living in our community," says Wender. "In 10 or 20 years, all the survivors will be gone, so we wanted to have something permanent to tell their stories." The film follows a chronological format, starting with people remembering their lives before the war and ending with their living in Memphis. "Many of them hadn't talked about the Holocaust in years. Some hadn't even told their children," says Warren. "But by the time they got to us, they were ready." Most of the interviews were arranged through Saharovici. After moving to Memphis from Romania in 1972, Saharovici formed the Baron Hirsch Holocaust Memorial Organization, a network of local survivors focused on Holocaust education and outreach. In 1982, the group had 40 survivors. Today, only 13 of the original members are left. However, there are other Holocaust survivors living in Memphis who are not a part of the group. "We want to educate people in Memphis and elsewhere about the Holocaust," says Wender. "Ultimately, we'd like all the schools and churches to have copies of the film, so when they teach the Holocaust, they'll have something authentic."

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy Published 4:00 am, Thursday, December 24, 1998 1998-12-24 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- IT IS BECOMING a Christmas tradition in the vein of San Francisco traditions that combine the odd and the ball to best effect. "An Evening of Kung Pao Kosher Comedy," Jewish stand-up comedians belting out their best jokes in a Chinese restaurant, will mark its sixth year this Christmas, from Thursday through Sunday. This year's lineup features Freddie Roman, whose career began in the Catskills, San Francisco's Dan Lewis, lesbian comic Sara Cytron, and Kung Pao creator Lisa Geduldig. The four-day event, with two shows every night, will be held at the New Asia Restaurant on Pacific Avenue. Dinner shows, at $46, will be held at 6 p.m., while cocktail shows, at $32, begin at 9:30 p.m. each night. "An Evening of Kung Pao Kosher Comedy," which drew about 3,000 people last year - almost half again as many as the year before - has a storied past, one that began one holiday season when Geduldig found herself performing stand-up comedy in a Chinese restaurant in Massachusetts. The San Francisco festival started in 1993 with Suzy Berger, Scott Silverman and Stu Silverstein and has boasted comics such as Ed Crasnick, Cathy Ladman, Josh Kornbluth, Sherry Glaser and, last year, Henny Youngman. Partial proceeds from the event have gone to charities like the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the Women's Cancer Research Center and L.A. Jewish AIDS Services. This year, proceeds will go toward WORLD and the Bay Area Council for Jewish Rescue and Renewal. Geduldig, on the heels of her coup of getting Youngman to appear, finds continuing joy in the thought of Jewish humor spilling over into Chinese restaurants. She remembered telling an aunt who was digging into a Chinese dish, "But Aunt Sara, it's pork . . . and she would say to me, "Honey, it's disguised.' "How can Jews eat pork?" Geduldig asked. "I think it's an unknown clause in the Torah that says if it's wrapped in a won ton, it's OK." There'll be plenty of won tons at the New Asia for the next few days, along with humor from Roman, who created and performed in "Catskills on Broadway." Cytron, who is known for her stand-up routines, "A Dyke Grows in Brooklyn" and "Take My Domestic Partner - Please!" will round out the entertainment with Geduldig and Lewis, who has opened shows for Howie Mandel and Margeret Cho. "An Evening of Kung Pao Kosher Comedy" will be held at the New Asia, 772 Pacific Ave., at 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. Tickets, at $46 and $32, are available by calling (415) 522-3737 or contacting the Web site at www.igc.org / koshercomedy.<

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks Thursday, January 6 This first week of January can be depressing. No, it's not the farewell to Christmas and the holidays that gets to us. It's the fact that we've already crapped out on the "resolutions" we made just five days ago. Today, kiss your best intentions good-bye. Then go chill out like the slacker you are at Caffeine Thursday at Taft Street Coffee. At this all-ages show, local guest DJs spin nu-jazz, downtempo, broken-beat, hip-hop, drum 'n' bass, bhangra and more. The vibe here is way low-key --there's no dress code, cover charge or pretension -- though there is a solid rotation of young turntable talent. 7 p.m. 2115 Taft. For information, visit call 713-522-3533 or visit www.taftstreetcoffee.com. Free. Friday, January 7 If all that caffeine is still coursing through your veins today, unleash it at Dance Month at the Kaplan Theatre. This weekend's program, dubbed "Tirkedu Houston," features Israeli dancer Yaron Ben Simchon, who's best known for the dance BeLev Kaved. Today'sevent includes a dinner followed by casual Israeli folk dancing, and Saturday's features a dance party. Jewish dance classes run all month. 7:30 p.m. today. For full schedule, tickets and information, call 713-551-7255 or visit www.jcchouston.org. Admission starts at $15. Saturday, January 8 Still up for some culture and cardio? Take a stroll in the Heights today as the local collective Artists At Large present the Heights First Saturday art crawl. Ten artists will display their work at area businesses, and there will be an interior painting seminar, a live mural painting and even a "Hickory Hollow Happy Hour." If you're not up for walking, hop on board the Historic Trolley Tour, which will shuttle you through the historic corners of the Heights from noon to 4 p.m. You can catch the artists in action from noon to 3 p.m. beginning at 210 West 21st Street. For information, call 713-802-1213 or visit www.HeightsFirstSaturday.com. Free. Sunday, January 9 Ladies, here's a cold, hard truth that you must accept: Men aren't into weddings. Yes, you may have spent your childhood dreaming of that magical day -- the dress, the teary-eyed guests and the nine-foot cake. But at that age, we guys were dreaming of buying beer without being carded, being a rock star and nailing that cheerleader who sat next to us in science class. However, now that we're older, we will concede to the wedding thing -- if you do the dirty work. Get started at this weekend's Bridal Extravaganza. This mall of matrimony boasts more than 550 companies and some 900 display showcases of everything to make your wedding day as magical as your 14-year-old fantasies. As you sign up for various giveaways and freebies, five different fashion shows will present the hottest new looks for the 2005 bride. Should you get overwhelmed with all the options, buck up and remember: Your lifelong reign over your man begins here. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. George R. Brown Convention Center, 1001 Avenida de las Americas. For information, call 281-370-7777 or visit www.bridalextravaganzashow.com. $9. Monday, January 10 Yeah, you're a riot at all the parties. And sure, someday you'll ditch your lousy nine-to-five and take the comedy world by storm. But unless you're a natural Jim Carrey, you'll have to polish your chops first. The chuckleheads at the Invisible Bus are offering a series of "Improv to Sketch"classes to anyone who'll pay. You'll learn the basics of good improv, and, at the end of the course, you'll stage a show based on skits you've created. The class is designed for beginners, so go even if you don't plan to be the next Wayne Brady. Yuk it up from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Houston Improv, 7620 Katy Freeway, suite 431. For prices, schedule and registration, call 713-376-2727 or visit www.invisiblebus.com. Tuesday, January 11 We wouldn't blame some psychics for being cranky lately, what with Oprah protégé Dr. Phil calling them out on a recent episode. "Thu-yese pee-pull are crooks," he drawled, inspiring us with his keen observation that someone who predicts your future from a call center might not be legit. But maybe you want to see what the zodiac has in store for you. Or maybe you're psychic. Either way, you can join astrologer Nan Hall Linke, who'll be enlightening audiences with a lecture designed to shed some light on the stars. (But you already knew that, didn't you?) Learn the sign language from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Spectrum Center, 4615 Post Oak Place, suite 100. For information, visit call 713-520-1551 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org. $25, pre-registration recommended. Wednesday, January 12 It's hard enough for musical acts to make it these days without being dissed by the very folks who once piloted their bandwagon. Case in point: Jimmy Eat World. Are they emo? Hell no, say certain sites, blogs and 'zines, pooh-poohing their "commercial" sound. Are they "quality" pop? Maybe now, says Rolling Stone, which claims the band has been "hiding" its pop prowess for ten years. Whatev. The foursome -- Jim Adkins, Zach Lind, Tom Linton and Rick Burch -- have charmed listeners with gems like "Lucky Denver Mint," which made it onto Drew Barrymore's Never Been Kissed soundtrack in 1999. And they deserve cred for finally standing up for the Jan Bradys of the world in their ultracatchy hit "The Middle," which scored huge on the pop/alternative charts and featured a highly requested video of sexy teens dancing in their undies at a house party. Screw the pundits and jam with Jimmy at 8 p.m. Numbers, 300 Westheimer. For information, call 713-526-6551 or visit www.numbersnightclub.com. $18.50 in advance; $20 at the door. Get the Things to Do Newsletter Sign up for our weekly guide to events in Houston, and never be bored again. With suggestions for every day of the week, our recommendations will keep you busy on any budget.

Jeff Han’s fingers are dancing across an expansive, wall-mounted touch screen. Planet Earth spins in front of him in computer-generated form; he grabs it with both hands and starts to zoom in. He keeps going–Western Hemisphere, North America, United States, Pacific Northwest–until we’re finally staring at a prosaic industrial area alongside a highway. “Here’s our building, right here,” he declares. The conference room where this demo is going on is named after Bill Gates, so it shouldn’t come as a complete shock that we’re on Microsoft premises. But this isn’t corporate headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Han and I are 200 miles away, across the Oregon border in the Portland suburb of Wilsonville, inside a 4-acre structure flanked by a manufacturer of industrial shredders and a storage facility for boats and RVs. Microsoft hasn’t played up the fact that it has a major operation in Wilsonville. Actually, it’s been downright stealthy about it. (The roadside signage directing visitors to the main entrance doesn’t even mention a company name.) But since March 2014, the building is where the company has been engineering the device Han has been showing me, the Surface Hub. The company unveiled the device during its Windows 10 launch extravaganza in Redmond last January. It showed how the 84-inch all-in-one computer can be used for tasks such as brainstorming, videoconferencing, and PowerPoint presentations, all conducted via touch and pen input rather than mouse and keyboard. Microsoft held back one of the most intriguing facts about this Windows 10 machine until now: It not only designed the Surface Hub but is about to begin manufacturing the thing itself, in 70,000 square feet of factory space in the Wilsonville building, steps away from where the hardware was engineered. “We don’t actually manufacture the LCD panel,” Han explains. “But that’s pretty much the only thing we don’t make here.” Two models, a $19,999 unit with an 84-inch display and a $6999 version with a 55-inch display, will roll off the assembly line. Microsoft has done such a crafty job of keeping its Wilsonville plans on the QT that a September 2014 Oregonian article on the facility simply assumed that it was all but a given that the company would go offshore when it came time to build anything. “[M]ass production would almost certainly take place in a country with lower labor costs,” the story helpfully explained. “It’s that way with nearly all high-volume electronics manufacturing.” For the 39-year-old Han, the impending release of the Surface Hub is the fullest expression yet of a mission he’s been pursuing for more than a decade. The world first took note of it in 2006, when he was a computer-science researcher giving a TED talk in Monterey, California, about an intuitive new computing interface called multi-touch. He was an exuberant, charismatic presenter–and still is, as I learned when he showed off the Surface Hub to me in Wilsonville. In the pre-iPhone era of 2006, what he showed was mind-bending; the video version of his presentation became one of the first TED talks to go viral, and Han’s sheer enthusiasm made multi-touch feel like it might indeed be the next big thing. He then parlayed his fame into a startup, Perceptive Pixel (PPI), which sold pricey screens to everyone from the Department of Defense to Disney. Microsoft acquired the company in 2012. Today, Han is general manager of Surface Hub. Without his research, vision, and persistence, the device might not exist. And yet at the same time, it’s also a profoundly Microsoftian product. PPI’s products were displays you plugged into a PC; the Surface Hub is a computer, running big-screen editions of Windows 10 and Office. It doubles as a videoconferencing system equipped with two high-resolution cameras and Microsoft’s Skype for Business service. There are even signs of Xbox influence, such as the noise-canceling four-element microphone, which originated as part of the game console’s Kinect sensor. Unlike the other hardware device Microsoft unveiled at the January Windows 10 event–the mixed-reality HoloLens headset–the Surface Hub doesn’t have a whiff of science fiction about it. It’s about polish and technical sophistication more than raw futurism, and in a way, it feels like Microsoft tackling a bit of unfinished business. “I’ve been working on product development around productivity forever,” says Mike Angiulo, who, as Microsoft’s corporate VP for hardware, is Han’s boss. (“Forever,” in this case, means since 1993.) “If I think about what’s changed since I’ve been there in terms of individuals doing work, your ability to create and communicate has gone up exponentially, with PCs and mobility and phones. But the conference rooms are exactly the same as they were when I started. They’re like time capsules. There’s a projector, there’s a whiteboard, there’s a conference phone.” With the Surface Hub’s collaborative tools, Microsoft is making a hyper-ambitious attempt to yank those time capsules into the present day. Which is not anything like a guarantee that it will be successful. In 2002, for instance, the company launched Tablet PCs and said it expected them to displace conventional laptops within a half decade; they didn’t. And its first foray into multi-touch computing–2007’s original Surface, which built a computer into a table for use in retail environments–didn’t go anywhere. Still, no matter how the market responds to the Surface Hub, the fact that Microsoft is behind it raises the stakes far beyond anything Han has attempted in the past. “This isn’t a trivial little experiment,” he says. “We’re committed.” He pauses. “We don’t do things small at Microsoft. We do things big.” For as long as he can remember, Han, a research scientist working out of New York University’s Courant Institute, has been fascinated by technology. He even doodles in right angles, rectangles, and squares–hieroglyphs that look almost like circuitry, a schematic of his unconscious. The son of middle-class Korean immigrants who emigrated to America in the 1970s to take over a Jewish deli in Queens, Han began taking apart the family TV, VCR, “anything that was blinking,” at the age of 5 (he still has a nasty scar courtesy of a hot soldering iron his little sister knocked onto his foot). –From “Can’t Touch This,” a profile of Jeff Han by Adam Penenberg in the February 2007 issue of Fast Company Han first noodled around with multi-touch interfaces–a concept dating back to the 1970s–in 2002, as a researcher at New York University. Then he put the project aside in favor of other experiments. (Though his name is practically synonymous with multi-touch, he’s also explored everything from autonomous navigation to eye tracking to motion capture.) In 2005, he turned his attention back to multi-touch, and stuck with it. By February 2006, he was ready to show his work in progress at the TED conference, using a 36-inch screen set up like a drafting table, with cameras that tracked his finger movements. Viewed today, his demo remains engaging. But for a 2015 viewer, the most striking thing about it is the sound of attendees gasping and applauding at now-familiar gestures such as Han pinching a photo to resize it. Han began his presentation by explaining that the interface he was about to show was ready to come out of the lab. He wasn’t exaggerating. Perceptive Pixel, he told me, “was founded shortly after the response I got from TED.” The startup’s goal was to turn the technology into useful commercial products. However, the next meaningful moment in the popularization of multi-touch happened on January 9, 2007, when Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone at Macworld Expo in San Francisco. “We have invented a new technology called multi-touch,” he boasted, in one of the more reality-distorting things ever said during an Apple keynote. Han, by contrast, had been careful to share credit in his TED talk: “I’m not the only one doing it, there are a lot of people doing it.” Among the other organizations that had been working on multi-touch was Microsoft. Four months after the iPhone reveal, it announced Surface, a Windows Vista computer built into a table with a 30-inch screen. The interface bore decided similarities to Han’s efforts. But instead of touting the table as a tool for workplace productivity, Microsoft said it was going to roll it out in public places such as hotels, casinos, and phone stores. A press release quoted Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: “We see this as a multibillion dollar category, and we envision a time when surface computing technologies will be pervasive, from tabletops and counters to the hallway mirror. Surface is the first step in realizing that vision.” But the billions never rolled in. Microsoft gave the table a vote of no confidence in 2012 by stripping it of its name, redubbing it PixelSense and turning the Surface moniker over to a line of Windows 8 tablets. Samsung continues to sell a PixelSense-based table computer, but if you’ve never seen one in the wild, you’ve got plenty of company. While the Surface table was failing to catch on, the iPhone was putting multi-touch into the hands of people around the world, transforming the phone business forever. Today, Han says that neither product led him to question whether he was on the right track. “I wanted to focus on upright productivity,” he explains. “Ever since TED, that’s what it was about for me.” Perceptive Pixel’s earliest screens found an unexpected killer app during the 2008 presidential campaign. News broadcasters–most famously John King of CNN–used them to swoop around maps and tally up votes via software handcrafted for the purpose by PPI. The company sold these screens for six figures, but better still, they served as potent free advertising. “John King knows every single one of those counties,” he says. “He’s not reading off the screen. He’s using this as a storytelling tool. At that time, whenever a customer saw that, they were like, ‘This is exactly what I want to do.’ This is what a teacher does. This is what a commander does in a mission briefing. This is what a surgeon does before they actually go into surgery.” Han’s big-ticket high-end screens attracted attention, won awards, and generated revenue. But on some level, he remained unsatisfied. “It was good to put food on the table, but it was not going to be a huge, huge business,” he says. “We got a lot of criticism as a startup: ‘Great stuff, but when are you going to make it cheaper for the masses?’ That’s exactly why we started talking with Microsoft.” Those talks included both Steve Ballmer and Microsoft’s cofounder and then-chairman, Bill Gates. “We started talking with them and realized they actually have the same vision,” Han says. “When I met Bill Gates, he literally said to me, ‘I want to see these things rain from the skies.'” As for Ballmer, “he put one in his office right away. He was the first guy in the company to do it. He had a giant corner office. He took down the only whiteboard he had and put up the PPI, and said, ‘This is how we’re doing things.'” When Perceptive Pixel became part of Microsoft in July 2012, it joined a company in more or less continuous flux. Ballmer was energetically trying to reposition the world’s most famous software developer by delving into the hardware business. A few weeks before announcing the PPI deal, the company had unveiled its Surface tablets, the first PCs ever to be sold under the Microsoft name. At first, PPI was part of Microsoft’s Office division, placing it as close as possible to the nerve center of the company’s productivity efforts. A year later, Ballmer instigated a sweeping reorganization that clustered Han’s team, more conventionally, alongside other hardware products such as Xbox and Surface tablets (and, eventually, the former Nokia phone business, which Microsoft acquired in 2014). Only six weeks after initiating the reorg, Ballmer announced he would step down as CEO once his successor had been found. The search dragged into February 2014, when longtime Microsoft executive Satya Nadella got the gig. Nadella moved swiftly to rejigger how the company articulated its take on its own future, dropping Ballmer’s “devices and services” mantra in favor of emphasizing mobility, the cloud, and productivity. Despite being the least portable hardware Microsoft has ever offered–the 84-inch model weighs 280 pounds–the Surface Hub project’s focus on Net-connected collaboration had a place in the new CEO’s vision, especially as he clarified that mobility was about more than phones and tablets. As he began putting it: “We want to build experiences that are about the mobility of the experience–not the mobility of the device.” Today, Han says, “the management support for this is even bigger than it was ever before. That’s not a ding on Ballmer. Every time you have a regime change, you wonder. But this perfectly fits into Satya’s vision of cloud-connected mobile workflows.” The personal touches that contributed to making Han’s 2006 TED demo so engaging have helped him find his way inside the Microsoft labyrinth. “Jeff’s a very talented, energetic guy,” says hardware VP Angiulo. “And one of the few people who have made the transition from being a founder–where he was running the Jeff Show–to now being an important part of a cross-company initiative. Skype is the one writing the Skype client. OneNote is writing the whiteboard. Windows has an entire team of people creating team Windows now, that’s designed for sharing.” Han, Angiulo says, “shows up with intelligence—deep intelligence, he really knows what he’s talking about. And the passion for the product, and the vision. He gets people to want to work with him.” Microsoft won’t disclose how many staffers it has working on the Surface Hub, but does allow that the number is in the hundreds. They include Perceptive Pixel crew members such as David Slobodin, who supervises hardware, and Microsoft veterans such as Hayete Gallot, who heads up business strategy and marketing. Stevie Bathiche, director of research for Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group, is also involved; even Alex Kipman, best known for spearheading the Kinect and HoloLens, is contributing to the Windows 10 side of things. Not everyone is sold on Han’s idea. Ben Shneiderman, a computer science professor at the University of Maryland and a founding director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab, calls Han a “great showman” who has “opened the door to exciting possibilities.” But he doesn’t think Han’s technology would be suitable for a large-scale consumer product, nor as useful as a mouse on a large display. If you are standing in front of the screen, Shneiderman wonders, how would people behind you be able to see what you’re doing? –From Fast Company‘s 2007 profile of Jeff Han The device that Han, former Perceptive Pixel staffers, and new Microsoft colleagues ended up designing isn’t exactly in a category of one. InFocus’s Mondopad and Clary Icon’s OneScreen, for instance, combine large touch screens, videoconferencing, and Windows into conference-room collaboration tools similar, in principle, to the Surface Hub. “I know it sounds arrogant, but we don’t have competitors,” says Han when I ask about such machines. “Sure, we’ve seen large touch screens before, but they’re in a different league, to be honest.” Arrogant, maybe, but also a defensible stance. There’s a lot about the Surface Hub that’s new, starting with its touch-screen technology. Like an iPad or Surface tablet, it uses an optically bonded capacitive touch screen that gives it the same sort of buttery responsiveness and ink-on-paper clarity that smaller-screen devices achieve. The screen’s refresh rate of 120Hz–twice that of smaller devices–adds to the general smoothness of the visual experience. The Surface Hub’s capacitive screen also works with a pressure-sensitive pen for notetaking, sketching, and other purposes. Though it’s not the only big screen to offer a pen, it uses Perceptive Pixel technology, which permits a single capacitive touch-sensor system to deal with both fingers and pens. Han says that PPI was one of only two companies to have worked this out; in May, Microsoft announced that it had acquired the other one, Israel-based N-Trig, whose technology is used in Surface tablets. So much about the Surface Hub experience is familiar that it’s tempting to think of it as an overgrown Surface tablet–a perception that the “Surface” in its name doesn’t do anything to discourage. But the ways in which it differs from its dinkier counterparts are at least as important as the similarities. For one thing, it’s designed to be used by multiple people at once–which, especially with the sprawling 84-inch model, makes sense. “Multi-touch was about breaking the tyranny of the one, to me, the single cursor. But to bring multi-touch to its fullest potential, we’re going multi-user,” Han says. “A lot of plumbing needs to change in order to really accommodate what it means for multiple people to be working together. And there are some hard problems in there.” For instance, the Surface Hub must be able to to register not up to 10 fingers at a time, but 20 or more–and to figure out if two people are working in different apps at the same time. The Surface Hub’s approach to videoconferencing is also new. Instead of plunking a single camera above the screen like a tablet would do, it’s got two side-mounted 1080p ones which are angled to capture the entire room and are “located at eye level, not God level,” Han says. The device’s special version of Skype for Business intelligently cuts between the two cameras to provide what Microsoft hopes is an optimal view of what’s going on at any given moment. Speaking of software, it isn’t a coincidence that the Surface Hub will reach its first paying customers a few weeks after Windows 10 is available in final form. The device and its operating system were built with each other in mind, and though the hardware can run the same Windows apps that will work on a PC, tablet, or phone, it adjusts the interface to make sense on a huge display. The Start menu, for example, sits in the middle of the screen, rather than popping up in the lower left-hand corner, and some controls get duplicated alongside the left- and right-hand edges. The Mondopad and OneScreen, by contrast, both ship with Windows 7–an operating system that, though still beloved by risk-averse large enterprises, was never designed with gigantic screens or serious touch input in mind. So much of the Surface Hub’s hardware and software is designed around the fact that’s meant to be used by multiple people in a collaborative environment that Han bristles at the notion that it’s merely a really nice PC, or even a PC at all. “People have tried PCs in conference rooms before,” he says. “They suck.” The Surface Hub aims to eliminate typical conference-room PC hassles. Using Microsoft Exchange calendaring features, it automatically credentials meeting attendees so they don’t have to log in to get access to their files and the network. A motion sensor allows it to sit unobtrusively until someone approaches, whereupon the screen lights up. Remove the pen from its holder, and the device automatically goes into whiteboard mode. And when your meeting ends, it wipes away all evidence of the activities you conducted, so it’s ready for the next user. Microsoft has also put a lot of thought into how the device works with the PCs, tablets, and phones that people bring into meetings. Using the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Miracast wireless technology, attendees can fling their gadgets’ displays onto the big screen. Unlike garden-variety Miracast, the Surface Hub’s version is bidirectional: If you use its pen to scribble notes on a PowerPoint slide, your annotations travel back to the version on a Windows 10 laptop. The Surface Hub will do a lot out of the box, and will run standard Windows 10 apps. But it’s pretty clear that it will become much more useful if third-party developers start to build software with it in mind. And some of that software will need to cater to specific industries. “We digitally model everything, but our interface is a mouse and keyboard, and that’s not necessarily the most intuitive way,” says John Cerone, director of digital design and construction at New York-based SHoP Architects, whose projects include Uber’s new headquarters. SHoP has used Perceptive Pixel displays and has just gotten in a preproduction Surface Hub. With the right applications, it sees the potential for Microsoft’s new device to be transformative. “Anytime we have the opportunity to touch or draw or pull or push a 3-D surface, we want to do that,” Cerone says. Jeff Han is helping me buckle my boots. They happen to be part of the head-to-toe clean-room “bunny” suit I’m donning so we can visit the factory floor where Microsoft assembles the Surface Hub’s touch screen. Properly suited up, we must pass through a tiny room where jets of air blast away any remaining detritus from the outside world. Cleanliness counts in manufacturing of all sorts, but the size of the Surface Hub’s display ups the ante. “It’s exponentially harder the bigger it goes,” Han explains to me. “It’s like defects in semiconductors. It’s literally by surface area. If I have one flaw–one little speck of dust or one little bubble–I throw away the entire thing.” Almost everything that’s tricky about making a Surface Hub involves the process of fusing touch sensors and glass into enormous touch screens. Though the capacitive technology is similar to that used in smaller devices, the enormity of the 55-inch and 84-inch displays necessitated a new approach to manufacturing, and reduced the appeal of outsourcing the job to a third party on another continent. “We looked at the economics of East Asia and electronics manufacturing,” says Angiulo. “When you go through the math, it doesn’t pencil out. It favors things that are small and easy to ship, where the development processes and tools are a commodity. The machines that it takes to do that lamination? Those only exist in Wilsonville. There’s one set of them, and we designed them.” Surface Hubs are anything but small and easy to ship, a point that is obvious in the first place, but even more so once you’ve seen them being built. The sensors–the layers that detect finger presses and pen input–are stored as enormous Saran Wrap-like rolls. They get adhered in two parts to the glass that protects the LCD. The process of sandwiching the enormous layers together involves massive robotic arms capable of hoisting screens though the air, conveyors of various designs, ovenlike chambers, and other custom machinery, all of which must do its job gingerly to avoid damaging the component it’s creating. “You get the sense of scale of these things?” Han asks me as we peer at an 84-inch piece of glass having its touch sensor applied. “I look at this almost as a patient on a table.” At various other times on the tour, he compares the touch screens under assembly to automobiles, flypaper, pizza, and buttered pieces of toast. Like a proud father, he beams continuously, pausing to fawn over items as mundane as the packing materials that will protect Surface Hubs when they’re shipped out of the factory. Observing Surface Hubs being put together is an unexpectedly multi-sensory experience. It’s not just the thrum of the robotic equipment. Even before you spot the bank of gleaming metal vessels full of bonding materials, you notice the air is pungent with an epoxy-esque odor. In another area, signs warn you not to look directly into the ultraviolet light that cures the screens until the sticky adhesive is no longer sticky. Exotic though this world seems, it’s in the same building as the cubicles and conference rooms where the Surface Hub’s hardware team toils. (Software development happens in Redmond, in closer proximity to the folks responsible for Windows and other Microsoft software.) Perceptive Pixel has had a presence in the Portland area since 2009, drawing on the region’s rich supply of display engineering talent, a legacy dating back to the founding of lab equipment maker Tektronix in the 1940s. “I don’t have to send my folks over to China, so they’re happier,” Han says. “It’s faster. There’s no language, time, or culture barrier to deal with. To have my engineers go down the hallway to talk to the guys in the manufacturing line and tune the recipe? That’s just incredible.” At the time I visited Microsoft’s Wilsonville factory, it was still building Surface Hubs in small quantities and gearing up for the mass-production effort necessary to get units to customers by September. When I ask Han what the future holds for the product line, once it becomes a shipping product, he refers obliquely to next-generation models the company is currently working on, but provides no details. In Microsoft’s San Francisco office, his boss, Mike Angiulo, is more explicit about where the line could go over time. He gestures at the 84-inch screen, and then at a wall that’s mostly whiteboard (with a sign tacked up reminding people to erase it when they’re done). “By the time that’s mundane, this entire wall is going to be a screen,” he says. “And everything you touch on the whiteboard is going to be responsive and digitally synced to the phone. We have a vision for group productivity that extends beyond what you can do with this kind of a screen today.” “I didn’t actually just announce those products,” he adds, just in case it wasn’t abundantly clear. “But you can imagine that if bigger is better, the future is about having all the spaces you work with when you’re around other people to be useful to you.” Will Microsoft keep plugging away at making that dream into reality, especially if the Surface Hub isn’t an immediate breakout hit? “If anything, they’ve already exhibited a fair bit of patience,” says Forrester analyst J.P. Gownder, referencing the 2012 Perceptive Pixel acquisition and effort the company has put into making Windows 10 work well on a large display. “This is a good core-competency kind of place for them. I suspect this is going to be for the long haul, especially as they get customers.” Much more patience will be required. The Wilsonville quarters is festooned with Surface Hubs in use–even hung in a break area near a pool table. But when I stroll around with Han and notice that the engineering team still writes on whiteboards and pins things up on bulletin boards, the day when such old-school tools are as archaic as a typewriter does not feel imminent. Even though someone has playfully scrawled, “This is obsolete technology” on one of the whiteboards. In Adam Penenberg’s 2007 Fast Company profile, Han spoke of wanting to flit from technological challenge to technological challenge, like an entrepreneurial honeybee. Now he seems game to continue on with this quest. “This is one of the final frontiers of computing,” he tells me. “We’ve got the personal thing nailed pretty well, you know? The next undiscovered country is how we do things with multiple users, together.” Just as when he gave his TED talk in 2006, his enthusiasm for his work is powerful, infectious stuff. And with Microsoft’s help, we’re about to learn how much further he can take it. [Photo & Video: courtesy of Microsoft]

Rick Miller in Bigger Than Jesus [www.biggerthanj.com] Photo: Beth Kates In the past week I have seen two very different one-man shows, Theatre Skam's The Amazing and Impermeable Cromoli Brothers: The Best of the Cromoli Brothers and the Belfry Theatre's Bigger Than Jesus (a Wyrd Productions/Necessary Angel Theatre co-production). Seeing two solo shows so closely together leads me to consider the phenomenon of solo theatre, exemplified in Victoria's Uno Festival (from Intrepid Theatre). Even though I have performed a one-woman play myself - Joan MacLeod's beautiful play Jewel - and therefore have deep empathy for those who undertake solo performances, I am not at heart a huge fan of solo theatre. For me, theatre is an essentially social art form, along with the other performing arts of dance and music, and what I am most interested in finding at the theatre are meaningful, well-written and well-performed dialogic encounters between characters. While there are some one-person shows that offer dialogue between characters - The Syringa Tree or I Am My Own Wife being good examples of this (although I feel the former to be a better play than the latter, perhaps because it features more inter-character dialogue) - most often a solo play offers one or more characters speaking directly or indirectly to themselves and/or to the audience. Dialogue is deferred in favour of monologue, or perhaps soliloquy. This is fine, and can be fine (as in Jewel, where a widow speaks in soliloquy to her dead husband throughout), but is arguably a far less social experience than that of theatre featuring two or more actors. This is a philosophical position I am taking that values the inherent power of theatre to allow access to the privileged close observation of human interaction in all its facets; good, bad and ugly. This said, it takes a particularly strong monodrama to compare favorably in my view with a "regular" play. Lucas Myers, one of the founders of Theatre SKAM, is a favorite actor of mine. Myers has a warm presence, great physicality and broad range that allows him to play drama and comedy with equal success. The Amazing and Impermeable Cromoli Brothers is one brother short as the show begins and St. John Cromoli has been stood-up by his brother Hasbro. But the show must go on, so we are treated to an interactive series of 15 songs and vignettes, the titles of which are posted on chart paper on stage. Audience members are invited by the flustered St. John, an old-school vaudevillian entertainer, to select the order in which they wish to see these pieces. Thus we are engaged in a wide range of "bits" presented with little more than what can be found in a battered red suitcase and accompanied on a ukelele. Myers' songs are sweet and often quite personal (he sings one about his brand new daughter), although they can sometimes contain a bit of a political bite. Some vignettes work better than others, some being little more than throwaway quick gags. My favorite was the cover of Bowie's "Major Tom" with a volunteer audience member playing a breath-powered keyboard (what is that thing called?) and a tiny stuffed Major Tom in a real tin can passed through the house as Myers sings, lit by a single light bulb. Fun and funny, but also quite lovely. The show is very slight, built around Myers' engaging personality; however, if you are a fan this is no bad thing. Rick Miller and Daniel Brooks' Bigger Than Jesus is a different kettle of solo flying fish. A much more ambitious show, a multimedia piece incorporating ingenious use of live video, BTJ is a major award-winner [three 2004 Doras for play, performer and lighting design] with the positive reviews to match. Working loosely within the framework of the Catholic mass, Miller takes the audience through a part-lecture, part-monologue, part-diatribe, part-homage to the life and legacy of the Big JC Himself. Miller plays "himself" the actor, a Jewish academic, a James-Brownish preacher, a prayer-answering flight attendant, and, finally, Jesus. Woven thoughout are live video feeds from multiple directions in the theatre, sometimes manipulated by Miller himself, that give us backdrop images that are occasionally quite awesome in their power. The play is intelligent, highly theatrical (especially in the scene of the Last Supper as played by Miller in miniature with action figures including Star Wars characters, all projected via video onto the giant backdrop screen) and well-performed by Miller, who is clearly a multi-talented actor. So why did it make such a small impression on me? I should have been the ideal audience member for this piece, lapsed Catholic that I am (Miller asked us to identify ourselves off the top of the show), but somehow the individual parts that seem very successful in the moment failed to add up to a sum that had an overall effect. Miller and Brooks' point, that Jesus the man and his ideals are very different from the legacy of Christianity and the ignorance and violence wrought in His name, seem a bit like preaching to the choir. Theatregoers tend to be an educated and sophisticated lot...don't we already know these things? What else can be said about the life of Jesus at this point in history and through the medium of theatre that moves us beyond the platitudes of Jesus Christ Superstar or Godspell? Yes, it is arresting to see Miller transform himself into Jesus, back turned at an altar with his face projected onto his vestment, but when he comes downstage to speak to the audience what we get are one-liners mixed in with the familiar Biblical wisdoms; "Love one another ... any questions?" Beautiful images and skilful performance do not necessarily add up to great theatre. I received more soulful sustenance and real learning from Theatre Inconnu's recent low-budget production of Pinter's The Caretaker around how we human beings so often fail dismally to love one another, than in this highly-individualistic one-man show that failed to convince me of the essential human connection that Jesus tried so hard to reveal.

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It’s wonderful to travel with alumni because it gives me the opportunity to not only experience these special places with intelligent people, but also to talk through the feelings and emotions. Additionally, with the special event on Friday with alumnus Abe Dorevitch, it made more sense to write about our time in Jerusalem and Bethlehem (Thursday) and Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee (Saturday) together. So many people plan a pilgrimage to Israel to visit some of the holiest sites on Earth for Christians, Jews and Muslims. Since I am Catholic and have been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time in Rome (including living there for a short time), I was really looking forward to this experience and seeing some of these other famous sites. My immediate impression of Israel was very positive—everything thing seemed like a well-organized system. Their roads are smooth and well-maintained, and the countryside is unbelievably rich and full. Our guide talked to us about the different kinds of agriculture and irrigation systems they have in place to sustain the agriculture. We began our day on Thursday at the Western Wall (considered the most holy site in the Jewish world). What a powerful experience for many of us. It was so interesting to observe the people who came to the Wall to pray. It is difficult to put into words the celebration and peace that I felt there. From the Wall, we continued our journey to Via Dolorosa—the walk that Jesus took as he carried the cross. Like all areas that attract many tourists, it was crowded and lined with many shops (which surprised several of the people in our group); however, there was a general respect for the different Stations of the Cross, and people allowed for ample time to learn about their significance. We then went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is the site where Jesus was crucified, buried and rose again. We received excellent information from our guides at each place, and it was a very impressive visit. Amazingly, this was only the first half of our day! After lunch, we headed to Bethlehem. Our Israeli guide had to leave the bus and a new guide joined us in Bethlehem. (The Palestinian Authority controls Bethlehem and Jewish Israelis are not allowed to enter.) I imagined I would feel quite differently going into Bethlehem, but after our major security check and guide change, my senses were alert in a different way. Many of us talked about politics and the things that were happening in the region—it sparked a very thoughtful conversation among alumni. I should note that at no point did we feel unsafe—we were very well taken care of and felt that the highest security measures were observed during our visit. We had a beautiful visit to Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity (the site of Jesus’ birth). Our visit was shortened because we hit some traffic, but overall it was a very powerful day. On Saturday we visited the Sea of Galilee and Nazareth. One of the most moving parts of the day was when we visited the Yardenit baptismal site where the River Jordan separates from the Sea of Galilee. A group of us were able to witness the many people who made a pilgrimage to be baptized there. There are two people who guide a person backward into the water to perform this short ceremony. We were able to observe a woman (who I would guess to be around 60 years old) be baptized and, as soon as she emerged from the water, she began to cry. It was clear without any of us having spoken to her that this was a lifelong dream and journey for her. They gave her time to fully experience the emotions of what she was doing and exchanged several hugs. Many people (including some in our group) clapped when she got out of the water. As with many excursions, you try and fit in as much as you can see in such a limited amount of time (and of course, there is never enough time!). This was such a touching moment and reminded many of us of the extreme significance of where we were. These incredible few days in Israel have been a mix of emotions regarding people, politics and profound faith—simply an amazing experience we could not possibly have prepared ourselves for.

ה' באדר ב' תשס"ח Last week, before the recent terrorist attack in Jerusalem and the murder of Eve Carson, I wrote of a "treasure from the hidden world" which I discovered in my astrological natal chart. In Celtic folklore and many other cultural traditions, like the Golem of Jewish tradition, Gnomes are elemental earth spirits who guard hidden treasure. Gnomes would thus be earth elementals in charge of guarding and protecting my treasure of the hidden world. Following the recent Jerusalem massacre and the murder of Eve Carson, yesterday Foxnews reported on sightings of a "Gnome" in South America: Gnome Caught on Video 'Stalking' Streets of Argentina Town Tuesday, March 11, 2008 A town in South America is living in fear after several sightings of a 'creepy gnome' that locals claim stalks the streets at night, The Sun reports. The little person — who wears a pointy hat and has a distinctive sideways walk — was caught on video last week by a terrified group of youngsters. Teenager Jose Alvarez — who filmed the gnome — yesterday told national newspaper El Tribuno that they caught the creature while larking about in their hometown of General Guemes, in the province of Salta, Argentina. Alvarez added that other locals had come forward to say they had spotted the gnome. Read the full article at link above. Faeries, Nature Spirits, Elementals

The Middle East Digest provides text and audio from the Daily Press Briefing. For the full briefings, please visit daily press briefings. From the Daily Press Briefing of June 21, 2010 MR. CROWLEY: And finally, we are – we will shortly be releasing a statement by the Quartet which I will read in part: “The Quartet reaffirms that the current situation in Gaza, including the humanitarian and human rights situation of the civilian population, is unsustainable, unacceptable, and not in the interests of any of those concerned. Consistent with these objectives, the Quartet and the Quartet representative have worked with Israel as well as consulting the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, and other concerned parties to effect a fundamental change in policy in Gaza. The new policy towards Gaza just announced by the Government of Israel is a welcome development. The Quartet will continue to work with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and other concerned parties to ensure these arrangements are implemented as quickly as possible. At the same time, the Quartet recognizes that Israel has legitimate security concerns that must continue to be safeguarded and believes efforts to maintain security while enabling movement and access for the Palestinian people and goods are critical.” With that -- QUESTION: Can we go to that to start with? MR. CROWLEY: Sure. QUESTION: I don’t understand something. So the current situation in Gaza is unsustainable and unacceptable and not in the interests of anybody. Does that mean that even with the announcements made by the Israeli Government yesterday, it is still unacceptable to you? MR. CROWLEY: No, it means that the current situation as of this moment is of concern to the United States, to the Quartet. What – the policy that the – Israel announced yesterday is a welcome step. And we believe, as I think the White House statement said yesterday, that once implemented, these arrangements should significantly improve conditions for Palestinians. But now comes the hard part of actually implementing this policy and, in the process, working effectively with the Palestinian Authority to increase the flow of people and goods between Gaza and the West Bank. QUESTION: So once that’s been implemented, then from your point of view, will the situation will be sustainable and acceptable? MR. CROWLEY: Well, we’ll wait to see how the policy is further developed and fully implemented. But certainly, the policy framework that the Israelis announced yesterday, we believe can help improve the situation significantly. QUESTION: In what ways do you expect it to improve their daily lives? What in particular are you looking for? MR. CROWLEY: Well, as I understand it, the Israelis are kind of flipping the current process on its head. So now, instead of having a situation where goods are excluded unless they are specifically authorized for transit, now you have a much broader array of goods that are authorized for transit into Gaza and that only the restrictions will only apply to those things which have military value. QUESTION: So you think they’ll have a normal healthcare, education, food – just in most parts of the -- MR. CROWLEY: Well, I don’t think anyone could describe the current situation in Gaza as being normal. But clearly, this can offer the opportunity for progress. It will require the Israelis, the Palestinians, others to work in good faith and work through established channels, through international organizations and the UN, to channel more assistance to the people of Gaza. QUESTION: The checkpoints, maybe? The improvements is including the checkpoints? Because Hamas wrote a letter to European Union and they are suggesting that Larnaca or Cairo or the Egypt – in a harbor in Egypt maybe – new checkpoints for the control of the goods. Is it -- MR. CROWLEY: Well, we would like to see an expansion in the flow of goods, the flow of people. That may well require more openings for the flow of material. These will all be part of the process now of implementing the policy that the Israelis announced yesterday. QUESTION: But last week (inaudible) -- MR. CROWLEY: We’ll have time. QUESTION: -- seemed to suggest that it is not enough. It was a welcome thing, but really not enough. Do you agree with that assessment? MR. CROWLEY: Well, we will see as this policy is fully implemented. And I mean, obviously, you fit this in a broader context of continuing to develop the capability of the Palestinian Authority and their ability to meet the needs of their people both in the West Bank and Gaza. We also want to see the parties get to direct negotiations. But certainly, this has the potential to significantly improve the daily lives of the Palestinian people. But let’s be cautious. This is not going to be something that happens overnight. The Gaza – the people of Gaza have profound needs in terms of housing, in terms of education, a lot of infrastructure that needs to be either rebuilt or further developed. But those are the kinds of things that Prime Minister Fayyad is working on on behalf of all the people of the Palestinian territories. Now, that – this would also – in order to really change, fundamentally change, the lives of the people of Gaza, you need to have a more responsible government working on their behalf rather than working against their long-term interest. QUESTION: Considering that this has gone on for three years now, I mean, what is the sudden – why is it all of a sudden so urgent? I mean, is it something that you realized now that you did not three to four months ago? MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think everyone has recognized, particularly in recent months, the profound plight of the people of Gaza. We’ve had many conversations with the Israelis about their previous policy, and we’re gratified that they have responded to our thoughts and others. QUESTION: The Jerusalem mayor has decided to demolish 22 Arab houses in East Jerusalem. How do you view this act? MR. CROWLEY: Well, we understand that this is an action undertaken by the municipality of Jerusalem, not the Government of Israel, and it’s an initial step. We have made it clear that we disagree with some Israeli practices in Jerusalem affecting Palestinians in areas such as housing, including evictions and demolitions. The status of Jerusalem and all other permanent status issues must be resolved through negotiations. So we’re concerned about it. We’ve had a number of conversations with the Government of Israel about it. This, I think at this point, is still an issue between the Government of Israel and the Jerusalem municipality, but this is expressly the kind of step that we think undermines trust that is fundamental to making progress in the proximity talks and ultimately in direct negotiations. QUESTION: Do you think that will affect the proximity talks? MR. CROWLEY: It hasn’t right now, but obviously, this is – these are the kinds of steps that Israel needs to understand belong in final-status negotiations. QUESTION: P.J., you mentioned -- QUESTION: The final -- QUESTION: P.J., on the -- MR. CROWLEY: All right. Hold on. I’m getting whipsawed here. QUESTION: Go ahead. QUESTION: On – you just mentioned the role of the United States. How would you assess the role of the United States in this decision leading to this decision? Why do you think it came about at this point by the – not the housing, I’m talking about opening up – MR. CROWLEY: Okay. QUESTION: -- Gaza. MR. CROWLEY: Try me again. Our role in this -- QUESTION: Opening up Gaza, yes. The role -- MR. CROWLEY: This was a decision by the Government of Israel. We welcome the decision. We want to see prompt and full implementation of this new policy. I think this is something that we’ve been discussing with the Israelis over many months. We’ve had concerns about the plight of the people of Gaza. So have many others. And this is the culmination of months of diplomatic effort and both public and private discussions that we’ve had to try to encourage a change in the Israeli approach to Gaza. QUESTION: You mentioned about the plight of people and everything. Last two days we have been hearing statements welcoming, and when are we going to see the real difference on the ground? MR. CROWLEY: This will take some time to put into place. QUESTION: Is there a timeframe? MR. CROWLEY: That’s a good question to offer to the Government of Israel. We’d like to see this policy fully developed and implemented as rapidly as possible. Some things like the flow of food and medicine; that can probably be done fairly quickly. Rebuilding housing and infrastructure obviously takes longer and getting the materials into Gaza will be a little bit of a greater challenge, but we – it’s expressly that point. We want to see a change in the lives of the average person in Gaza as quickly as possible. We think that can have a constructive impact on the broader environment. So we do have a sense of urgency about this, but ultimately it requires goodwill and effective action by all of the parties in the region, including further discussions and cooperation between the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority. QUESTION: P.J., what – the Israeli Government has taken the view that a certain number of materials that are highly useful in construction, like concrete and so on, have military uses. Do you have any – and you’ve spoken a couple of times here about construction – do you have any assurance that basic building supplies and materials will, indeed, be allowed in? MR. CROWLEY: I’m not aware that we have seen the full implementation of this yet in terms of lists. QUESTION: Well, then why are you welcoming it wholesomely? MR. CROWLEY: Well, the Israeli policy says that you’ll go from a situation where everything’s permitted unless it’s-- that everything’s prohibited unless it’s permitted to the reverse, where everything is permitted unless it is specifically prohibited. We do recognize that Israel has legitimate security interest in excluding certain things that can have direct military value. But we definitely think that the list of things that are relevant to improving the daily lives of the average people – average person in Gaza should expand significantly and that Israel should narrow down its area of concern to those kinds of things which really contribute to Hamas’s military capability. As we reflected here at various times, no one is sure – exactly sure how potato chips factor into the strategic equation in Gaza. So this was part of the basis on our discussions with the Israelis. I just said the – their present approach is unsustainable and we’re gratified that the Israelis have heeded our advice and others and are moving to change the policy. But now it remains to be seen how it will be implemented and expressly if we have the impact on the ground that we would like to see. I think a broader aspect of this is not just improving the basics in terms of the lives of the average citizen of Gaza. One has to find a way to rebuild the economy of Gaza in a way that supports the people, but does not support Hamas and its policies. When President Abbas was here recently talking to President Obama and Secretary Clinton, he had some definite ideas on how working – reestablishing some of the commerce between the West Bank and Gaza could have broader impact, and we welcomed his thoughts and think that’s an area that should have further discussion as we go forward. QUESTION: Can I – same subject -- QUESTION: Could I follow up on this? On – just on the construction issue, though, I mean, you a couple of times mentioned construction and reconstruction in your talk about the new – the people, the residents of Gaza. Obviously, something like concrete can be used to build bunkers -- MR. CROWLEY: Yeah. QUESTION: -- which the military use, just as it can be used to lay foundations for housing. And if – I guess my question is: Why do you think that there’s going to – if you don’t have any assurance that building materials like that are going to be let in, why do you have that-- MR. CROWLEY: All right. QUESTION: -- are you talking about reconstruction? MR. CROWLEY: All right. Let me be clear. We have not seen the Israeli list. We definitely believe that construction materials should be let in so that housing, schools, other vital infrastructure important to the day-to-day lives of the people of Gaza can be improved. QUESTION: Well, same general issue. A few minutes ago, you gave credit to the diplomatic efforts that have been going on for some time in an effort to get the Israelis to do this. But isn’t it, in effect, that what’s broken the logjam on this is the tragedy of a couple of weeks ago with the flotilla and the fact that nine people were killed that brought this to a head and brought pressure on the Israelis to change their policy? MR. CROWLEY: No question it had an impact. QUESTION: Can we go back to the housing for -- QUESTION: I want to ask about this. Ehud Barak is coming this week. He’s going to meet the Secretary? Do you think that there is any meeting coming? MR. CROWLEY: If Mr. Barak is coming to Washington, they normally get together. Let me – I’ll take the question in terms of what that means for the schedule. QUESTION: P.J., some groups in Lebanon -- MR. CROWLEY: It’s not unusual given what the White House just talked about yesterday in terms of the prime minister coming on – in early July, usually somebody will come ahead of time to help prepare for -- MR. CROWLEY: Yeah. So I haven’t seen it on the schedule yet, but it wouldn’t surprise me and we’ll let you know. QUESTION: Yeah. Some groups in Lebanon were planning to send the aid ships to Gaza. Have you talked to the Lebanese authorities regarding this issue? MR. CROWLEY: We have talked to – there’s not just – there’s – lots of people are talking about other ship sailings or flotillas. Particularly, since you see a change in Israeli policy, there’s no basis for any kind of action that risks the same kind of confrontation that Charlie was talking about a moment ago. Everyone needs to carefully evaluate actions. We – everyone’s committed to improving the situation on the ground in Gaza. There’s now a policy and increased openings that allow materials to be transported to Gaza through land crossings. We think everyone who wants to help the people of Gaza should work through established channels. ] QUESTION: Have you discussed this issue with the Lebanese authorities or not? MR. CROWLEY: I’ll take that question. We are very aware of what has been announced. I just can’t – I can’t cite a specific conversation. I’ll take that question. QUESTION: Change of subject QUESTION: Can we just -- MR. CROWLEY: Hold on. QUESTION: -- go on to the housing for one second? You said that – I believe you said we disagree with some policies including demolitions and evictions, and then a few moments later, you said that the proposed demolitions announced today were exactly the kind of thing that you thought undermined trust; correct? Does that mean that you regard these plans by the municipal authorities to demolish these homes and to build other homes for Jewish people are unacceptable? Do you disagree with that? MR. CROWLEY: Arshad, I don’t think – I’m careful because there are projects. They have got different histories. And so I would not want to be drawn into a discussion of 10 different items. I think in this particular case, this would appear to be the kind of action that undermines trust and potentially incites emotions and adds to the risk of violence. We do understand that there are perhaps different policy approaches between the Government of Israel and the municipality in Jerusalem. But our broad thrust here is that issues regarding housing and other projects in the occupied areas of Jerusalem, it’s a final status issue. That’s where these issues belong. And any unilateral step that anyone takes, we think, is of concern to us and should be avoided. QUESTION: Just one quick follow-up on the Middle East. MR. CROWLEY: Yes. QUESTION: George Mitchell is back. Has he been able to brief the Secretary on -- MR. CROWLEY: George Mitchell is back. He has not been in to see the Secretary today yet, but usually checks in with her at some point. QUESTION: The Israelis recently accelerated the process of revoking resident status for Jerusalem Palestinian Arab residents that are students or that work outside, and so upon return – returning, they find themselves that they have lost their resident status. Are you aware of that or are you cautioning the Israelis that they should not do this? MR. CROWLEY: I’m not – I can’t cite a specific example of that. Again, this whole penumbra of issues that tries to change – excuse me – tries to change facts on the ground, these are expressly the kinds of issues that belong in formal negotiations and not subject to unilateral steps by any one – any party. QUESTION: Different topic? What can you tell us about the situation involving Ambassador Holbrooke? In Afghanistan today, there was reports that his Osprey was fired upon when they were trying to land in Marjah and of apparently coordinated suicide attacks around that same time. MR. CROWLEY: I think this comes out of the category of first reports are usually wrong. My understanding is they were airborne, and while they were airborne, they were aware of small arms fire below in the general vicinity of Marjah, but it did not affect the airplane itself. QUESTION: Did it hit them at all? MR. CROWLEY: No. QUESTION: Okay. And then with the bombings that were around, there was some question as to whether a series of bombings in the same area immediately and afterward were connected with his arrival. Do you know? MR. CROWLEY: In Marjah? QUESTION: Correct. Do you know if that -- MR. CROWLEY: Not to my knowledge. QUESTION: Do you have any comment on – sorry, Afghanistan or -- QUESTION: Not Afghanistan. QUESTION: Can we stick with Afghanistan -- QUESTION: -- just to wrap – close this out? There are reports that the British (inaudible) to Ambassador Holbrooke, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, was going on an extended leave and ceasing to do his job of being a special envoy for Af-Pak. Do – are you aware that this is happening? And to your knowledge, does it have anything to do with his policy disagreements with the United States, notably on talking to the Taliban and his skepticism about the NATO-led forces there?] MR. CROWLEY: I’m not aware and I don’t know the basis for his decision to leave his post. QUESTION: Any comment on the announcement from Tehran that they’re blocking two IAEA inspectors? MR. CROWLEY: Well, IAEA inspectors should be free to report on what they see during the course of their duties. It is worrisome that Iran has taken this step, which is symptomatic of its longstanding practice of intimidating inspectors in which Iran has engaged. Reducing cooperation with the IAEA is – will only deepen the world’s concern with respect to its nuclear program. Iran’s obligations are clear and were made more so through the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1929, which underscores the requirement that Iran has to cooperate fully with the IAEA. And we remain focused on our strategy of implementing and enforcing the sanctions while making clear that the diplomatic option remains available to Iran. So we’re – this is – this will not engender or encourage the international community to believe that Iran’s program is peaceful in nature. QUESTION: Do you know the nationality of the two inspectors who were barred from entry or declared persona non grata to -- MR. CROWLEY: I’m sure we do. I don’t have it here. QUESTION: Were they American? Do you have -- MR. CROWLEY: I don’t know. QUESTION: Different topic? MR. CROWLEY: Sure. QUESTION: There is – the family of this American who was out looking for bin Ladin in Pakistan is saying that the State Department is not returning their phone calls when they’re looking for information about the individual. I don’t know if those were over the weekend or late last week or what, but – I don’t know if you have any comment about -- MR. CROWLEY: Well, we have been in regular contact with the family and we’ve had consular access to him in Pakistan. I’m sure that, given what you just mentioned, that we will check in with the family and see if there’s anything that we can do better. But we have been in regular contact with the family since he was picked up in Pakistan. QUESTION: Do you know if they’ve been in touch today, just because they said they’ve left messages and they haven’t been returned? MR. CROWLEY: I can’t say we’ve been in touch today. QUESTION: Do you know if he’s being held in Islamabad or Peshawar? MR. CROWLEY: I think we placed him in Islamabad during the last – our last conversation. I’m not aware he’s moved. QUESTION: Just a quick one on Iran. STRATFOR, a sort of private analysis and intelligence company, has suggested that the United States is in some kind of backchannel, behind-the-scenes talks with the Iranian Government. I’m very skeptical that you would confirm that from the podium if you were, but I’m even more skeptical that you are engaged in any such talks with Iran, a country with which you, of course, have no diplomatic relations. Can you deny this from the podium? MR. CROWLEY: Look, if you go back over the 30 years, there have been lots of people on the other side of the equation that placed a call or found somebody in a hotel lobby and suggested that they were part of a back channel. So I certainly, from our side, am not aware of any.

The Sounds of Debbie Friedman It’s with a heavy, but inspired, heart that we bring to you some ideas for incorporating Debbie Friedman’s music into your wedding day. Why heavy? Debbie Friedman, an American Jewish song writer and performer passed away just a few weeks ago on January 9th. She had been in an Orange County, California hospital suffering complications from pneumonia, and even though Jews around the world held prayer services and song sessions in her honor and desire for recovery, Friedman lost her battle and, momentarily, Jews lost their source of music. But not for long, because Friedman’s soulful chants and uplifting melodies had been known to bring peace and comfort while she was alive, and it was no different after she died. With the news of her passing, her songs surged the Internet giving new life to those who’d never heard them and reassurance to long-standing fans. For many young Jewish Americans, Friedman’s music was heavily incorporated at Jewish summer camp or Hebrew school programs. I can remember song leaders at Camp Alonim in Brandeis, California connecting me to my heritage at Shabbat services through Friedman’s song book. And fifteen years ago, I could go to several different friends’ bar or bat mitzvah services at different synagogues and still hear the same familiar tunes accompanying a 13-year-old’s very special day of becoming a Jewish adult. At holidays, her music erupts with ruach (spirit) and joy, reminding us why we celebrate year after year. So, why not take some of Friedman’s songs that speak to the hearts of Jews everywhere and incorporate them in your wedding day? What a great way to keep Friedman’s memory alive and tie in your day to a special and inspiring Jewish American woman. For a first dance song or a performance from a friend or relative on the wedding day: Listen to the song.

Eyeless in Gaza? There are real horrors happening in Gaza. Look at this one (Warning: disturbing) My friend, Mustafa Akyol also points me to Jeremy Ben-Ami's statement here. *"Eyeless in Gaza" - Samson's cry, after he was blinded by his enemies - whom he killed by bringing the roof of their stadium down on them, after they had made the mistake of chaining him to the twin pillars. Mustafa also points me to this sensible seeming discussion of the difficulties of modern Jewish identity. Not to take away from the seriousness of what Palestinians are currently suffering: In Canada, well-intentioned Jews have been sponsors of some of the most illiberal legislation ever written here - in an effort to prevent a repeat of what will probably never be repeated anyway. And the legislation they wrote is being used, scattergun, against Christian pastors advising their flock, comedians shouting into the audience, people who don't vote the way some official thinks they should, a person who doesn't think Little Mosque on the Prairie is as funny as the director had hoped ... This is all completely ridiculous. These should not be cases in any kind of a court.

Sunday, February 2 was the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, but more importantly it was the feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, commonly called The Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin. Bishop Hartley explained that in Jewish law the 40th day after the birth (in this case after Christmas) it was the custom for the first-born son to be taken to the temple to be dedicated and for the new mother to be ritually cleansed or purified. In English tradition it was also called Candlemas and was the day on which candles were blessed for use in the church. The theme of the prayers and scripture readings for this day is presentation, as summed up in the Collect prayer: “as thy only-begotten son was this day presented in the temple in substance of our flesh, so we may be presented unto thee with pure and clean hearts…” Just as Jesus was presented (or dedicated) to God by his parents, so we are presented to God by Jesus. The means by which we do this is the church and the Christian community. We had an unpleasant surprise after church in the snow that had fallen during the service, making the roads bad and travel difficult. Some of our members who live at a distance had long and difficult journeys home Sunday afternoon but everyone made it home safely and we are thankful for that. We had planned on resuming Wednesday evening services this week, but the weather will probably prevent it. For information on St. Francis Anglican (Traditional Episcopal) Church visit our website at stfrancisavamo.org.

I saw Dinosaur Jr. last night. They played at the Capitol Theatre, and I worked security, asking for IDs and such. Here is my response to that show- There is nothing I love more than losing my shit. But there are times when it feels like faking an orgasm. That was how that went. An added parallel could be made about the lack of intimacy in such a venue, a large theater, with a balcony and a stage. But more blog-about-able than the actual show was the fact that I worked security. I worked for a little over two hours, in time to watch the band Awesome Color. Anyway, they weren't so good, and I milled about the theater. I saw a friend of mine outside, standing with her boyfriend, who is a dude I don't like at all. Still, when I went out to say hello to them, they ignored me and ran inside. I grabbed the dude I don't like at all by the arm, because I had been working security, and they were running in seemingly without paying. He brushed me off. I talked to one of the on-duty dudes. He went after them. I talked to the guard on duty a few minutes later. "He said he was in a band, I think he's in Awesome Color." "Awesome Color is the band on stage right now. He's just in a shitty local noise duo, and was acting entitled. Jesus, what an asshole." I think I might've thrown in the word "scenester" as well. So after Awesome Color finished their set, some people I knew were outside smoking. I told them, "hey, if you see (name omitted), kick him in the balls." It's worth noting that the people I was talking to like dude in question more than they like me, I am pretty sure. So they defend his not paying. But one of them then says, "hey, he's jewish, he's cheap, you can't expect him to pay for things." "He's special." "That's like insisting a person in a wheelchair use the stairs." At the time, I was just frustrated at them defending their friend's kind of douchey behavior. And I didn't want to get off-message, and so just reiterated- "What an entitled ass. He's only 'special' inasmuch as he's retarded." But as I was walking home, I realized- Hey, what the fuck? Not like I don't do the thing where racism is brought up for comedic purposes, and it's not like I would consider a lot of the people who do that to actually be racists- but the statement actually was presenting a stereotype at face value, with no actual form of criticism behind it. It was just based on "It's not racist if you like the race." There was also talk of me being racist for being mad at him, which is actually a joke about racism, and thus more forgivable. There was also talk about how I shouldn't care, how I didn't have a stake in the theater. I explained that I do volunteer at the theater, and can see movies for free because of this, and I like the place a lot. The response was they they didn't see why I had a stake in it. The argument could've been made that I got in for free, and didn't have to pay- even a joke about me being jewish and cheap could be made in that context. Anyway. So, Dinosaur Jr. live- I had earplugs in. They played a lot of stuff off of Beyond, it seemed like, although I could be wrong about that- Certainly I don't know all their songs. But it is weird, that reunion concert thing, where people want to hear certain songs, certain routines that they know. As opposed to shows with smaller bands, where, because it's a given that a lot of people there don't go in caring, they then have to play harder, make a more forceful impression.

If you told the average American that there was a very powerful politician who, after leaving office, tried to speak out when his conscience was bothered by the actions of his fellow political insiders; if you told them that he abandoned partisanship, calling out even members of his own political tribe; if you told them that he said what he thought to be true even when it was uncomfortable, even when it lost him friends, even when it was seen as a betrayal by other powerful people, who shunned him; if you told Americans all that, you would think they’d express admiration for the mystery man. Yet few celebrate Jimmy Carter. He criticizes America. People don’t like that. Here’s his latest critique, published in The New York Times: Other disguises also came in useful. On the run in occupied Bordeaux he dressed as a nun. In later life he helped Maurice Papon to flee to Switzerland. Robert Jean-Marie de La Rochefoucauld was born in Paris on September 16 1923, one of 10 children of an aristocratic family which lived in old-fashioned splendour on Avenue de la Bourdonnais, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. An ancestor was François de La Rochefoucauld, famous for his maxims. Robert’s mother (née Wendel) was daughter of the Duke of Maillé. His father’s family retained a private carriage which was hitched on to trains during rail journeys. Considered a sickly child, Robert was sent to a succession of private schools for the jeunesse dorée in Switzerland and Austria where, in 1938, he was taken on a school trip to Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s Alpine retreat. When Hitler’s convoy drew up, the Fuhrer approached and patted Robert on the cheek affectionately. It was, La Rochefoucauld later recalled, a dream come true for his 15 year-old self. Hitler was then the great statesman of Europe; young Robert and his schoolmates had attached swastikas to their bicycles in admiration. And so 2012 has followed the same energy pricing cycle as early 2011. Pricing for oil and gasoline started climbing in February, infuriating many by late March – when the pundits came in suggesting that gasoline could possibly reach $5 a gallon by summer. And then, miraculously, prices started falling in May right before the summer driving season, when prices are supposed to be rising. What was interesting this year, as last, is that when those driving oil prices were asked what was causing the massive price increases, they pointed to the booming world economy. The usual suspects; China, India, the European recovery, our own GDP’s improvement and so on. Sure, everyone would mention the upcoming Iranian oil embargo; just as last year it was the civil war in Libya, not to mention the constant mantra that oil supplies worldwide were tightening. Of course, it made for a rivetingly story – but now we know that little of it was true. We buried my grandfather last spring. He had died in his sleep in his own bed at 95, so, as funerals go, it wasn’t a grim occasion. But it was a historic one for our small rural community. My great-grandparents were early settlers, arriving in 1913 and farming the land throughout their lives. My grandfather continued that tradition, and now rests next to them on a hillside overlooking the family homestead. If you’re a part of the roughly 99 percent of the North American population that doesn’t work on a farm, you might guess at what comes next—many a lament has been written about the passing of the good old days in rural areas, the family farm’s decline, and the inevitable loss of the homestead. But in many respects, that narrative itself is obsolete. That’s certainly true in my family’s case: The Freeland farm is still being cultivated by my father. And it is bigger and more prosperous than ever. My dad farms 3,200 acres of his own, and rents another 2,400—all told, a territory seven times the size of Central Park. Last year, he produced 3,900 tonnes (or metric tons) of wheat, 2,500 tonnes of canola, and 1,400 tonnes of barley. (That’s enough to produce 13 million loaves of bread, 1.2 million liters of vegetable oil, and 40,000 barrels of beer.) His revenue last year was more than $2 million, and he admits to having made “a good profit,” but won’t reveal more than that. The farm has just three workers, my dad and his two hired men, who farm with him nine months of the year. For the two or three weeks of seeding and harvest, my dad usually hires a few friends to help out, too. We had a patient at my hospital this winter whose story has stuck with me. Mrs. C. was eighty-seven years old, a Holocaust survivor from Germany, and she’d come to the emergency room because she’d suddenly lost the vision in her left eye. It tells you something about her that she was at work when it happened—in the finance department at Sears. She’d worked her entire life. When her family left Nazi Germany, they narrowly avoided the concentration camps but ended up among twenty thousand Jewish refugees relocated to the Shanghai ghetto in Japanese-occupied China. She was a teen-age girl and spent eight years there, helping her family just to live and survive, until liberation in September, 1945. Denied a formal education, she worked as a seamstress upon admission to the United States. She rose to head seamstress at Bloomingdale’s in Chestnut Hill, outside Boston. She married at twenty-three, had two sons, and was widowed at forty-four. She herself remained in remarkably good health. Look up into America’s skies today and you might just see one of these drones: small, fully autonomous, and dirt-cheap. On any given weekend, someone’s probably flying a real-life drone not far from your own personal airspace. (They’re the ones looking at their laptops instead of their planes.) These personal drones can do everything that military drones can, aside from blow up stuff. Although they technically aren’t supposed to be used commercially in the US (they also must stay below 400 feet, within visual line of sight, and away from populated areas and airports), the FAA is planning to officially allow commercial use starting in 2015. What are all these amateurs doing with their drones? Like the early personal computers, the main use at this point is experimentation—simple, geeky fun. But as personal drones become more sophisticated and reliable, practical applications are emerging. The film industry is already full of remotely piloted copters serving as camera platforms, with a longer reach than booms as well as cheaper and safer operations than manned helicopters. Some farmers now use drones for crop management, creating aerial maps to optimize water and fertilizer distribution. And there are countless scientific uses for drones, from watching algal blooms in the ocean to low-altitude measurement of the solar reflectivity of the Amazon rain forest. Others are using the craft for wildlife management, tracking endangered species and quietly mapping out nesting areas that are in need of protection. But USA v. Carollo marks the first time we actually got incontrovertible evidence that Wall Street has moved into this cartel-type brand of criminality. It also offered a disgusting glimpse into the enabling and grossly cynical role played by politicians, who took Super Bowl tickets and bribe-stuffed envelopes to look the other way while gangsters raided the public kitty. And though the punishments that were ultimately handed down in the trial – minor convictions of three bit players – felt deeply unsatisfying, it was still a watershed moment in the ongoing story of America’s gradual awakening to the realities of financial corruption. In a post-crash era where Wall Street trials almost never make it into court, and even the harshest settlements end with the evidence buried by the government and the offending banks permitted to escape with no admission of wrongdoing, this case finally dragged the whole ugly truth of American finance out into the open – and it was a hell of a show. We have all heard about medical tourism to India, Singapore or Thailand, places where patients can enjoy high quality and low prices. But do you know about medical tourism to the United States? By some estimates, around 400,000 people travel to the United States for medical treatment every year and the big surprise is that for tourists U.S. health care prices can be very low! Canadians coming to the United States can get a knee replacement for less than half of what Americans pay and at a price not much more than they would pay in India. I learned this from John Goodman’s very interesting new book, Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis (this is an Independent Institute book where I am director of research). Widespread adoption of mobile technology in healthcare, or mHealth, is now viewed as inevitable in both developed and emerging markets around the world, but the pace of adoption will likely be led by emerging markets and lag consumer demand, according to a new global study conducted for PwC Global Healthcare by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The ground breaking study, Emerging mHealth: paths for growth, found that consumers have high expectations for mHealth, particularly in developing economies as mobile cellular subscriptions there become ubiquitous. In emerging markets, consumers perceive mHealth as a way to increase access to healthcare while patients in developed markets see it as a way to improve the convenience, cost and quality of healthcare. According to PwC, if the promise of mHealth is realized by consumers, the impact on healthcare delivery could be significant and fundamentally alter traditional relationships within the healthcare industry. The use of mHealth and speed of adoption will be determined in each country by stakeholders’ response to mHealth as a disruptive innovation to overcome structural impediments and align interests around patients’ needs and expectations.

8vo, beside numerous articles in reviews, journals, newspapers and encyclopaedias, are extant to attest the untiring activity of his mind, and his patient diligence during this period. Of the earlier encyclopaedias we may notice the famous HandwOrterbuch der reinen and angewandten Chemie, edited by Liebig; Fremy's Encyclopedie de chimie, Wurtz's Dictionnaire de chimie pure et applique'e, Watts' Dictionary of Chemistry, and Ladenburg's HandwOrterbuch der Chemie. Accounts of the catacombs will also be found in the encyclopaedias and manuals published under the following names: Martigny, Perate, F. It must suffice, therefore, to deal rather broadly with the subject, and to refer for fuller details to the special encyclopaedias, viz.: Hamburger's RealEncyc. fiir Bibel and Talmud, and the very elaborate articles in the Jewish Encyclopedia. Of encyclopaedias may be mentioned the New SchaffHerzog Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge (New York, 1908 sqq.); the Catholic Encyclopaedia (New York, 1907 sqq.); Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopcidie (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1896 sqq.); Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexikon (2nd ed., Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1882-1901); G.

On December 8, 1984, immunologist César Milstein arrived at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, to accept the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. Outside the world of immunology, his name is not well-known, but Milstein’s work advanced medicine and science in very profound ways. From routine applications like home pregnancy tests to more exotic jobs like searching for life on Mars, Milstein’s discovery of monoclonal antibodies and their uses has enabled humans to do things that otherwise might not be possible. Beyond tests, monoclonal antibodies are used ever more frequently in medicine – Zmapp, a treatment for Ebola, is just one example. Monoclonal antibodies come from specially developed cells called “hybridomas.” A hybridoma is a combination, or fusion, of two different types of cells: one with the genes needed to make the desired antibody, the other a cancer cell that makes the hybridoma “immortal.” This means that the hybridoma can be reproduced over and over to produce cells identical to itself and provide a specific antibody. The idea of a combining a cancer cell with another cell for a good purpose may sound counterintuitive, but in the 1970s Milstein and his colleagues realized the enormous potential of this technology to change medicine and biology. Snake venom as inspiration Born October 8, 1927 in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, César Milstein was the middle of three brothers in a family of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. His father, Lazaro, hailed from a village in Ukraine; his mother Maxima was born on Argentinian soil, but she herself was a child of Ukrainian Jews. Like many East European Jews of that time period, Milstein’s parents identified as Jews strongly in the cultural sense, and not at all in the religious sense. They read Yiddish literature and associated socially with other Jews, which included working in non-religious Jewish organizations. They were part of socialist movements, concerned with workers’ rights, and did not attend synagogue or view the world from a religious perspective. They also spoke Yiddish with one another at home, but raised their sons to speak only Spanish. As a child, Milstein loved reading books and became fascinated with science at age 8 because of a conversation with an older cousin. The cousin worked at the Instituto Malbran as a biochemist, and during their conversation she explained to the young César how she was developing serum from snake bite victims to be used as a snake bite treatment. This was the beginning of Milstein’s fascination with the immune system, and it had a major impact on his future work. Back then, scientists did not know the mechanism underlying the effect of a snake bite antiserum. But later, Milstein learned that the immune system produced antibodies, proteins that gave the antiserum its beneficial effect against the toxins that people received in a snake bite. A year after the conversation with his cousin about the snake serum, Milstein read a Spanish translation of Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif. The book described Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Louis Pasteur, and other pioneers of biology as adventurers. This drew Milstein further into the world of life science. He knew at that point that he wanted a biological career. A student and activist in Buenos Aires Milstein moved to Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, for his high school education. In 1945, he entered the University of Buenos Aires as a chemistry major. He was a brilliant science student, but politics and funding shortages forced him to think about other matters alongside his studies. His secular Jewish, left-wing upbringing lay at the foundation of his identity and his interest in science did not replace that, but added to it. As an undergraduate, he naturally gravitated into student movements against the Perón government that ruled Argentina. This government was right-wing economically and generally did not support scientific research at the university. On top of that, the right-wing government was complex when it came to relations with the country’s Jewish community. The founder of the rightwing party, Juan Perón, sympathized with the Axis powers of World War II, and Nazis fleeing Europe were allowed refuge in Argentina. On the other hand, Perón spoke in favor of Jewish rights and established diplomatic relations with the state of Israel early in 1949, and there were noticeable numbers of Jewish Peronists. But Milstein’s Jewish family was socialist. He was raised to believe that lack of wealth should not be a barrier to the benefits of civilization, especially education. The right-wing Peronist policies aggravated most students because they put restrictions on universities and student life and sought to privatize education. Privatizing would mean that only students from wealthy families would be able to attend college. Milstein was popular on campus because he sided with left-wing student movements that favored free education, and in 1951 he ended up as president of the student union. It was a big risk for Milstein because student leaders were being arrested and the student union president was expected to help them. The most famous arrested student was Ernesto Mario Bravo. Like Milstein, Bravo was a chemistry student. On May 17, 1951, Bravo was abducted by the police (not actually arrested) and tortured by the government for the next 20 days. Students and university administrators protested, demanding Bravo’s return, and the protests culminated in a two-day university strike. As student union president, Milstein was under the government spotlight but the protests and strike led to Bravo’s release. Along with intense campus politics, Milstein’s undergraduate years were difficult because of an accident that he suffered from diving into a pond and hitting a log. To recover, he had to take some time off. After returning to school, he fell in love with Celia Prilleltensky, a fellow chemistry student. The two students graduated in 1951 and were married one year later. At that time, Milstein enrolled as a graduate student at the same university and found a faculty advisor, Professor Andrés Stoppani, to guide him through a PhD program in biochemistry. When he began the PhD program in 1951, Milstein was shocked and disappointed to learn how underfunded Stoppani and his research lab were. As with the issues that Milstein had faced as an undergraduate, the underfunding of research was the result of the Peronist right-wing policies. Stoppani suspected that Milstein’s political perspective, and his history campaigning against the Peronist education policy, would get the young man into trouble. Stoppani advised Milstein to take time off with his wife until the political environment changed. By 1954, the political situation had calmed enough for Milstein to start working with Stoppani. At the time, Stoppani still had no funding to support a graduate student. He was forced to use a portion of his very low salary to acquire materials for experiments and he could not afford needed equipment. Milstein worked on enzyme research in the Stoppani lab for his dissertation. However, to support his studies, he had to work part-time in a private clinical biochemistry laboratory. Only in 1955 did funding from the government improve enough for the biochemistry department to buy some basic equipment, such as a refrigerated centrifuge, but other essential machines were still out of grasp. To use one particularly important machine – a spectrophotometer – Milstein had to walk several blocks between buildings. This used up a lot of precious time and one day also caused him to break some expensive glassware, which almost got him expelled from the department. Milstein’s devotion to politics on campus as an undergraduate and the lack of funding that plagued his day-to-day life as a graduate student drew time away from his studies. Nevertheless, he performed brilliantly as a student. In 1957, he earned his doctorate based on research concerning a type of chemical bond in enzymes called a disulfide bridge. Along with earning his PhD, the disulfide bridge research won him an Argentinian Chemical Association award for best thesis. From that point on, he continued working with Stoppani and the two published groundbreaking scientific papers resulting from Milstein’s doctoral work. In Argentina, science education was well-funded during the Peron regime. Professional advances, but more political difficulties In 1958, Milstein moved to Cambridge, England to continue his research at the Sir William Dunn School of Biochemistry, supported by a fellowship from the British Council. Within a couple of years, this led Milstein to be awarded a second doctorate, this one from Cambridge University, based on his research of an enzyme called phosphoglucomutase – research that revealed a very unexpected mechanism through which the enzyme is activated. During this period, Milstein also met and formed professional bonds with the famed biochemist Fred Sanger, winner of the 1958 Nobel Prize. Soon, Milstein and Sanger started working together on the phosphoglucomutase enzyme. In 1960, the pair published a paper revealing the sequence of amino acids (building blocks of proteins) that made up an important region of the enzyme. In 1961, Milstein returned to Argentina where he became head of the new Department of Molecular Biology at the Instituto Malbran, the same research center where his older cousin had worked on snake antiserum. His wife Celia also was appointed to the new department. It was a time of reform, with many other scientists returning to Argentina alongside the Milsteins, because the Perón government had fallen. In addition to continuing to research phosphoglucomutase, Milstein started studying another enzyme, alkaline phosphatase. Very soon, however, the new government was overthrown by a coup d'etat. This put in place another right-wing government, one hostile to Milstein because he was an academic and his Jewish name, which in the mind of the authorities made him a suspected communist. And so, along with thousands of other scientists and academics, Milstein left Argentina once again and returned to Cambridge. Milstein focused his research primarily on Milstein was able to move back to Cambridge quickly because of his friend and colleague Fred Sanger, who directed the protein chemistry division of the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB). Milstein’s focus at LMB was on the formation of antibody molecules, working on the very topic that had inspired him as a boy. Scientists had known about antibodies since the late 19th century. They knew that antibodies protected against disease, but they had no idea how antibodies worked. By the time Milstein started his research at LMB in the 1960s, scientists knew that antibodies were proteins. They knew that antibodies were shaped almost like the letter Y and that this shape had something to do with how antibodies worked. The top part of the Y shape was known to vary enormously between antibodies. This variability allows the immune system to produce antibodies able to grab onto a wide range of molecules foreign to the body. The upper part of the Y shape grabs a particular foreign molecule the way that a lock connects perfectly with the shape of the key that matches it. Scientists in the 1960s knew that antibodies worked this way, but how so many different shapes could be produced was a mystery. To solve the mystery, Milstein designed experiments to test the possibility that the diversity could be the result of mutations occurring in the DNA sequences. This hypothesis was developed based on an earlier, simpler idea proposed in 1959 by another pioneering molecular biologist, Joshua Lederberg. Milstein was not talking about the kind of mutations that are passed on to future generations. Instead, he meant somatic mutations, changes in gene sequences in the DNA of body cells, which are all cells other than reproductive cells (called gametes). These mutations not passed on to the next generation, but are important because they often lead to cancer. In particular, Milstein set out to investigate somatic mutations in the immune system cells that make antibodies. In antibodies, the top of their Y-shape Tackling research problems During the 1960s, numerous scientists were studying the DNA of immune system cells and they all, including Milstein, encountered the same two problems. First, experiments required a large number of cells and cells that made antibodies were hard to isolate. Second, the research required figuring out how the DNA in a cell that made one type of antibody differed from the DNA of a cell that made a different antibody. Every person has billions of antibody-producing immune cells in his or her blood. Each cell that is dedicated to making a specific antibody is called a clone. To compare one clone with another, Milstein knew he would need multiple copies of each clone. To overcome both problems, Milstein investigated Bence-Jones proteins, which are produced by a type of cancer called multiple myeloma. Antibodies are composed of smaller units that form the upper part of the Y-shape called heavy chains and light chains. Since the Bence-Jones proteins appeared to have the same structure as a section of the light chains of antibodies, this solved the problem of isolating antibodies. The Bence-Jones proteins could also be obtained in large quantities from the urine and blood of multiple myeloma patients, solving the problem of acquiring large numbers of cells. Furthermore, Bence-Jones protein molecules from the same patient were known to be identical to one another. Essentially, multiple myeloma makes a whole bunch of the same immune cell clone and a piece of that antibody, the light chain, accumulates in the person’s blood and urine. By utilizing Bence-Jones proteins from patient samples, Milstein believed he might figure out faster than other scientists how antibodies worked and how they were formed. The hope was that it would lead him to devise experiments to test his somatic mutation hypothesis, that the diversity of antibody shapes is the result of mutations in the DNA sequences. Like the protein enzymes that Milstein had studied, antibodies and Bence-Jones proteins are made of chemical building blocks called amino acids. The sequence of amino acids of each protein depends on DNA sequences, or genes, available in each cell. Milstein’s long-term tactic was to compare the sequences of DNA and amino acids with the structure of the Bence-Jones protein. If he could do this, he could prove that the diversity of antibodies does indeed come from somatic mutations. In 1962, Michael Potter, a molecular biologist at the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), discovered accidentally that a certain strain of laboratory mice (BALB/c mice) grows myeloma cells if injected with mineral oil. This made multiple myeloma cells and Bence-Jones proteins much easier to obtain compared with getting them from the blood and urine of human volunteers. Potter and the scientists working with him at NCI started growing large supplies of myeloma cells and made them available to scientists around the world. During the 1970s a team at San Diego’s Salk Institute developed a way to grow Potter’s cells in tissue culture; this meant that large numbers of the cells could be grown without even using mice. One line of these cells was called MOPC21 and it gave scientists like Milstein the freedom to focus their time and attention on doing creative experiments rather than having to devote much of their time into caring for the cells and keeping them alive in mice. Milstein collaborated with pathologist George Brownlee to extract a molecule called RNA from the MOPC21 cells. RNA is produced from DNA and acts as an intermediate in the construction of a protein, including an antibody, from amino acid building blocks. So, by examining the cells’ RNA, the genetic sequence for antibodies made by the cell could be obtained. Every person has ______ antibody-producing immune cells in his or her blood. Searching for mutations In the early 1970s Milstein also began working with two younger scientists, David Secher and Dick Cotton. The research that took shape consisted of two major components. The first was to clone the MOPC21 cells to reproduce numerous exact genetic copies of the cell line. These needed to grow on a substance called “soft agar” because this would allow individual clones to be sampled easily. The team needed to determine the rate at which mutations occurred once clones were growing consistently. Clones that mutated from a parent clone – called variants – could then be pulled from the agar, and the effects on the antibodies made by the cells could be compared. But after three months of culturing and analyzing antibodies from 7,000 clones, only five variants in antibody structure were observed. The method was too slow, although the occurrence of any mutations was a good finding. A new type of cell: Hybridomas The second component of the research sought to fuse two cells, each from a different myeloma cell line. This project depended largely on the laboratory skills of Dick Cotton, who was a postdoctoral scientist visiting Milstein’s LMB lab from Australia. All body cells have a mix of genes; half from the individual’s mother and half from the father. By the 1970s, however, scientists knew that each antibody-making immune cell used just one of the two sets of parental genes to make its antibody. Either the maternal genes were used or the paternal genes, while the other set of genes was turned off. Cotton wanted to understand why this was the case, and together with Milstein he decided that merging two cells into one might reveal something about which set of genes turns on or off in different situations. In the resulting fusion or hybrid cell, they wanted to see which genes would be turned on and which would be turned off. They also wanted to see what effect the turning on or off of different genes in the fused cell would have on the structure of the antibodies made by the hybrid cell. For one of the parent cells to make the hybrid cell, they used a mutant grown from the mouse MOPC21 cell line, while the other parent cell was from a line developed by a Belgian researcher. But rather than showing genes from one parent turned on and genes from the other parent turned off, the cell made by fusing the mouse and rat cell did something surprising. It manufactured antibodies using genes from both parent cells. Unlike in conventional immune cells, the new hybrid cell, which they called a hybridoma, did not shuffle the genes for different regions of the antibody to make new kinds of antibodies. Instead, they decided that the gene shuffling must occur early in the development of an immune cell before the cell starts making antibodies. Using the same technique, but tweaking procedures to perfect it, the team made other types of mouse-rat hybridomas and also mouse-mouse hybridomas. The results were the same as in the first hybridoma: antibody genes from both parents were used to make antibodies. There was a problem, however. The new hybridomas revealed a lot about the genetics of antibody production, but there was no way to control which antibody was produced. In normal physiology, the immune system makes antibodies that specifically recognize and bind with a particular foreign entity called an antigen. Since the hybridomas were made from myeloma cells, the antibodies produced were the same antibodies that the myeloma cells were born to make as cancer cells. Milstein needed a way to trigger the hybridomas to make new antibodies, meaning antibodies against a particular antigen, just like the immune system does. Also, the hybridomas were very short lived, which made continuous experiments difficult over time. While presenting a paper in Basel, Switzerland, Milstein met another researcher: Georges Köhler. For about a decade, Köhler had been working on his own kind of fusion cells using normal B lymphocytes. Also called B-cells, these are immune system cells that normally make antibodies in response to an infection. When this happens, they’re called plasma cells; when plasma cells become cancerous, they become multiple myeloma, the kind of cells that Milstein was fusing into hybridomas. A new collaboration developed as a result of this meeting and after many experiments Milstein and his colleagues created a new kind of hybridoma: a fusion of a healthy human B-cell and a mouse myeloma cell. They did this through a trial and error process, trying different combinations of cells and observing what the different, resulting hybridomas could do. The human B cell/mouse myeloma hybridoma turned out to be a groundbreaking achievement. It could manufacture the antibody that normally could be made by its human B-cell parent, but, somehow, merging with the mouse myeloma cell made it immortal. This meant that a hybridoma could be used to generate a cell line that could exist for long periods of time and be used to create the antibody of the immune cell in large quantities. This achievement set up Milstein, Köhler, and a growing number of scientific colleagues for the next step: making a hybridoma that secretes antibodies against a chosen antigen. If they could do this, it would mean that, by using a common procedure, antibodies could be made to recognize and bind virtually anything chosen as an antigen. The mouse immune system was known to react strongly to sheep red blood cells (SRBCs), meaning that mice easily make antibodies against SRBCs. Additionally, antibodies against SRBCs could be detected easily in laboratory tests used routinely in the 1970s. For these reasons, the team chose SRBCs for the test antigen. The goal was to create a lymphocyte-myeloma hybridoma that manufactured antibodies against SRBCs. In January 1975, the project succeeded in creating hybridoma cells that not only made antibodies against SRBCs but made them in huge quantities. In their 1975 scientific paper, published in the journal Nature, Milstein and Köhler emphasized the importance of their achievement by discussing potential applications of the hybridoma antibody technology to industry and medicine. Antibodies produced this way are called monoclonal antibodies, because they recognize one antigen (in fact, they recognize one part of a specific antigen, called an epitope). This is in contrast with polyclonal antibodies, which are made naturally by the immune system when it is stimulated by antigen exposure. In the case of a polyclonal immune response, the antibodies made vary in terms of the physical form and characteristics for binding antigens. In contrast, monoclonal antibodies are all exactly the same and recognize the exact same molecule and the exact same part of a molecule. To make antibodies, regular immune cells use genes from Monoclonal antibodies revolutionize healthcare Because of this specificity of monoclonal antibodies and the large numbers of them that can be made with a hybridoma, they can be used as detectors in medicine and biology. Thus, during the 1980s and 1990s, they revolutionized health care, the pharmaceutical industry, and biology research. Virtually every test for something biological – a blood test for HIV (the virus that causes AIDS), hepatitis, influenza, etc. – depends on some kind of monoclonal antibodies, manufactured with the techniques developed by Milstein and his colleagues. Antibodies produced this way also are used for infectious agents in public health settings, detection for defense against biological weapons, and have even been studied for use in detection of life on Mars and other planets. They’re also being employed ever more frequently as therapies against disease, including Ebola. Though perhaps not realizing just how far into the future Milstein’s work could take medicine, the scientific community understood the importance of the discovery fairly early. Thus, in 1984, together with Köhler and another colleague, Milstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine. From home pregnancy tests to treatment for Ebola, the discovery of monoclonal antibodies has greatly advanced science and medicine. This module traces the work of immunologist César Milstein, who successfully created “hybridoma” cells capable of producing specific antibodies in mass quantities. The module describes Milstein’s life as a student in Argentina during the regime of Juan Peron and his later research as he became a world-class scientist, winning the Nobel Prize in 1984.

I discovered a young conservative woman this week with her own website and a love for guns. Her name: Regis Giles. She is the sister of Hannah Giles who along with James O’Keefe brought down the giant and criminal ACORN organization. You’ll find a link below to Regis’ website, Girls Just Wanna Have Guns (click her photo). Find links to my friends hosting Rule 5s this weekend, below the pictures of Girls With Guns. Ethiopian Jewish Soldiers Regis Giles - Click to Visit Girls Just Wanna Have Guns Don’t know what a Rule 5 is? Read it here. The Other McCain is the master aggregator of all things Rule 5: I missed Stacy’s Rule 5’s for August 14th, so here it is. For Sunday August 21, grab the links from She’s the one. McCain has the Hanging on the Telephone edition this week. See the multitudinous links to Rule 5′s here. Opus at American Perspective is my Rule 5 mentor. She showed me how to do it right with this post. Last week Opie had Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and I think there will be another by tomorrow. Reaganite Republican has Hote Romanian Chicks! Meet Alexandra Stan and see a video Donald Douglas at American Power has video of Julie Henderson wearing body-paint. The artists are really, really talented:-) Last week’s Pinup at The Pirate’s Cove is here. Here’s this weeks latest pinup And… If all you see is natural and sustainable panties… Last week’s Rule 5 @ The Camp Saints’ was Sarah Shai. This week is Wendy Fiore. Hump Day dedicated to Barbara Hillary! Find the bevy here. Theo Spark’s Saturday Totty, Saturday Night is Bath Night, and some Bedtime Totty. A Bonus Babe. Missed last week, another Bonus Babe. Si Vis Pacem is back with Luis Ricardo Falero: Dawn, 1883 and Michail Zichy’s Nu Pensive and this week has his own girls with guns. You’ll like them! Proof Positive’s Friday Night Babe is Brooke Hogan, and last week was Vanessa Hudgens and the Vintage Babe of the Week, Angela Lansbury and last week Heather Locklear Teresamerica has Katherine Heigl Randy’s Roundtable has a Thursday Nite Tart: Carissa Rosario The DaleyGator’s DaleyBabe is Silvan Krispin and how about Eva Mendes! The POH Diaries has Maryeve Dufault – the new NASCAR Hottie and last week, Kate Winslet, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Thompson Hookers and Booze has a Wednesday night Hooker. Not to leave Tuesday going without. Fritz at A View From the Beach has Salma Hayek. Jamie at Eye of Polyphemus has NASCAR driver Maryeve Dufault and Petra Silander Full Metal Patriot has Halle Berry as a Midweek Peek Jake Finnegan has Burkalesque Babes Karen Alloy! Rio Norte Line has Midweek Madness: Jessica-Jane Clement Linked by Say Anything Blog which has many more links. My Top 10 Rule 5s (to see all, see the Rule 5 tab in the menu under my banner): (or see the all here) Lt. Col “Mac” McKenzie The Donald’s Daughter A Conservative Darlin’ – Kelly Pickler Ana Beatriz Barros Ten Beautiful Swim Suits and the Women in Them Linked by Ran at Libertarian Repbulican – Thanks! “Gals with Guns,” gentlemen. It’s the future.” Posted by Maggie @ Maggie’s Notebook

A report that shows a dramatic increase in hate crimes against Muslims and those of Middle Eastern origin in Orange County is symptomatic of a widespread mistrust of Muslims in the country, members of that community said. Although the numbers may be small, the report by the Orange County Human Relations Commission is a reminder that crimes fueled by hate still occur in Orange County, said Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the organization. “There is no denying that these hate crimes and hate incidents happen right here in our communities,” he said. The report released Wednesday stated that African Americans are the most frequent targets of hate crimes, while Jewish and Muslim communities experienced the most dramatic increases in hate crimes in 2009. The report also found that hate crimes against Latinos were down in 2009 after a two-year upward trend. Hate crimes against the gay and lesbian community also were down for the third year in a row. However, the report added that hate crimes against certain groups such as the gay and lesbian community and undocumented immigrants are underreported “because of fear and lack of trust.” Hate crimes and hate incidents are often underreported, said Affad Shaikh, a spokesman for Council on American-Islamic Relations. “What we are beginning to see in the Muslim community is people getting messages of hate as they are going about their daily lives such as going to the grocery store, at work or in school,” he said. “There is a greater degree of negativity now about Muslims and Islam.” Rabbi Nancy Myers of Temple Beth David in Westminster said they received one threatening phone call over the last year, which was reported to the police. “Overall, I have not perceived an increase in hatred for the Jewish community,” she said. “But even one hateful phone call can be disturbing and unsettling.” Her synagogue is continuing to reach out to the local Muslim community so they can understand each other better, Myers said. “The threat of Koran-burning was very disturbing to us,” she said. “Not too long ago Torahs were burned in Germany.” The numbers documented in this report may be relatively small, but each incident denotes the demeaning and dehumanizing of an individual because of his or her race, skin color, religious belief or sexual orientation, Kennedy said. Kennedy gave the example of an incident that occurred last year in an Orange County junior high school where a Muslim boy was cornered in a restroom by two other boys who said that they would shoot him if he came to school the next day. “Do we want children to be threatened because of their religious beliefs or race in our schools?” he said. “This report helps shine the light on these incidents and helps the public realize that hate crimes are real and they happen everywhere.” Louis DeSipio, associate professor at UCI for Chicano/Latino Studies, says one year’s statistics do not tell the whole story. He said he finds it interesting that hate crimes against Latinos are down in a year that has seen several heated debates relating to immigration. “You have to look at the numbers over several years,” he said. “Underreporting is definitely a problem in many immigrant communities because they fear retaliation or in some cases, because they may be undocumented.” Creating awareness is a proactive approach, but very often the dialogue and debate remains confined to college campuses, DeSipio said. “It does not reach down to the street, to the level of the common man, which is where these hate crimes or hate incidents occur,” he said. Ghizlane Znagui, a Muslim who came from Morocco about seven years, ago reported a “hate incident” to CAIR, which is documented in the hate crime report. Znagui says she was with her 4-year-old daughter at a Stater Brothers in Anaheim one day in December when she was “yelled at and called names” by another visitor to the store. “I was wearing my hijab and this man began yelling profanity,” she said. “He told me to ‘go back home.’ I told him, ‘This is my home.'” Znagui said she did not expect such an incident to happen anywhere in the United States, let alone at a supermarket she frequents. The commission documented a total of 77 hate crimes in Orange County in 2009. Here are some of the report’s highlights: - Hate crimes involving African Americans were down about 30 percent — from 23 incidents in 2008 to 16 in 2009. But African Americans, who make up only 2 percent of the county’s population, were still the target of the most hate crimes, the report found. - Hate crimes against Muslims and the Middle Eastern community grew from four incidents in 2008 to 10 in 2009. The report states that hate crimes against these communities have risen at the highest rate after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Also, hate crimes targeting Jews increased for the second year in a row – from 10 incidents in 2008 to 14 in 2009. - Crimes targeting Latinos dropped significantly from 15 incidents in 2008 to six in 2009. A similar trend was seen in crimes against the Gay and Lesbian community where the number of hate crimes fell from 11 incidents in 2008 to six in 2009. - Although the number of hate crimes against the Asian community is relatively lower, there was a three-fold increase in 2009 – from two incidents in 2008 to seven in 2009. - The report also shows that there was a 50 percent increase in hate crimes targeting people because of their religious beliefs while crimes motivated by race or ethnicity dropped by 20 percent. - More than half of the hate crimes reported in Orange County involved vandalism or graffiti. 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I wrote that I wasn’t comfortable as it is not for a white person to decide how a person of color feels when they hear the word in the context of literature. I have been thinking about this ever since. Before I share my own thoughts, I want to give the floor to Suzanna La Rosa, co-founder and publisher of NewSouth Books. While admitting their offices have been flooded with negative e-mails and phone calls, she states: “We didn’t undertake this lightly. If our publication fosters good discussion about how language affects learning and certainly the nature of censorship, then difficult as it is likely to be, it’s a good thing.” Others, however, have attacked the publishers for “censorship” and “political correctness,” or simply for the perceived sin of altering the words of a literary icon. The hefty “Autobiography of Mark Twain,” published last year, has become a best seller. English teachers have also expressed their objection to the idea of cleaning up the novel. Elizabeth Absher, an English teacher at South Mountain High School in Arizona, says: “I’m not offended by anything in ‘Huck Finn.’ I am a big fan of Mark Twain, and I hear a lot worse in the hallway in front of my class.” Ms. Absher does not teach ‘Huck Finn’ because it is a long book. She does, however teach many of Twain’s short stories and makes “Huck Finn” available for students. “I think authors’ language should be left alone,” she said. “If it’s too offensive, it doesn’t belong in school, but if it expresses the way people felt about race or slavery in the context of their time, that’s something I’d talk about in teaching it.” In another New York Times editorial, That’s Not Twain, the opinion was made very clear. “When “Huckleberry Finn” was published, Mark Twain appended a note on his effort to reproduce “painstakingly” the dialects in the book, including several backwoods dialects and “the Missouri negro dialect.” What makes “Huckleberry Finn” so important in American literature isn’t just the story, it’s the richness, the detail, the unprecedented accuracy of its spoken language. There is no way to “clean up” Twain without doing irreparable harm to the truth of his work.” I am not going into the sanctity of literature or the censorship of authors. There is plenty of such reactions on the blogosphere. But, in my previous post, I wrote about how as a white person and even as a Jew, I felt this was for African-Americans to decide. If I am offending them by reading such words and having our children read them. This is what has been on my mind. As a Jew, I resent when people use the word Holocaust freely. I believe it cheapens what the Nazis did to my people. I think where anti-Semitic words are used in a historical context, I want them to remain so. When my son heard the N-word being used in the audio book I was listening to, he challenged me. What came out of that was a discussion of slavery, of racism, and of the way we can hurt people by using offensive words. If literature can facilitate such discussions and empower a greater understanding of slavery and racism, I think I side with those who want the N-word left in Twain’s work. Nothing will come out of burying our sins. We need to face them, admit to them, and ensure they will never happen again. Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist (now available on Kindle) and A Gardener’s Tale. He is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Hillel Foundation, a non-profit that provides spiritual and social justice opportunities to Jewish students in the Bay Area. More on Alon Shalev at www.alonshalev.com

Posted on September 6, 2019 In 1981 Bill Broadhurst lined up alongside 1,200 other men and women ready to run the 10,000 meter Pepsi Challenge race. But amongst that field of competitors, Bill Broadhurst was unique, 10 years earlier he had had surgery for a brain aneurysm that had left him paralyzed on his left side. The starting gun sounded, and all of the runners surged forward. As they ran, Broadhurst threw his stiff left leg forward, pivoting on it as his foot hit the ground. He continued in this slow and steady manner as the rest of the runners disappeared off into the distance. His face was covered in sweat, and pain pierced his ankle, but he kept on going. Some runners completed the race in 30 minutes, Broadhurst took 3 hours to reach the end. As he reached the finish line, one man stepped forward from the group of bystanders watching him run. This man was the marathon record holder Bill Rodgers, winner of Boston and New York marathons. Recognizing the significance of the moment Rodgers removed the gold medal from his own neck and draped it around Bill Broadhurst, he whispered to him: “You’re the hero of this race. You deserve the medal.” There is something awe inspiring about watching runners compete in long distance endeavors. Standing on the street in Natick as participants in the Boston marathon surged past, I was in awe of the physical training and determination it required to participate in that race. As the story of Bill Rodgers and Bill Broadhurst reminds us, apart from an elite few, when most people run and compete in races it is not about “winning” in the sense of finishing first, it is primarily about simply finishing, reaching the line at the end and completing the race. Sure, the time achieved may be important, but not in comparison to someone else, rather as a personal milestone or achievement. Broadhurst was determined to participate in the Pepsi Challenge and he was determined to finish that race; as Rodgers rightly noted, he was the winner that day. By reputation, both at home and in the synagogue, I am known as someone who runs a lot. Not in the sense of putting on my sneakers and going for a run, but rather as a person who never walks but always runs. My wife Micol was asked the other day if I had ever simply walked up or down the stairs and her answer was no. Members of our Education team know that I am approaching their offices, because they can hear my rapid footsteps down the corridor. And there has on occasion been concern from our main office about the rapid thumping when I’ve been rushing down the main staircase. I’ve been trying to think about why I am always running. On the one hand I think that I run because I have a lot of energy and running is a way to let it out. But I also think I run because I am often excited and eager for what lies ahead. I might run up the stairs to see my children. I run down the corridor because I have an idea to share with our education team. And I generally run because I guess I am a person always looking forward and eager to get where I am going. And I am wondering if it’s just me. What are the things that you run for? If you think about your regular life when are those moments that you have that bit more determination in your steps, when you’re moving that bit more quickly to get to the place you are going? You might not spend your whole life running in the way that I do, but I am sure there are things, places, or people we are all, at least metaphorically, running towards. In our Torah portion this week, the name really tells us all about the subject: Shoftim, literally means judges and the subject matter at hand is the Israelite judicial system. After giving instructions about setting up judges, the portion contains arguably it’s most famous line when we read: tzedek tzedek tirdof – justice, justice, you shall pursue it. The commentators have spent a significant amount of time discussing the reason for the repetition of the word tzedek-justice. It is striking that this word is repeated with no discernible grammatical or linguistic reason. And yes, the repetition of tzedek is interesting, but for me, I am struck more by the fact that we are told tirdof-to pursue it. When thinking about our relationship with justice there are many words that could have been used in connection to our obligations towards it. Uphold justice. Defend justice. Or simply as it says elsewhere in the Bible: Do justice. The choice of tirdof as the word – “pursue” is intentional and it gives a different sense to our relationship with justice. In this context we are pursuing justice as something aspirational. We don’t simply follow it, but rather we are running towards it. There is a sense of urgency in that word, a desperate desire to reach an aspirational finish line. I wonder if it gives a sense that true and complete justice is always, ever so slightly, out of reach, but nonetheless we have to run with determination to try and get there. When Bill Broadhurst began the Pepsi Challenge I am sure that he had aspirations of finishing the race. What we can’t know is how realistic he felt that goal was. But he set himself a target and he ran towards it. And through his determination, commitment and drive he was able to reach that finish line. And on that day he was the man truly worthy of a gold medal. With the call in this week’s Torah portion to pursue and run after justice I am wondering what are those things that we are running towards or for in our own lives. They may be other overarching principles like justice that we are aspiring towards. Or there may be milestones and achievements to which we are racing. Or it may be about actively pursuing specific hopes and dreams for our family, community or society. We know that running, as an example of exercise, is good for our physical health. But this week’s Torah portion has got me thinking that metaphorically running for something might be good for our spiritual health. It is important to have a target to which we are aspiring. A thing or an idea that is worth rushing towards with a sense of urgency. As we prepare to enter the new Jewish year, I want to ask each of you to think about what is it that you want to run towards? What is it that you will be pursuing in the months that lie ahead? What is the finish line that you are hoping to cross over in the future? I have no idea what it should be for anyone other than myself. But I’m starting to believe that it is good for all of us to have something to run towards, something we are pursuing, a finish line to cross over. I hope that we will all receive a winner’s medal in the year that lies ahead. Deuteronomy 16:20 Micah 6:8

Knowledge and actions are the two arms of Islam. Just as a bird cannot fly without two wings the Messenger of Allah (S) has said: Knowledge without action is a curse and action without knowledge is deviation. Just as for knowledge it is necessary to have information about the realities of various things and the causes of all the phenomena, in the same way sincerity and purity of intention is needed for all actions. No matter how difficult and significant a deed is; if it is not accompanied by sincerity it has no value in the view of the Almighty and there is no reward for it. According to a tradition: The doer of the greatest deeds will be touching the fire of Hell. None of the deeds of Holy Imams were bereft of sincerity. They always performed the good deeds to obtain the pleasure of Allah and never allowed a personal motive to come in between. Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) says: My God! Neither I worship You for the fear of Hell nor for the desire of Paradise. It is because I find You deserving of worship. The beast proof of his sincerity was that every deed of his was accepted by the Almighty and this is clearly certified in the Holy Quran. The traditions of the Messenger of Allah (S) have also testified to the purity of his actions. Now let us study the practical virtues of the Holy Imams in some detail. Apparently there is no relationship between worship and good morals, but actually it has a very profound connection. The root of the correction of morals is itself worship. One who does not perform the religions duties could never perfect his morals. Let us just consider the relationship of Prayer to morals. The Almighty Allah says: Surely prayer keeps (one) away from indecency and evil… (Surah Ankabut 29:45) We should know that indecencies and unlawful things are roots of all evils. When prayer has protected one from those things, the morals of that person would definitely bloom into a beautiful form. Now just make an analogy with other worship acts. Worship denotes getting oneself connected to the Almighty. The result is that divine Graces fall upon the worshipper. Now what can be said about the perfection of morals of a person who is the recipient of divine graces? One who leaves the worship acts can never put forward his good morals. Therefore it became necessary that first of all we must discuss the worship of the Holy Imams. It is our challenge that the type of sincere worship they had performed in the world was not possible by anyone else. Those who worship do so in any of the following ways (1) Merely performing worship in a mechanical way. There is no benefit in such a kind of worship (2) Worship for showoff - Leave alone benefits, it is a sin (3) Worship with sincerity - It earns rewards (4) Worship with divine realization (wijdaan) - It creates a spiritual aura. The worshipper experiences such pleasure that he cannot obtain it in anything else in the world. It causes one to become more proximate to the Almighty. The worship of the Holy Imams was of this category. When the time for prayers arrived he used to pale. Once, someone inquired about this. He said, “It is the time for fulfillment of that duty, the burden of which was refused by the heavens, the earth and the mountains. But despite my feeble physique I agreed to carry the burden.” The Imam used to say, “I do not know anyone in this community who has prayed with the Messenger of Allah (S) before me. I have prayed nine years before others did.”1 It is mentioned in Sharh Nahjul Balagha that during the battle of Siffin, Ali (a.s) used to spread his prayer mat between two rows of fighters and perform the prayers even as arrows rained from all sides and the battle continued to rage. He had not a slight fear of those arrows. Even after the completion of prayers he did not leave his place before reciting additional supplications and devotions. Allamah Ibn Abil Hadid writes that Ali (a.s) was so habitual of recommended prayers (Nafila) and performed such lengthy prostrations that his forehead began to resemble the knee of the camel. He used to be so much engrossed in Prayers that he became absolutely oblivious of everything else. So much so that he was not even aware of his body. It is mentioned that once an arrow pierced his foot but it was very painful to him if someone tried to remove it. So they were advised to wait till Ali (a.s) was engrossed in prayers. Thus when Ali (a.s) was praying, the people removed the arrow and Ali (a.s) was hardly aware of it. The way of their fasting was such that when Imam Hasan and Imam Husayn were indisposed, all made a vow to keep three fasts. When it was time to fulfill the vow they all fasted for three days. But everyday at the time of breaking the fast a beggar approached their door and each of them gave him their shares and broke their fast with only water. Again the next day they fasted without eating anything else. Thus they fasted for three days continuously. The Almighty accepted their fasts and Surah Dahr was revealed in their praise. Imam Ali (a.s) fasted most of the days and was busy in prayers all night long. So much so, that the neighbors report hearing one thousand Takbiratul Ehram (Allaho Akbar) in one night. Many times his condition became so serious that people used to think that his soul has departed from him. Imam Hasan (a.s) used to perform excessive worship and devotions. He used to spend a better part of the night in the worship of Allah. He used to pray and supplicate with such a devotion and pleading that people used to think he was weeping due to the passing away of a close relative. Like his respected father, Imam Hasan (a.s) also kept many fasts. He performed twenty-five Hajj pilgrimages on foot. He used to say: I am ashamed to meet my Lord in a condition that I fail to reach His House on foot. Once he was traveling for Hajj and his mount was being led alongside. When after walking a long distance swelling appeared on his legs someone suggested, “O Son of Allah's Messenger (S)! When your mount is present why do you not travel upon it?” He replied, “I have not kept the mount with me to ride upon it myself. It is there in case I find a traveler too tired to walk and I may give him a lift.” What can be said about the worship of the one who was brought up in the laps of the Messenger of Allah (S) and Imam Ali (a.s), and had benefited from their company. Imam Husayn (a.s) was fond of worship since his early childhood. He often used to pray with the Messenger of Allah (S). Hafas bin Ghayas reports that one day the Messenger of Allah (S) stood up to pray and Imam Husayn (a.s) also came and stood besides him. When the Messenger of Allah (S) recited the Takbir (Allaho Akbar), Imam Husayn (a.s) who was aged five or six at that time also tried to recite it but could not do so properly. The Messenger of Allah (S) repeated the Takbir. But again it didn't come out perfectly from Imam Husayn (a.s). Thus the Messenger of Allah (S) had to recite the Takbir seven times altogether. Therefore since that time it became a Sunnat (recommended act) to recite seven Takbirs before Takbiratul Ehram (Allaho Akbar at the beginning of Prayers). Someone asked Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) why his respected father had so few children. He replied, “The reason is that he used to recite one thousand rakats (units) of prayers every night,” Imam Husayn (a.s) also performed twenty-five Hajj pilgrimages on foot though his vehicles used to remain with him during the journeys. He was so much fond of the worship of Allah that on the eve of Ashura he obtained respite with a lot of difficulty from Umar Ibn Saad. Such a difficult night the eve of Ashura was that all the calamities had surrounded the Imam (a.s); even then he was engrossed in prayers and devotions all night long with utmost sincerity, humility and devotion. Only a person like Imam Husayn (a.s) could have performed such worship. The most difficult was the time of the noon prayers. The opponents were showering arrows and Imam Husayn (a.s) was performing the prayers. More significant was the time of the afternoon (Asr) prayers. A wounded and oppressed creature was surrounded by the enemies who attacked him from all sides while he performed his Asr prayers in gestures. The climax was that they beheaded him while he was in prostration. At the time of worship, such a fear used to overcome Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) that the color of his face used to become yellow (Pale). This condition endured from the beginning till the end. At the time of ritual ablution (wuzu) the same condition occurred. Once someone asked the reason for it. Imam (a.s) replied, “At this moment I am standing before a glorious and a divine Emperor Who is the Creator of all the worlds, in Whose hands is the reward and punishment of every creature. What is so surprising that my condition is such due to His fear?” Once he went to perform the Hajj pilgrimage. When he reached the point where pilgrims put on the ritual dress he was about to recite the Thalbiya (Labbaik) and put on the dress when all of a sudden the color of his face underwent a change and the body began to shake terribly. At last, he could not even utter Labbaik. People asked him why he didn't recite the thalbiya. He said, “I was afraid to say Labbaik (here I am at your service) lest Allah may reply: La-Labbaik (I am not for you).” Saying this he wept so much that he lost consciousness. He performed all the rituals in this fearful condition. Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) used to recite altogether one thousand rakats (units) of prayers in twenty-four hours, and in every prayer he used to tremble severely. Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s) says that whenever his respected father mentioned a bounty of Allah, he used to perform a prostration of thanks, whenever he recited a verse of Quran his condition used to be such that whether it be an obligatory prostration or a recommended one he used to invariably perform it. When he got relief from a particular difficulty he performed a prostration. He used to prostrate after the obligatory prayers. The signs of excessive prostration were apparent on his forehead? That is why he had earned the title of Sajjad (one who prostrates too much). Due to such excess two corns had formed on his forehead like the knee of a camel. Such was his sincerity and humility that once there was a fire in his house. At that time he was in prostration, people began to shout, Fire! Fire! But he did not raise his head from prostration. Finally the fire was brought under control. Someone asked him, “You did not even notice that there was a fire? What made you so oblivious of everything?” “The fire of the Hereafter,” replied the Imam. Once Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s) fell down in a well. Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) was reciting the prayers. The mother of Imam Baqir (a.s) screamed, “O Son of Allah's Messenger! Our son has fallen in the well.” However, as was his practice, he remained engrossed in his prayers. When he finished the prayers he came to the well, put his hand inside it and pulled out Imam Baqir (a.s) and told his wife, “If I had become negligent of Allah, He would not have restored this boy safe and sound to me.” After half the night had passed, he used to come to his private prayer room and recite devotional prayers aloud: O my Lord! The fear of meeting You on the Day of Gathering did not allow me to remain on my bed. And sleep abandoned my eyes. Saying this he used to place his cheeks on the ground and wept so profusely that the ground became wet with his tears. Seeing this condition his family members used to gather around him but he paid no attention to them. He continued to weep and supplicate in the same plaintive way. O my Lord! Here I do not seek rest, but on the day I am summoned in Your presence, please look at me with a glance of mercy. Tawus Yamani narrates that Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) was seen during the Hajj season rubbing his cheeks on ground near the black stone and reciting devotions to his Lord. “O my God! Your slave has come to Your House. Your impoverished one has come to Your House. Your beggar has come to Your House. Your pleader has come to Your House.” The Imam used to say that three types of people worship in this world: The first type worship due to fear. It is the worship of slaves. The second type worship for rewards - It is the worship of business people. The third type worship with thankfulness - This is the true worship of the servants of Allah. He used to subject his body to utmost penance. One day Imam Baqir (a.s) asked him why he practiced such a severe penance? He replied, “Don't you like that I should obtain divine proximity?” Like his respected father, Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s) was also fond of worship. Most of his nights passed in wakefulness and in remembrance of Allah. The better part of the day was also spent in worship. Similar was the case of his fasts. Most of the time he used to observe fasts. When he stood up in the prayer niche his body shook with the fear of the Almighty. As long as he sat in a gathering, the glorification of God was on his lips. Once someone asked him why he worshipped so much? He began to weep and said, “Ugh! You call it excessive worship? While I consider it nothing with regard to the glory and the magnificence of the Lord.” People used to be astounded seeing the glory of his worship. Thus once Abu Hanifah saw him praying and was left perplexed by it. When the Imam completed the prayers he said, “O Aba Abdillah! How torturous is your prayer!” Imam (a.s) replied, “Don't you know that among all the worship acts, prayer is the greatest cause of divine proximity?” Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s) used to prolong the recitations of his bowing (ruku) and prostration (Sajdah) so much that sometimes he recited them more than sixty times. The narrator says: One day I went to Imam (as.) to inquire something from him. I found him lying in prostration in the Prophet's mosque. I sat down near him thinking that when he completes his prayer I can ask him the question. The Imam prolonged the prostration so much that I was fed up sitting there. I thought up of some idea to somehow convey to him that I was present there. I decided to also go into prostration and recite the recitation of prostration loudly so that the Imam would hear my voice and complete his prayer. Thus I began to pray and when I went into prostration I recited the recitation loudly. When I had recited it more than 360 times I realized that the Imam has concluded his prayer. I also concluded my prayer then addressed the Imam, “Master, if this is the level of your prayer, what is the worth our prayers?” He said, “More or less, both are accepted from our Shias (followers)” One day the Imam was passing by the orchards of Kufa. After walking for sometime he sat under a date palm. There he performed the ritual ablution and began to pray. He prolonged the recitation of his prostration so much that it exceeded five hundred times. It is mentioned in Faslul Khitab that at the time of sunrise he used to go into a prostration for the Creator and he used to so much prolong this prostration that it extended upto noontime. Due to intensive worship he had become so lean and emaciated that people barely recognized him. It seemed as if only a white cloth was lying on the prayer mat. Seeing the level of his worship, once Harun Rashid said: You are the monk and the pious one of Bani Hashim. During the period he was in prison, it was customary for him to complete his morning prayer, recite the additional supplications and devotions and then go into a prostration and remain thus till noon. After the decline of the sun from its zenith he used to raise his head and perform the Noon (Zuhr) Prayer. Then he spent the whole day in worship. At night he slept for a few moments and spent the rest of the night in worship. After the Noon (Zuhr) and Afternoon (Asr) prayers he used to go into prostration and remain in this position till sunset. As soon as it was evening he stood up for the evening (Maghrib) prayer. After the evening prayer he recited the supplications till the time of the Night (Isha) prayers. Again after the Night (Isha) prayers he began to recite supplications and invocations. When he finished all this he broke his fast and used to eat a little food then go into prostration of thanks. Then after sleeping for a little while he was engrossed in the Midnight prayer till it was the time for Morning Prayer. One day Harun Rashid sent a very attractive slave girl to the prison to seduce the Imam in any way possible. She came to the prison and employed all the tactics but to no avail. The Imam was not even slightly attracted by her. On the other hand the intensive worship of the Imam and his devotional recitations in the court of Allah had such profound effect on the maid that she began to regret her own evil intentions and became engrossed in Allah's worship. When Harun was informed of this he summoned her and asked, “Why did you not perform the job I sent you for?” She said, “O Chief! Listen! This man is not human. He is an angel. How could I have attracted him? I had gone to attract him towards myself but on the contrary his spirituality affected me.” After that, the slave girl receded into seclusion and spent the rest of her life in worship. Like his forefather, Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s), Imam Ridha’ (a.s) also used to pray a thousand rakats (units) of prayers in a day and night. He concluded his prayers before a little while before noon and till the time of sunset at the end of the day. Otherwise most of the time he used to stand on his prayer mat. He also remained very thoughtful and contemplative. After completing the Morning Prayer he used to be engrossed in recitations and supplications and he prolonged the glorifications of God to such an extent that it was mid-morning. At this time he went into prostration of thanks to remain therein till noon. After that he issued admonitions and advices and returned to his prayer mat for the noon prayer. He recited the supererogatory (nawafil) till the sun began to decline from its zenith. After the noon prayer he prolonged his recitations and then performed the prostration of thanks. He used to recite: Thanks be to Allah (Shukran Lillaah) a hundred times. Thus, this type of worship continued till midnight. Then he slept for sometime and arose for the midnight prayer. Mamun tried his utmost to involve the Imam in the affairs of the government but how could he do that? One day Mamun said, “O son of the Messenger of Allah! I fear that you may perish due to excess worship.” Imam (a.s) replied, “Such a death is everlasting success.” Mamun said, “What sins have you committed that you pray day and night for their forgiveness?” Imam (a.s) replied, “Not for the forgiveness of sins, it is for the thankfulness of His bounties. It is the demand of my servitude.” The worship of Imam Muhammad Taqi (a.s) was such that not a moment was without remembrance of Allah. Once he went for the Hajj. Seeing the intensive worship of the Imam, the pilgrims were left bewildered. Mutasim had also come for Hajj at that time. His officials reported to him the account of the worship of Imam Muhammad Taqi (a.s) and his sincerity and humility in prayers. They said, “We have never seen a more pious person.” The Imam used to weep the whole night in Allah's remembrance and when people restrained him he intensified his lamentations and said, “When have I worshipped the Almighty as befits Him, that you ask me to reduce it?” A significant proof of his excessive worship is that his wife Ummul Fadl the daughter of Caliph Mamun wrote in a complain letter to her father: You have married me to a person who spends the whole night standing in the prayer niche, and fasts during the day. Neither is he fond of beauty and embellishments nor there is any means of comfort and luxury in his house. Daughters of the kings cannot spend their life with such ascetics. Like his forefathers, Imam Ali Naqi (a.s) was also a lover of the remembrance of Allah. When Mutawakkil summoned him from Medina to his capital and put him into prison, he appointed a stonehearted person named Zarraqi as the warden who had no mercy for anyone. But he was also astounded by his excellent manners and his worships all day and night long. And gradually he became the Imam's devotee and supporter. When Mutawakkil was informed about the condition of his spiritual inclinations he called him one day and said, “I appointed you so that you behave with your prisoner in the utmost vicious and ill-behaved manner.” He said, “O Chief! This person seems to be higher than angels in spiritual accomplishments. Since he is in my charge, I have never seen him eat during the day and sleep whole night. How do you expect me to deal harshly with one who is mostly busy in the worship of Allah, who fasts everyday, who does not demand anything, who never has a bad word for anyone, whose favorite activity is remembrance of Allah? How can I oppress him and destroy my Hereafter? O Chief! He laments so intensely due to the fear of Allah that his beard gets wet with his tears. He recites the Quran in such a melodious way that if one who hears it had a heart of stone, it would melt like wax. I think that you have put an angel under my charge. I have seen many worshippers but I haven't seen anyone like him.” Imam Hasan Askari (a.s) also had maximum fondness for the worship of Allah. In the prison where he was meted out every type of discomfort, where fresh air was not available and for two years at a stretch he was given nothing but cold water and two loaves of bread to eat. In such a place the condition was such that he used to spend the whole night in the worship of Allah. He fasted on most of the days. The servants of Motamid used to be perplexed on seeing his worship and they used to say to each other: If only we could freely be allowed to serve this noble personality. Thus Muhammad bin Ismail Alawi says that some persons from Bani Abbas went to Salih bin Wasf, under whom Imam Hasan Askari (a.s) was imprisoned and said, “Be very harsh with him and do not have the slightest mercy.” He said, “I had appointed two men over him. Both were the harshest and most vicious persons but after sometime seeing the excessive prayers of this prisoner, his worship of Allah and his spiritual strength they became his obedient servants ready to kiss his feet. They accompany him in prayers during the night.” After this Salih called those two servants from the prison and said, “What is this condition of yours?” They said, “Whose condition should we describe? Ours or that of the one who fasts during the days and prays the whole night? He does nothing other than pray. When people see his illuminated face, such a demeanor is radiated from it that we cannot show any ill manners. He is such a worshipper that he has converted evil-doer like us into worshippers.” Since the age of five he used worship the Almighty. During the period of Minor occultation (Ghaibat Sughra) when his special deputies had the honor of visiting him, they always found him engrossed in worship and prayers. Abul Hasan Ali Ibn Muhammad as-Saymoori relates: One day I came to Imam (a.s) and said, “O son of the Messenger (S)! Whenever I have the honor to be in your presence, I find you busy in worship?” Imam (a.s) replied, “Then what else do you expect from me? O Abul Hasan! People are created for this only. That they spend their lives in Allah's remembrance.” We have dealt very briefly regarding the account of the worship of the Holy Imams. Otherwise, every movement and every rest of theirs was worship. There was nothing from the Divine Law upon which they had not acted. Since Prayer and fasting are the best worship acts, that is why we have particularly mentioned them. Though no one has the capacity to describe them fully. It is possible for someone to remark at this juncture that many holy saints have passed who spent their lives in Allah's worship. Then what is the precedence of the Holy Imams over them? The reply is that merits in worship are due to some factors: (1) Magnitude: That is the quantity of worship. For example one who keeps ten fasts in better than one who keeps only one. One who recites a hundred rakats (units) of prayers is better than one who recites fifty. From this aspect no one can be superior to the Holy Imams. Because their prayers, fasts and Hajjs exceeded those of all other people. No one in Islam can challenge that even one prayer of his has not lapsed. Neither can anyone claim that all his life he prayed the whole night and fasted all the days. (2) Condition: That is to perform each worship act according to the prescribed rituals and manners. On the contrary someone else does it without caring for the fulfillment of all its requirements. Both of them have performed the same act but the former would indeed be superior to the latter. From this aspect also, the Holy Imams' (a.s) worship was better than all others, because they used to perform all the worship acts in the perfect manner. Till date no one has even mistakenly, pointed out their shortcomings in this regard. If there had been any shortcoming in any of their acts, they would not have received the certificate of excellence of their deeds from the Almighty Allah and the Holy Prophet (S). (3) Essence: That is, the action of one person is better than that of another. For example, the actions of the one who fulfills the obligatory acts are superior to the actions of one who performs supererogatory acts. From this aspect also the acts of Ahl ul-Bayt were the best, because they did not even allow Tark-e-Awla (omitting the preferable option) to enter their actions. They also never ever omitted any recommended deed, and performed each act with utmost precaution and care. (4) Intention: That is two people perform the same type of deed but each has a different aim in it. For example, one acts for seeking the pleasure of Allah and the other does it for show-off. Since the Holy Imams did everything for the pleasure of Allah and no personal interest was present therein, and they did everything for the sake of the Love of Allah, therefore in any case their actions were the most superior. If it hadn't been so, their excellence would not have been mentioned in the verses of Quran. (5) Precedence: For example someone started worshipping Allah since childhood and another one started after a part of his life had passed. Since the Holy Imams had begun worship from their early childhood, they had superiority over others from this aspect also. (6) Attention and Humility: That is one prays with absolute concentration and certainty while another performs it sans these qualities. It is obvious that except for the Holy Prophet (S), no one excelled the Ahl ul-Bayt in this regard. No one else possessed such concentration and humility in worship. All Muslim scholars agree that the Holy Imams (a.s) excelled all the people in knowledge, merits, worship and austerity and not a single lesser or greater sin was ever committed by them. Therefore the rank of their worship would also always remain superior and better than all the worshippers of the world. In our definition a brave is one who puts himself in some danger, then saves himself or someone else from it. We call every such person as brave, who gains victory over his enemy. We consider them valiant, all those who are successful in territorial conquests. But the fact is that being actually 'brave' and 'valiant' is something altogether different. It is a middle line, thinner than hair and sharper than the sword's edge. Even a slight deviation of man takes him away from the path of moderation, and instead of virtue, a defect is created in him. There are many qualities that resemble virtues but actually they are not included among the virtues. For example, bravery is a virtue. But above it is dare-devilry or ferocity. That is to jump into danger without any thought and consideration. As much this course of actions moves to the upper side as much it deviates from the path of virtue. The second line is on the lower side. It is termed as cowardice. As much this also increases, as much it would be distant from the virtue of bravery. Actual bravery is only that has none of the above two deviations. Whenever the Holy Imams exhibited their bravery it was always purified of both the extremes. Most of the warriors are such that the give a free rein to their ferocity and rarely keep in mind the actual aim of their fighting. Thus they become distanced from the virtue of bravery. Valour does not mean that one shows force in each and every occasion and that he should always be ready with a brandished sword. However, if one reflects on the consequences of the incidents and then to protect himself from future perils he takes up the sword, it is true valour. Since the Holy Imams were cognizant of what valour actually means, therefore whenever they found the circumstances fit for the use of sword they resorted to force. And when conditions demanded patience and peace they put their swords away and exhibited their valour. We cannot call this cowardice because coward is one who only due to the weakness of his heart bears the oppression of his enemy and it is not the one who finds his strength ready for confrontation. But due to the exigencies of circumstances and with an eye on the consequential matters he stops from confrontation. These are such subtle differences as cannot be understood by the common people. One who fights for territorial annexations, for gathering war-booty and wealth, killing innocent people and oppressing the masses, one who threatens those who are weaker than him and forces his obedience upon them. According to the Islamic view such a one does not deserve to be called valiant. He is actually a ferocious beast. The actual brave is one who refrains from fighting when there is risk of spread of mischief and turmoil. He avoids fighting to maintain peace in the Islamic lands, to keep the innocent people safe and for the defense of religious sanctity. One who does not use his military power and does not proceed with the violent option, in the view of Islamic morals such a one is truly brave and valiant. He is not a coward at all. Anyway, after this brief introduction let us study about the valour of the Holy Imams (a.s). If a detailed account were complied regarding the valour of Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) it would make up a considerably thick volume. It is the unanimous opinion of all the Muslim historians that a brave and valiant warrior like Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) has not been born into this world to this date. On the day of the battle of Uhad a call emanated between the earth and the sky: “There is no brave youth except Ali and there is no sword except Zulfiqar.” In the battle of Khyber the Prophet (S) gave him the title of “The victor who does not flee” and the Holy Quran said: Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way in ranks as if they were a firm and compact wall. (Surah Saff 61:4) This proves that Ali (a.s) was a champion beyond comparison. Not once, but hundreds of times, the bravery of Ali (a.s) became apparent to all the people. And every time he remained unprecedented. It is narrated from Musab Ibn Umair in Mustatraf that Ali (a.s) used to be very careful and knew well all the techniques of offence and defense. It was not possible for anyone to get a hit at him. He wore the coat of mail only on his chest and it did not cover his back. Someone said: Do you not fear that someone may attack you from behind? He replied, “May Allah not keep me alive if I allow the enemy to approach me from behind.” It is mentioned in Khazinatul Adab that when Adi bin Hatim had the honor of meeting the Messenger of Allah (S), during the conversation he remarked, “The greatest poet, the greatest philanthropist, and the greatest warrior was from our community.” The Prophet (S) asked him who they were. He replied, “The greatest poet was Imrul Qays bin Hujr, the greatest philanthropist was Hatim bin Sa'ad (that is my father) and the greatest warrior was Amr bin Maad Yakrab.” The Messenger of Allah (S) said, “It is not this way; the greatest poet was Khunsa binte Amr, the greatest philanthropist is Muhammad the Messenger of Allah and the greatest warrior is Ali Ibn Abi Talib.” Qutaybah has written in Ma'rif that when the confrontation of Siffin intensified, Ali (a.s) challenged Muawiyah to a duel and said: Let the two of us fight it out among us, so that after the slaying of one the Muslims would be safe. Amr Ibn Aas said: Fair enough! Muawiyah said, “You are asking me to fight Abul Hasan? While you know that he is such a warrior that none can escape him? This shows that you desire the rulership of Syria after me.” It is narrated from Ibn Abbas in Riazun Nazarah that a person asked him, “Was Ali (a.s) himself participating in fighting in the battle of Siffin?” Ibn Abbas said in reply, “I have not seen anyone like him, ever ready to put his life into perils. I used to see him come out fighting bare head (without a helmet), holding the turban in one had and sword in the other. He was so confident of himself that he did not even fear that the enemy may attack his head.” It is mentioned in Hayatul Haiwan that such powerful was the strike of Ali's sword that it used to cut everything in half in a single shot. If his sword fell on the head it cut the full body into half and if it fell sideways, it similarly divided the body into half. From the instructions Ali (a.s) issued to his son Muhammad Ibn Hanafiah during the battle of Jamal, we come to know the level of his courage and his method of fighting. He said, “A mountain may move from its place but our feet must not. Fight with your teeth clenched and do not worry if you have to sacrifice your life on the way of Allah. Keep your eye on the last row of the opponent army. Keep your feet fixed on the ground like a tent-peg.” No precedent can be found of the bravery Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) exhibited on the night of Migration (Hijrat). Surrounded by the bloodthirsty enemies it was only Ali (a.s) who could sleep with utmost tranquility on the bed of the Holy Prophet (S). After migration to Medina, the series of battles started. Ali (a.s) was the standard bearer in all these campaigns and in all of them the credit for victory went to him alone. If we go into the details of each and every battle the present work may be so prolonged as to fail in the aim for which it is written. However, there is a very significant point in all these battles. Wherever and whenever Ali (a.s) exhibited his unsurpassed bravery it was invariably with the aim of achieving victory for Islam. Not once did he attack or slay anyone due to personal grudge or selfish motives. Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) lifted his sword only against the infidels who attacked the Muslims or the Muslims who created mischief and corruption and oppressed innocent people. He never slew any innocent person. Neither did he ever harm women or children, burn inhabitations or destroy them. As long as he felt that the well being of Islam was in fighting he fought in an exemplary way. When he saw that the well being of Islam or Muslims was not in violent combat he sheathed his sword and acted with patience. This is how a true warrior should be. In Islamic terminology this is the definition of a brave one. It is this type of valour that is one of the meritorious moral virtues. Imam Hasan (a.s) was the son of the Lion of Allah, Ali al-Murtada (a.s). Why shouldn't the quality of valour be not found in him in the best way? The first opportunity that he got to exhibit the gems of his valour was in the Battle of Jamal. Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) gave his standard to Imam Hasan (a.s) and said, “Son, go and confront the enemy with your feet firmly fixed to the ground.” Thus he proceeded to the battlefield and fought with such bravery that the opponents were left astounded. When after slaying hundreds of enemies he returned, Ali (a.s) embraced his son and showered him with praises. After this he participated in the Battle of Siffin. For many days he continued to confront the Syrian forces with a battalion. At last the enemy fled in defeat. After the Battle of Siffin, again he exhibited a valiant disposition in the Battle of Naharwan. He fought with such bravery that the Kharijis of Naharwan could be seen running here and there. If Muawiyah had not spread the net of his intrigue everywhere, there would not have appeared signs of revolt in the army of Imam Hasan (a.s). And like the Battle of Siffin, he would again have subdued Muawiyah. However, when each soldier of his army fell a prey to Muawiyah's intrigue and became the Imam's fatal enemy, what could the Imam do in such in circumstances? Like Imam Hasan (a.s), Imam Husayn (a.s) also earned accolades for his bravery during the lifetime of Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) in the battles of Jamal, Siffin and Naharwan. The greatest achievement of his in this regard is the battle of Karbala’ on the day of Ashura. Hamid Ibn Muslim, a soldier of Yazid's army and the narrator of those events says, “I did not find anyone in the world more valiant than Imam Husayn (a.s). Hunger and thirst of three days, the burning sands of Karbala’ , the corpses of relatives, friends and children before his eyes, the fear of the dishonor of women, wounds in every inch of the body. None in the world could fight so bravely as Husayn did, despite all those things. The first attack mounted by Husayn had created turmoil in the Yazidite forces. People were fleeing at his sight like locusts. Imam Husayn (a.s) waged many attacks, one after the other. The result was that at very many places piles of corpses laid. His last attack was terrific. The enemy fled in such a terror that the last men of that army entered Kufa. Everywhere there were screams of: Spare us! Spare us! O son of the Messenger of Allah! Seeing their wretched condition the son of the Mercy of the worlds had pity on them and put his sword in its sheath. Now it was time to display gems of patience. After the martyrdom of Imam Husayn (a.s), no ruler demanded oath of allegiance from any of the Holy Imams. Also none of the Imams was having any connection with apparent rulership. Therefore there was no occasion for them to perform the Jihad of the sword. Haider Husayn the poet of Lucknow has worded this beautifully in one of his panegyrics: Zainul Abideen changed the meaning of Jihad. The daring is the same but battlefields have changed. From Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) to Imam Hasan Askari (a.s) there were numerous occasions when need arose to exhibit valour of moral behavior. The Holy Imams (a.s) were never awed by the ruling powers to conceal truth. They never refrained from Amr bil Maroof (Enjoining good) and Nahy Anil Munkar (Forbidding evil). If the calamities that befell Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) had descended on mountains they would have melted away like wax. If they had fallen on days, they would have changed into nights. However he bore everything with the strength of faith, and did not allow his ancestral valour to leave him for a moment. Ibn Ziyad and Yazid in their respective courts, tried their utmost to overawe the Ahl ul-Bayt through a shameless display of their power and tyranny, but Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) rebutted their efforts through his daring and irrefutable replies, such that they were humiliated beyond description. The Imam also ascended the pulpit in the Damascus mosque and in the presence of Yazid, praised the Ahl ul-Bayt and denounced Bani Umayyah. Anyone else would have found it difficult to even utter a word in such circumstances. Once, Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s) delivered a sermon in the Holy Mecca and said, “We are the favorite and chosen servants of God, and His vicegerents on the face of the earth. One who obeys us is successful and one who opposes would be evil and wretched.” Someone conveyed these statements to Hisham, the ruler of Syria. He summoned Imam Ja'far as Sadiq (a.s) and Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s) to Damascus. When the two Holy Imams (a.s) reached the court of Syria, Hisham was practicing archery with his officials. He said to Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s): You also try shooting the target. Imam (a.s) said, “I have become aged and cannot perform archery.” Hisham said in a taunting manner, “You are the selected servant of God. You claim that you possess special expertise in every field. Archery in easy for you.” Saying this he gestured his men to hand over to the Imam the bow and arrows. Imam (a.s) took hold of the bow, fixed an arrow and shot it at the eye of the target. It hit the target right at the center. The Imam fixed another arrow and shot it. It penetrated into the tail of the first arrow. He continued till he had shot altogether nine arrows one after the other. Seeing this unimaginable feat Hisham was embarrassed. He did not utter a word for a long time. The two Holy Imams (a.s) also remained silent for sometime. Then Imam Baqir (a.s) became infuriated. Hisham gauged his moods and he seated each of them beside himself and said, “It seems you have a lot of practice in archery. From where did you receive coaching in this skill?” Imam (a.s), “We are the Ahl ul-Bayt of the Prophet. Do not compare our knowledge and perfection to others. We received these perfections in inheritance. The earth can never remain devoid of us. We are perfect in every matter and other people are deficient in reaching our level.” Upon hearing this reply, Hisham was filled with anger and he said, “Do you claim that the people of the time are obliged to obey you?” Imam (a.s) replied without any fear or hesitation, “Indeed! We are those vested with authority (Ulil Amr).” Hisham said, “But your command is effective nowhere.” Imam said, “Those who do not consider us Ulil Amr, are sinners.” The anger of Hisham intensified. He said, “Am I also not Ulil Amr?” Imam (a.s) replied, “You are a king, made by the people and we are Ulil Amr, appointed by Allah.” Hisham decided that further debate in front of the courtiers was not advisable and thus he ordered that the father and son may be taken at such and such place and kept under detention. When the Imams (a.s) were leaving, someone remarked, “You were audacious to speak in such a manner before the ruler. Thank God he did not order your execution immediately.” Imam (a.s) said, “We Ahl ul-Bayt (a.s) are the announcers of Allah's word and exposers of the truth. We never hesitate in it and we are never afraid of death.” During the tenure of Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s) the ruling power was in the hands of Mansur Dawaniqi, who had wrought destruction upon the Hasani Sadat (Descendants of Imam Hasan). Mansur wanted to make Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s) his obedient one and that Imam (a.s) may begin to accept him as his leader. But he was not able to achieve his. When he realized that the Imam couldn't come into his control through this manner he became more infuriated. One day he said to the Imam, “Your example for me is like a bone stuck in the throat.” He replied, “Your suspicion is baseless. I do not interfere in any of your governmental matters. Why do you consider my guidance and teachings harmful? And why do you trouble me all the time? He said, “I consider your teachings anti-government, and thus command you to stop your classes and lectures.” Imam (a.s) said, “I seek Allah's forgiveness! Who can dare restrain me from the propagation of truth?” Mansur said, “If you do not give it up I would have you killed.” Imam said, “Do you threaten me with murder? The Ahl ul-Bayt have always been martyred and imprisoned in the process of spreading the truth?” Mansur said, “I am the Caliph of the time. My obedience is incumbent on you.” Imam said, “No ones obedience is incumbent on us, Ahl ul-Bayt. Rather our obedience is obligatory on everyone.” From that time Mansur was always thinking of ways to have the Imam murdered. Now, this is moral valour. When the Shias of Khorasan and Yemen etc. learnt that Mansur was troubling Imam (a.s), his supporters came to him and said, “If the Imam allows, we can fill the fields with Shias and confront the armies of Mansur with absolute determination.” Imam said, “I do not find it expedient to have a violent confrontation. If he forces me to his obedience or tries to stop my guidance and teachings, I would wage holy war against him.” Now this is true valour. On the other hand if one takes a step without any consideration causing mischief and turmoil, it would be an act of dare-devilry and not valour. After being on throne for sometime, the Abbaside Caliph, Mahdi realized that in the presence of the Family of the Holy Prophet (S) people would scarcely value his spiritual or temporal status. Thus he began to devise ways to arrest the Imam (a.s). In 144 A.H. he went to Hajj with a lot of ostentatious arrangements. The Holy Imam had also arrived for Hajj. In the very days of Hajj, Mahdi dispatched a slave of his to the Imam and summoned him to his presence. When the slave arrived he found Imam (a.s) engrossed in the worship of Allah. When he concluded his prayers, the slave conveyed the caliph's message and waited for the Imam's reply. The Imam (a.s) said, “Tell Mahdi, that right now I am in the service of such a glorious Emperor Who is the Creator and Master of all the worlds. I don't have time to meet him (Mahdi). I will see after completing the Hajj.” Mahdi found this reply very distasteful. Finding this a good opportunity, his officials and agents began to tell him that Musa Ibn Ja'far intended to revolt against him. “He has raised a battalion of his Shias to fight you. He is collecting Khums and Zakat funds to use in war.” Hearing all this, Mahdi was further infuriated. After Hajj again he summoned the Holy Imam. He arrived. He accorded no honor to the Holy Imam and did not even invite him to be seated. The Imam did not like these bad manners, and without his permission he seated himself next to him. Mahdi said tauntingly, “I had summoned you before but you did not oblige. Are such the manners of the family of the Prophet?” The Imam replied with utmost daring, “For me the command of Allah had more importance than your instructions. This is the sanctuary of Allah. Herein the ruler and subjects, the rich and the poor, all are same.” He said, “I have heard that you are raising an army against me?” “No”, said the Imam, “Whoever has conveyed to you thus is a liar and an enemy of us, Ahl ul-Bayt. We Ahl ul-Bayt never like mischief and turmoil.” He said, “Is my obedience not incumbent on you?” “Not at all!” replied the Imam, “Allah has made our obedience incumbent on all as we are Ulil Amr.” Mahdi said, “I desire to keep you at Baghdad with me, so that people of that region may also benefit from your knowledge.” Imam (a.s) said, “It would be unbearable for me to leave the Holy House.” But Mahdi did not relent and at last he took the Imam (a.s) along with him to Baghdad and put him in prison. The above incident clearly shows the valour and courage of Imam Musa Kadhim (a.s) Numerous incidents connected with the bravery and courage of Imam Ridha’ (a.s) are recorded in the books of history. Here we can only mention one or two of such anecdotes. Mamun invited Imam Ridha’ (a.s) to his state capital and insisted upon him to accept his heir apparency. The Imam (a.s) continued to refuse it and told him in unequivocal terms that he would never be able to become his heir. He said that he would be poisoned to death before Mamun died. Mamun said, “Who can dare kill you, as long as I live?” The Imam said, “If it had not be expedient I would have even told you the name of my killer.” When Mamun realized that he was not relenting he was infuriated and he said, “By this refusal you aim to become famous for your piety and abstemiousness and that my helpless and weakness may become obvious.” Imam said, “I have never lied in my life. It does not befit me to pretend austerity for the sake of material gains. But your insistence in this matter shows that you want to prove to the world that Ali Ibn Musa (a.s) was not abstemious in the real sense. Material wealth had itself deserted him for some time. And when it came back to him he became involved in it with all desire and fondness.” Hearing this reply Mamun became more angry and making a show of his apparent strength and power said, “If you do not accept my heir-apparency and continue to refuse it, I would have you killed.” Imam (a.s) said, “If the matter has reached to this point, I will accept it with the conditions that I will not be involved in administration, I would not refrain from enjoining good and forbidding evil and I will never support you in an unlawful matter.” It is mentioned in Uyoon Akhbar ar-Ridha’ that when Mamun held the commemorative function to celebrate the appointment of Imam Ridha’ (a.s) as the heir apparent, he requested the Holy Imam (a.s) to deliver a sermon. The Imam came to the pulpit and after invoking praise on the Almighty and glorifications of the Holy Prophet (S) he said, “People! Due to our relationship with the Messenger of Allah! We have a right upon you and in the same way you have a right upon us. When you have fulfilled our rights it is also necessary on us to observe your rights. Thanks be to Allah that He has protected those of our rights that people had destroyed and raise those of our affairs that people had demolished. For a period of eighty years the people of disbelief and disobedience used to invoke curse upon us from the pulpits and they continued to hide our excellences and made false allegations against us. But Allah intended that out fame should rise high. O People! I did not accept the heir-apparency because I desire post and status and I am desirous of rulership. I accepted it so that if I see you walking on the wrong path I may restrain you, whether you listen to me or not. I inform you that I will never hesitate in the expression of truth, even though I may be killed for this. The existence of us, Ahl ul-Bayt in the world is only for the purpose that we may fearlessly support truth.” During the time Imam Muhammad Taqi (a.s) resided in Baghdad at the behest of Mamun and Mamun was making efforts to give his daughter Ummul Fadl in marriage to him, the Abbasids were severely opposed to him. Once, Imam (a.s) delivered some admonitions in the mosque of Baghdad, mentioning the atrocities committed by Bani Umayyah and Bani Abbas on the Sadats.2) Hearing these things the Abbaside got infuriated and were ready to kill him. Someone reported this matter to Imam (a.s). He said, “Go and tell them that I am not at all afraid of those things. Can they terrorize me to restrain my tongue from expressing truth? We Ahl ul-Bayt are never afraid of such things.” When Mamun learnt about this intention of the Abbasides he strictly restrained them from it. In a field opposite his palace, Mutawakkil had kept in captivity many man-eating wild animals like lions, tigers, leopards and bears etc. A very high wall surrounded this field. The field was known as Barkatul Saba. When Mutawakkil used to be extremely angry with a criminal, he was pushed into this enclosure. The beasts inside used to pounce on him and finish him off in no time. One day Mutawakkil summoned Imam Ali Naqi (a.s) and said to him, “I have heard that you are instigating people to revolt against me.” Imam (a.s) said, “Whoever has conveyed this has given you incorrect information. I have never taken part in any political matter.” He said, “You are trying to fool me.” Imam (a.s) became angry at this allegation and he said, “Do you consider me like yourself? We are Ahl ul-Bayt of the Messenger. We never resort to intrigue.” Mutawakkil ordered him to be thrown to the beasts, and he himself went to the terrace of his palace to watch the drama. The slaves tried to forcibly take Imam (a.s) to the enclosure of the wild animals but he said, “There is no need to apply force, I will go there myself.” The Holy Imam walked with absolute tranquility and opening the door of the enclosure stepped inside. All those who witnessed this daring were shocked. As soon as he reached inside all the beasts gathered around him and wagging their tails fell down at his feet, while the Imam caressed their heads and backs in affection. After this Imam (a.s) calmly spread his prayer mat and performed Prayer. The beasts surrounded him in a circle and watched his dignified worship. Seeing this, Mutawakkil was bewildered and he had to face intense regret. Mustainbillah, the Abbaside ruler was having a very uncontrollable horse, and anyone who mounted it was thrown off the back and trampled. Someone told Mustainbillah that Shias often chant the praises of the miracles of their Imams (a.s). “Make him ride this horse. If he tramples him, a great risk would be eliminated for the caliph. On the other hand if the horse is brought under control, we would be able to have it tamed.” Mustain summoned the Holy Imam and said, “I desire that you mount this horse today.” The Imam (a.s) had already heard about the wild nature of this horse, but not a slightest fear had a way with him. Without any hesitation the Imam moved towards it and mounted it fearlessly. Mustain was very much surprised and said, “How were you able to gain control on a horse that even the most daring people could not mount?” The Imam replied, “We are the Ahl ul-Bayt of the Messenger, our perfections cannot be compared to others.” Justice is also included among the four greatest moral virtues. This is also a middle line. If one step even a little above it, it would constitute injustice or oppression. And if one moves even slightly to the bottom, it would be willingness to accept humiliation. Both the above positions are blameworthy. Each of the Holy Imams (a.s) was having this quality, and that too, at the most excellent level. Neither they ever committed an iota of injustice nor they bore the oppression of anyone in a humiliating way. They always followed the dictum that “death is better than a life of humiliation”. Rather, justice is seen in the fulfillment of the rights of others and in judging between two parties. Every person faces many occasions in his life, when it becomes necessary for him to observe justice. But there are very few people in the world who have never abandoned justice. The rulers are often obliged to use this in deciding the cases, but the fulfillment of rights is a duty that falls on everybody in the world. After the Holy Prophet (S), no one had a better judgment than Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s). None of his judgments crossed the boundaries of justice and equity. This became so famous among the Arabs that it became a saying: The case is there but no Abul Hasan to judge it. Seeing the judgments of Ali (a.s), the Messenger of Allah (S) announced to the people, “None amongst you is better than Ali in delivering verdicts.” It was the habit of the three caliphs that when they encountered a difficult case, they used to refer it to Ali (a.s). The result was that Umar is reported to have said on seventy occasions, after realizing his mistake, “If Ali hadn't been there, Umar would have perished.” The period of the temporal rule of Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) was the cradle of justice and equity. The Imam (a.s) had issued letters to all the governors and judges that no one should oppress anyone. No one should be favored unduly. Every judgment should be based on justice. The rich and the poor should be considered equal. Regarding the fulfillment of the rights of others, Ali (a.s) used to be so careful that till he had not restored the right of the rightful person, he did not sit at peace. He used to be infuriated if someone usurped a right of another or obtained unlawful benefit. The main reason why Talha and Zubair broke their allegiance to him was this only. They well knew that in the rulership of Ali (a.s) they would not be able to achieve their ambitious aims of gathering wealth and power. Ali (a.s) did not allow his brother to take a few dirhams more than his rightful share from the public treasury. He did not allow his son to take a few spoonfuls of honey from the property of Muslims before all of it was equally distributed among them; how can such a person allow Talha and Zubair to fulfill their desires? Except for Ali (a.s) from Imam Hasan onwards none of the Holy Imams (a.s) had the occasion to gain temporal rulership. Therefore the gems of their justice could not be exhibited to the world. As for the fulfillment of the rights of people, the Holy Imams (a.s) were utmost careful in this regard and no one ever had the occasion to say that the Imam has usurped their rights. The enemies of Ahl ul-Bayt tried to heap false allegations in this regard but none succeeded. Their conspiracy was soon exposed and they had to face utter humiliation. Chastity means having control on ones sensual desires. That neither he commits excess and gives a free rein to his sensuality nor restrains it so much that he destroys his lawful desires. Both the extremes are deviations and main sources of most evils. The Holy Imams (a.s) had such control on their sensual desires that neither they stepped towards excess nor to celibacy. The guides of humanity did not commit any sin. Not because they did not have the capacity to commit sins, or that they did not have the ability to commit sins, but it was due to the fact that their knowledge and certainty was at the level of perfection. While only two things cause sins, lack of knowledge and defect of certainty. Sins cannot be committed by the one who knows what is good and what is evil, what is the reward of a good deed and what is the punishment of an evil deed; what is the benefit of a good deed and what is the harm of an evil deed. And he is also certain that Allah is Most Powerful and capable. He is Just and He is the Punisher and He is also the Forceful One. He has the power to award punishment for an evil deed and is capable to reward a good deed. An infallible is thus only so because he or she neither has a defect in knowledge nor in certainty. All the Holy Imams (a.s) are infallible. Therefore they cannot have any connection with any sinful act. The verse of Quran (Surah Ahzab: Verse 33) is a clear proof of their purity and the cleanliness of their inner beings. They were very far from the fact that they should have any relation to either the external or internal sins. We have already explained the four most important moral virtues. Now we shall discuss about some of their kinds. The piety of Islam is very different from that perceived by other religions. The austerity of Jewish and Christian faiths and the asceticism of Hinduism, in the view of Islam is obvious oppression and a deadly enemy of civilization. The teachings of Islam in clear words state: There is no asceticism in Islam. Asceticism implies that man completely dissociates himself with all worldly things and recedes to the mountain caves, forests or by the seashores to meditate and practice penance. He completely cuts off himself from the world and whatever is in it. Neither he does good to his relatives, nor he listens to the pleas of those in difficulties, or helps the deprived ones. He also does not have any connection with the principles of society and civilization. No spouse or children for him; he is also unconcerned about his parents relatives. If he is able to get pieces of bread in alms, he eats them otherwise he sits putting his head upon his knees. Such a person is an enemy of civilization. If all the people were to follow this path there would be no continuation of generations. No one would care for or help others. Islam considers such a life useless and degraded. The ascetics and monks have only to suffer a shock in the beginning when they adapt this way of life. But once they enter it they have no concern remaining, there is nothing that demands their attention. So what else can they do but spend their lives in meditation and worship? Therefore in the view of Islam there is nothing worthy of praise in such a life. Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s) has mentioned in unequivocal words, “One who leaves the worlds for the sake of religion or leaves religion for the sake of the world is not from us.” Only that worship is worthy that one performs being among the worldly relationships. In Islam piety is that you remain among the people, guarding the rights of others, fulfilling your lawful desires but at the same time not become attached to the world. Break off the wings of greed and ambitions. Cool down the emotions of sensuality. Use everything in such a little quantity that were you to reduce the quantity further, your life would be in danger. The Holy Imams (a.s) traversed this path in a beautiful way. They ate but only as much to avoid death. And ate such food that there was nothing simpler. They wore such clothes, that anything cheaper did not exist, and that it should only protect the body from cold and hot seasons. They kept so few things in the house, that anything lesser would have made life difficult. They constructed such houses for themselves that even the poorest of the poor would not be awed by it. They reduced the necessities to a stage that anything lesser meant death. The fact is that the life lived by the Holy Imams (a.s) requires great determination, will power and a perfect faith. Imam Fakhruddin Razi has written in Arbaeen that in the lifetime of the Prophet (S) a group of companions was famous for its austerity; like Abu Zar Ghiffari, Salman Farsi and Abu Darda etc. All these great personalities followed the example of Ali (a.s) in simplicity and austerity. It is narrated from Qabida in Majmaul Ahbab fil Manaqib al Ashab that: We have not seen anyone among the people more pious than Ali (a.s). Ibn Athir has narrated from Hasan bin Salih in Tarikh Kamil that once in the presence of Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz the conversation steered towards piety. He said: Of all the people, Ali (a.s) was the most pious. It is mentioned in Usud al-Ghaba that Ammar Ibn Yasir has narrated that the Messenger of Allah (S) told Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s), “O Ali! The Almighty Allah has bestowed you with such a merit as He has not bestowed anyone else. And that is piety in the world, which is an ornament for the people in view of Allah. Allah has made you such that neither you got anything from the world nor the world got anything from you. He gave you the love for poor people and He made you satisfied by their following you and He made them pleased by making you their Imam.” It is narrated from Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) that he said, “The Messenger of Allah (S) told me, 'O Ali! When people became attached to the material world and forsake the Hereafter. Usurp the inheritance of others and destroy the religion and plunder the wealth of Allah; what would be your condition?' I said, 'I would leave them and forsake whom they follow. And I would betake Allah, His Prophet and the abode of the Hereafter. I would be patient on worldly calamities and difficulties, till the time I meet you.' The Prophet said, 'It is true, you will do this only.'” Ahmad Ibn Hanbal has written in his Manaqib that one day the Satan suggested to Ali (a.s), “Always keep the public treasury full of wealth and gold coins.” Ali (a.s) came to the Baitul Maal (Public treasury) and ordered that people may be summoned. Then he started distributing till everything was finished and he said, “O Gold and Silver, defraud others.” When the public treasury became empty he ordered it to be sprinkled with water. Then he performed two rakats (Units) of prayers of thankfulness. It is mentioned in Usdul Ghabah that Imam Hasan (a.s) narrated, “Neither my respected father collected wealth nor he left behind anything, except for six hundred Dirhams with which he desired that slaves may be freed.” In the same book it is narrated from Abu Naeem that he heard Sufyan say, “The Amir (Ali) never placed a brick upon a brick or a bamboo upon a bamboo to construct a house. If he wanted he could have inhabited from Medina to Jurab.” Ibn Athir has written in Tarikh Kamil that Harun Ibn Antara narrates from his father that he went to Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) to obtain his share of poor people. It was a cold season and Ali (a.s) was shivering as he had only an old cloth thrown over himself. The narrator said to him, “The Almighty Allah has appointed a share for you in the Public Treasury. Why have you not taken anything for yourself?” He replied, “By Allah, I do not like anything of your property. By Allah, this is my own quilt that I had brought with me from Medina.” It is narrated from Zaid Ibn Abi Wahab that one day Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) came out of his house in such a way that his lower garment was having patches all over it. Ibn Na'ja the Khariji, became angry on seeing him and said, “You are the Chief of the believers, such clothes do not befit you.” Imam (a.s) replied, “What concern do you have with my clothes. This dress of mine is remote from pride and it is deserving to serve as a model for Muslims.” Ahmad Ibn Hanbal has written in Manaqib that during the temporal rule of Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) he purchased a shirt worth three dirhams. Its sleeves were somewhat long, which he got shortened. Then he said, “Thanks be to God Who bestowed such a dress.” One day he was standing in the Kufa market to sell his sword, and he kept repeating, “By Allah, if I had the money to purchase this garment, I would not have sold my sword.” Ahmad Ibn Hanbal has written in Musnad that according to the narrator Suwaid Ibn Ghafla, “One day I went to Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) and found him sitting on an old and tattered sack. I said, “You are the ruler of the Muslims and owner of the Public treasury, and you sit on an old sack? You also have to receive foreign visitors. Don't you have anything better in your house?” He said, “O Suwaid, a wise man does not become attached to a house that one has to eventually leave. We have the abode of eternity before our eyes, towards which we would soon depart. The diet of the Imam consisted of dry barley bread or grains half filled with husk. One day something special was placed before him. He did not eat anything. He was asked, “Is it unlawful.” He said, “No, but I don't want to make myself used to things that the Holy Prophet (S) had never consumed.” Once someone said, “The Almighty Allah has made you the owner of a great kingdom, why do you not eat good food?” He replied. “I have heard from the Messenger of Allah (S) say that it is not allowed for the caliph to take more than two measures from public wealth. One measure for himself and one for the guest.” It is narrated from Suwaid bin Uqbah that, “One day I went to the Imam at the Administrative Headquarters. At that time a loaf of barley bread and a cup of milk was kept in front of him. The bread was so hard and dried that he used to press it with his hands and sometimes with his thighs to break it. I was very disturbed to see it. I told his slave-maid Fizza, “You also do not pity the Amir'ul-Mu'minin? You should at least remove the husk from the flour before making bread. Don't you see there is so much husk in it?” Fizza said, “What can I do? The Imam has taken an oath from me that I would never sieve the flour to make bread.” The Imam said, “O Suwaid, the Holy Prophet (S) and his Ahl ul-Bayt have never eaten wheat bread to satiation for three consecutive days, and never was the flour sieved for them. One day I was hungry in Medina and I came out to find some work. I saw that a woman had collected mud and was trying to mix it with water (to plaster a wall etc). I told her to give me one piece of date for each bucket of water. I pulled out sixteen buckets for her and my palms became sore. I brought the dates to the Holy Prophet (S) and related to him the whole incident, then we both shared the dates.” Zaid says that one day he went to Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) and saw a pot of water kept near him and on the other side was a canvas bag with its mouth sealed. “I thought he would remove precious things from it and give them to me. When the Imam broke the seal and opened the bag I saw that it contained parched barley meal. He took out a handful, mixed it in a cup of water, offered to me and took some himself. I could not restrain myself, and I said, 'Sir, living in Iraq you have such food? While different kinds of eatables are available here?' He said, 'This is sufficient for survival.' I said, 'Why do you keep the bag sealed?' He replied, 'So that my family may not mix oil etc. in it. I do not want anything to be a part of my diet except barley.'” It is written in Sharh Nahjul Balagha that the Imam always observed a diet of vinegar and salt. If he exceeded in it he ate some vegetables and if he further increased it, he drank some camel milk. He used to eat very little meat and he said, “Do not make your stomach a graveyard of animals.” Thrice, Imam Hasan (a.s) gave up all his wealth in charity and twice he gave away half his wealth. Like his father, he also spent his life with the bare necessities. But his food spread was very wide. He used to have different kinds of dishes prepared for the guests, but himself ate only barley bread with vinegar or salt. His cloak was patched in many places. The narrator says, “One day I came to Imam Hasan (a.s) during his rule and found him sitting on a tattered sack. Seeing me, he had a sheet spread over it. I saw that it was patched at many places and it was of a very coarse material. I said, 'O Amir'ul-Mu'minin, you are sitting on a sack. How is it possible for me to step on this blessed sheet?' He said, 'O Abu Salih, take a seat.' I sat down following the command of Imam (a.s) then said, 'O Son of the Messenger of Allah, you are the ruler, is there not even as much share in the kingdom that you can purchase a sheet for personal use?' Hearing this, the Imam became angry and said, 'Abu Salih, we Ahl ul-Bayt were not created for a comfortable life. We are created to provide comfort to others and to safeguard their rights. This sheet fulfills all my needs that an expensive one would do. Then what is the need for me to purchase a new sheet? O Abu Salih, would it not be better if I spend the same money on the poor and deprived people?' Hearing this I said, 'Amir'ul-Mu'minin, you are right. The fact is that, except for the Ahl ul-Bayt no one deserves this position.'” Imam Husayn (a.s) also spent a simple and austere life like his father and maternal grandfather. He was never fond of expensive clothes or tasty foods. He used to give away all that he received to the poor and destitute. One day received an amount from the public treasury. He kept it before himself waiting for needy people to arrive so that he can distribute it among them. Someone said, “O Son of the Messenger, your cloak is patched at many places, why don't you take some money from this amount and buy a new cloak?” He said, “This is sufficient for me.” Very often people sent him gifts and presents, but he gave them all away to the orphans, the widows and poor people. The narrator says that one day he saw Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) in such a way that the straps of his sandals were broken, due to which he was walking with a lot of difficulty. The narrator asked him, “O son of the Messenger of Allah! Why don't you buy a new pair of shoes?” He replied, whatever amount I save for it, before I could purchase it some needy person comes with a request and I give it to him.” The narrator said, “Please permit me to buy you a pair of shoes.” Just then a beggar came and requested the Imam for something. The Imam said to the narrator, “Give him whatever you had intended to spend for buying me a pair of shoes. This person is more deserving of it. If I had the money, I would myself have fulfilled his need.” Abdullah Damishqi says, “One day I went to Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) and found him patching his cloak. I had come with 5000 Dirhams as Khums money and I presented it to the Imam and said, 'Master, it is my desire that you take some money from this amount and buy yourself a new cloak, your cloak has become very old.' The Imam said, 'Keep the money here and announce in Medina that whoever is in need may come to me in the Prophets' mosque.' I made the announcement according to his directions and very soon people converged in hordes. The Imam distributed all the money and I was left astounded.” He also spent a simple and ascetic life and he never had regard for material wealth. He always wore patched clothes and sitting on a jute sack delivered admonitions to the people. Many a times he remained hungry and gave his share of food to the poor. Saeed bin Abdullah says, “One day I came to the Imam and saw him wearing a very worn-out dress. He said, 'O Saeed, I want to buy a shirt.' I said, 'Master, why do you take that trouble, I'll but one for you.' He said, 'No, I will buy it according to my requirements.' Thus Imam (a.s) walked to the market and I accompanied him. He purchased a dress from a shop costing four dirhams. It was of a very coarse material. I said, 'O son of the Messenger, this does not befit you. I am having the money, you may buy a good shirt, and I will pay for it.' The Imam said, 'Wonderful, O Saeed! You want to bear my burden! Are you prepared to bear my burden on the Day of Judgment also?' I became silent. The Imam moved ahead with the shirt. On the way he saw an unclothed Muslim. He moved towards him quickly and said, 'O man, why are you not wearing a shirt?' The man replied, 'O son of the Messenger of Allah, I have a family and whatever I earn is spent on it. I could not save enough money to buy a shirt.' The Imam gave him that shirt at once. I saw that the Imam was much happier than before. When he moved ahead, I said, 'O Son of the Messenger of Allah! Why did you give the shirt away when you were more in need of it?' He said, 'He was more deserving of it than me. Even though worn out, at least I have a dress on my body, but that person was naked.' Most of the time the Imam was clothed in a dress of coarse material or wool, due to which his body was in great discomfort. This woolen dress was also patched. One of his companions was disturbed on seeing him dressed thus. He said, “Remember, one who has no modesty, has no faith. One who also does not spend according to his income may be involved in financial hardships. One who does not wear old clothes, makes himself prone to pride.” The narrator says, “One day I saw Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s) sitting on bare floor. I said, 'O son of the Messenger of Allah, where is that floor spread on which you used to sit?' He said, 'I saw a person shivering in cold and told him if that spread could save him from cold he may take it. He said it would, so I gave it to him?' I said, 'Master! Then for how long could you continue to sit on a bare floor?' He said, 'I would not mind even if I have to sit on it all life long. O man, the Prophet (S) often sat on the bare ground with his companions. Why are you surprised if I also sit in the same manner?'” Imam Musa Kadhim (a.s) was having a very high degree of piety and abstinence. Harun Rashid used to say that he had not seen among the Bani Hashim anyone more austere than Musa Ibn Ja'far. His dress, food and household belongings, all seemed to be ascetic. A better part of his life, that is fifteen years, were spent in prison. The prison guards used to be mesmerized seeing his austere way of life. During hot season he sat on a sack and during cold, he sat on a blanket. At home he wore a dress of coarse and thick cloth. This was very uncomfortable to the body. However, when he went out, he used to wear fine clothes, so that people may not ridicule him to be a miser. One day a Sufi of Medina saw him wearing fine clothes and objected to it. The Imam caught his hand put it inside his sleeve to show him that he was wearing coarse woolen clothes inside and the outward dress was only for the people so that they may not label him an outwardly pious man, and the dress of coarse wool was to keep the body in penance. When Mamun appointed the Imam as his heir apparent, he reserved a section of his royal palace for the Imam. The Imam expressed to him his dislike in residing in it. He said that such mansions were for kings and not for Ahl ul-Bayt. So Mamun asked what type of a dwelling the Imam preferred. Imam said, “A very ordinary place having no inconvenience. It shouldn't have any means of comfort, there should not be a sentry at the door and there should not be any hindrance to the visitors. The floor should be covered with a mat.” Mamun said, “You are my heir-apparent, such a house is not suitable for you.” But the Imam said, “I like only such a kind of place.” At last Mamun relented and said, “You may choose any house for yourself.” Imam (a.s) selected a dilapidated house near the royal palace and began to reside in it. In spite of the fact that he was the son-in-law of an influential and wealthy ruler like Mamun, he had no regard for this relationship. He lived a very simple life, as was the way of his ancestors. And he remained in this way as long as he lived. All the luxurious items that his wife Umme Fadl had brought from her father's were kept in a separate building, and the Imam told her, “If you like to spend a life of luxury stay in that house and if you want to spend a life of poverty stay with me in this house.” Ummul Fadl chose to stay with him and that is why she was always unhappy with the relationship. Once someone lied to Mutawakkil that Imam Ali Naqi (a.s) lived a life of luxury. And that he has collected a lot of wealth and weapons in his house, and was secretly raising an army of his Shias. Mutawakkil sent a battalion that surrounded the Imam's house and ordered that all that is there in the house may be taken out. When the soldiers entered the Imam's house they found a sack, a shirt of coarse wool and some clay utensils. That was all they found there! When this was reported to Mutawakkil he punished the man who has given the false report. Like his forefathers and ancestors, Imam Hasan Askari (a.s) also lived a simplistic and abstemious existence. By way of testing, one day, the ruler caliph sent him lots of delicious foods and luxurious clothes. He gave away all of it in charity. Someone instigated the caliph that the Imam had not accorded any respect to the royal gifts and that he has squandered them all away. The caliph became infuriated and summoned the Imam at once and said, “You have belittled the gifts I sent you and you gave them to the beggars thus insulting me.” The Imam said, “It is not so. We Ahl ul-Bayt of the Prophet, have forsaken the pleasures of the world. We are used to betake very simple food and wear patched clothes. Thus I gave it all to those who were deserving of it.” The caliph had no reply to this. Benevolence or charity is also one of the moral excellences. The two extremes related to this middle path are, wastefulness and miserliness. In the early period of Islam, when the condition of the Muslims was very bad financially, there was greater need to practice this virtue of benevolence. Ahl ul-Bayt (a.s) realized this perfectly and they did not at all fall short in fulfilling needs of poor Muslims. They bore every type of difficulty but solved the difficulties of other people. They remained hungry themselves but fed others. Patched their own clothes but clothed the naked. If the door of Ahl ul-Bayt had not been open for the destitutes, a lot of people would have perished of hunger or had begged to other communities causing insult to Islam. This is the favor of Ahl ul-Bayt that the world of Islam can never forget. Wahidi in his Tafsir has related from Ibn Abbas that Ali (a.s) had four dirhams and nothing beyond that. He gave in charity a dirham at night and a dirham during the day. Another one he gave secretly and one, openly. Then the Almighty Allah revealed the following verse: (As for) those who spend their property by night and by day, secretly and openly (Surah Baqarah 2:274) Thalabi has written in his Tafsir that Abu Zar Ghiffari narrated that one day he was praying with the Messenger of Allah (S) when a beggar came to the mosque soliciting alms, but none gave him anything. Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) was also praying, but he indicated the small finger of his right hand on which he was wearing a ring and gave the ring to the beggar. Thus the Almighty Allah revealed the following verse: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Apostle and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the poor-rate while they bow. (Surah Maidah 5:55) The enemies of Ali (a.s) also confessed to his generosity. It is mentioned in Matalibus So'ool that when Mahqan Ibn Abi Mahtan told Muawiyah that he had come to him from the greatest miser. Muawiyah said, “Woe be to you. Do you call Ali a miser? If he is given a house of gold and a house of straw, before the house of straw, the house of gold would be finished.” Shoba has written that Ali (a.s) was so generous and he liked giving charity so much that he never uttered 'No' to anyone who asked him for something. He used to irrigate the farms of a Jew, himself, till he got boils on his palms and whatever he earned therefrom, he gave it all in charity and in order to control his hunger he tied a stone on his stomach. Allamah Kafawi has written in Tabaqat that once Ali (a.s) was in a duel with an infidel. The infidel said, “I like this sword of yours, let me see it.” At once Ali (a.s) handed him the sword. The man said, “Now that I am having your sword, how would you escape me now?” Ali (a.s) said, “You had begged me for it and my generosity did not permit that I should have refused you, even though you are a disbeliever. As for the question of my survival, the shield of Allah's help is sufficient for me.” Hearing this reply the opponent converted to Islam. The Imam used to say, “I am surprised at those who purchase slaves with their wealth and make freemen slaves by doing monetary favors to them.” The account of the generosity and charity of Imam Ali (a.s) is so vast that if mentioned in detail would alone make up a thick volume. Therefore we are content to write this much. Once a person requested the Imam (a.s) for an amount of 50,000 dirhams. The Imam told him to bring a porter to carry away the money. When the porter was brought Imam (a.s) gave him his cloak and said, “The labor should also be paid by us.” This anecdote was reported by someone to Muawiyah who wrote to Imam Hasan (a.s), “I have heard that you are giving away 50,000 to each applicant. Is it not wastefulness?” The Imam replied, “There is no wastefulness in charity (or good deeds). I am ashamed that I should reject the plea of a petitioner. The Almighty has given me a kingdom and released His bounties on me. Thus I only convey His bounties to His creatures. If I stop this I am afraid He would also restrain His bounties from me.” The generosity of Imam Husayn (a.s) is well known. Once Usamah bin Zaid was seriously ill. He went to visit him and when he reached near him, he heard him say, “O! What a great sorrow!” The Imam asked what his problem was. He said that he was in a debt of 60,000 dirhams and now that death was near, the pain of inability of repayment of debt was not less than the pain of death. The Imam said, “Do not worry your debt is my responsibility.” Usamah said, “What if I die before the debt is repaid?” Imam said, “Rest assured, I will repay your loans before you pass away.” So the Imam returned to his house, called Usamah's creditors and repaid his loans. Marwan the Governor of Medina was once very angry at the poet Farazdaq and ordered that he may be exiled therefrom. Being highly disconcerted he came to the Imam Husayn (a.s) and said that since he was exiled, he needed 4000 dirhams to settle down wherever he is sent. The Imam gave him the money. Someone said, “Farazdaq is a careless fellow and a poet by profession. Why did you give me such a big amount?” The Imam said, “The best wealth is that by which you protect your honor. My grandfather had shown the same generosity with Ka'ab bin Zubair.” An Arab came to Medina and asked, “Who is the most generous person in the town?” People directed him to Imam Husayn (a.s). He came to the Imam and recited three couplets in his praise. The Imam asked his servant how much of the money of Hijaz remained with him. The servant informed him that 4000 dinars were left. The Imam tied up all that money in a piece of cloth and told the servant to call the poet. When the poet arrived, the Imam handed the money to him from behind the door and in reply to his three couplets, the Imam himself recited three couplets that conveyed the following: Take this and forgive me for this little amount but be assured that I am concerned about your condition. If the rulership had been in my hands you would have seen how the rain of our generosity rains. But times keep on changing. At present I do not have much. Hearing all this, the Arab began to weep. The Imam asked him why he was crying, “Maybe you are unhappy at the paucity of what I gave you?” He said, “It is not so, but I am weeping because such a magnanimous personality has to lie beneath the dust one day.” Abdur Rahman Aslami was a teacher of one of the sons of Imam Husayn (a.s). He had taught the child Surah al-Hamd (the first chapter of Quran) by heart. When he brought the child to his father and made him recite the Surah the Imam was very pleased and gave the teacher a thousand dinars, a lot of clothes and had his mouth filled with pearls. Someone asked the Imam the reason of such generosity. My generosity cannot be equal to what he has given to me.” In spite of straitened circumstances, Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) used to regularly help the poor and destitute of Medina. He used to carry sacks full of dates and bread on his shoulders and distribute it to their houses. Ibn Ishaq says many poor people of Medina used to receive food daily and they did not know its source. When the Imam passed away and the people did not receive their meals it was revealed that their provider was Ali Ibnul Husayn (a.s). It is written that when the Imam was being given the funeral bath a dark scar was seen on the back. When someone asked what it was, it was replied, “This is due to the sacks of flour the Imam carried to the poor of Medina during the darkness of the night. Our charity has passed away with Ali Ibnul Husayn (a.s).” Like his forefathers Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s) was also very generous. He never sent away a petitioner empty-handed. Once he was himself in a precarious financial condition and did not even have anything to eat. Just then he received 2000 dinars as Khums money, but he distributed it all among the poor and the needy. Someone told him, “You did not consider your family.” The Imam replied, “We Ahl ul-Bayt are used to poverty and hunger and we are not much troubled by it; like other people who become restless and start complaining to Allah. We do not like that any poor or deprived person should complain about the Lord. We are always thankful to the bounties of God.” The Imam's special servant Moalla (r.a.) says that one day he saw the Imam going towards the Bani Saada neighborhood. “I also followed him. On the way something dropped from the hands of the Imam. I tried to pick it up, and saw that many loaves of bread were strewn on the ground. I picked them one by one and handed them over to Imam who began to insert them in the bag flung over his arm. I asked him to hand over the bag to me, but he refused. Upon reaching the Bani Saada area we saw that some people were lying asleep. The Imam kept one loaf of bread near the head of each person. I asked the Imam if they were his Shias. Imam replied, 'If they had been our Shias I would have brought for them curry to eat the bread with. O Moalla! Remember the charity of the night cools down Divine anger and makes the accounting easy and the charity of the day prolongs ones life and increases wealth. O Moalla! Charity must not be limited to human beings. Animals too are deserving of it. Thus when Isa (a.s) once reached the riverside he took out a loaf of bread from the loaves he was carrying for himself and threw it in the river. Someone remarked that he was wasting the sustenance of Allah in this way. He said: The marine creatures would consume it. And I would get its reward.'” Abu Ja'far Khashyami says that once the Imam handed him a bag of money and told him to deliver it to such and such Hashemite man and tell him that so and so has sent it. And the Imam told him a fictitious name. So he took the money and delivered it as directed by the Imam. The recipient was very happy on getting the money and he said, “May Allah give him good rewards, he always sends us this amount, which lasts us for a whole year. But Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s), in spite of having so much money does not help us.” It is narrated from Fuzail Ibn Abi Marwah that one day he saw that the Imam had spread his cloak and many bags containing loaves of bread were kept on it. The Imam was picking up one bag after the other and handing them over to his servant instructing him: Give this to so and so, this to so and so and say this has come to you from Iraq. When the servants returned after distributing the bread they reported that the recipients were complaining about the Imam. Hearing this, Imam (a.s) went into prostration and said, “Humble my head for the descendants of my father, that when I hear my criticism from their tongue I don't feel bad about it.” It is reported in Biharul Anwar that once Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s) was in Mina and he has partaking some grapes when a beggar came asking for alms. The Imam picked up a bunch of grapes and offered him, but he refused saying he didn't need them. So the Imam took them back. Just then another beggar arrived and the Imam gave him only three grapes. The man thanked the Almighty and the Imam gave him as many grapes his hands could hold. The beggar thanked the Almighty again and the Imam this time gave him 30 dirhams also. Once more the beggar thanked Allah and Imam took off his cloak and handed it over to him. Now the fellow said, “May Allah reward you!” The narrator says that if that beggar had again thanked Allah and not prayed for the Imam, he (the Imam) would have bestowed him something more. One day a person came to him soliciting charity and the Imam ordered his servant to give him 400 dirhams. The servant obliged and the petitioner thanked and moved ahead. The Imam told the servant to recall the man who thought that may be the Imam intended to take back the money. But when he came to the Imam he said, “The best charity is that one makes the eligible petitioner self-sufficient. Whatever I have given you is less in my view. So I also give you this ring worth 10,000 dirhams that you may sell when need arises.” Imam Musa Kadhim (a.s) got very few opportunities to express his generosity because he spent a good part of his life in prison. That is almost fifteen years. As a poet says: The Imam's imprisonment was so prolonged, That his youth and old age passed in prison. In spite of this he was always helping the needy believers. One day an applicant came to him and pleaded that he was indebted for 400 dirhams. The Imam furnished him the amount. Then he said that his clothes were completely worn out. The Imam gave him his own dress. Now he said that he had no mount to ride on. The Imam gave him a horse. After that the man said that he did not know the way. The Imam sent his slave along with him. Finally the man said, “Master! I have no need for all these things. I had only come to test the generosity of Ahl ul-Bayt. I am actually a very wealthy man, and I have brought these 5000 dirhams for you. It is by way of Khums payment.” The Imam smiled, took the money and at that very moment summoned the needy Sadat (Syeds) and distributed it all among them. One day Mamun sent him 10,000 dinars and conveyed that the Imam may use it for his personal needs. The Imam distributed all the money on the poor and destitutes. When Mamun learnt of this, he was very unhappy and he said, “I had sent you the money for personal use and not for squandering it.” The Imam said, “I was not deserving of it. What personal expenses do I have to need such money? My sack is intact by the Grace of Allah. The dress I had brought from Medina is still with me. I get barley bread for food. When I have no need for anything, in what could I have utilized your gift?” A petitioner once told him that he was in need. “Help as much as you have the generosity to do so.” The Imam said that it was not possible. So he said, “Then give according to my worth.” “Yes, this is possible,” said the Imam and instructed his slave to give him 200 gold coins. Ahmed bin Abdullah Ghaffari says that he was indebted to someone. “When the creditor insisted for immediate repayment of the loan I decided to approach Imam Ridha’ (a.s) after the Morning Prayer. When I reached him he was about to take some gold coins somewhere. I related to him the circumstances and begged him to request the creditor not to insist so much for the liquidation of the debt. But there was no mention at all, of the amount I owned. The Imam told me to wait till he returned. So I sat down and waited. When the Imam returned he told me to raise the cover of the floor spread and take whatever was underneath. I saw dinars lying there. I picked them silently and returned home. When I counted the money I found it to be 48 dinars and on one Dinar, it was written: Your debt is 28 dinars. Repay it and utilize the remaining 20 dinars for yourself. I was astounded how the Imam knew how much I owed.” A person came to him and said that he had come for Hajj and all the money he had brought was exhausted. And if the Imam could provide him enough money to reach home he would, upon reaching, give that amount in charity on behalf of the Imam. He also mentioned to the Imam that since he was well to do he did not deserve charity. The Imam went inside, stretched out his hand and said, “O Khorasani gentleman! Take these 200 Dinars and arrange for your journey home. There is no need for you to give this amount in charity on our behalf. We have given it to you. But now you leave this place so that neither I see you nor you see me.” When the man had left someone remarked, “Your highness did not fall short in generosity, then what was the need to hide you countenance?” The Imam replied, “It was due to the thought that I may not see embarrassment on his face for asking me and for having his need fulfilled. Have you not heard this tradition of the Holy Prophet (S) that one who conceals a good deed becomes eligible for the reward of seventy Hajj pilgrimages? And one who exposes an evil deed is a degraded one and one who conceals it is forgiven?” Once on the day of Arafat the Holy Imam distributed all his household belongings in charity on the way of Allah. The door of the Holy Imam was always open to deliver benevolence. Like his Holy ancestors, Imam had a very generous heart. Many eligible poor people of Medina used to get a stipend from the Imam. No applicant went dejected from his door. For the people in need in other places, the Imam used to dispatch funds to his representatives. The deprived ones of Medina in addition to monetary help also received free meals but all this charity was performed in such a secret way that no one knew who was behind it. On most of the nights the Imam himself roamed the streets and by-lanes of Medina carrying victuals for the poor. Whenever he found a needy one he gave him from behind a door or a wall or covered his own face. There was a perpetual crowd of orphans and destitutes outside the residence of the Holy Imam. People used to sit on the way Imam was about to pass by. This was in spite of the fact that he was leading a very hand to mouth existence in the Iraqi town of Samarrah. Yet he never rejected a petitioner who pleaded to him for assistance. He used to make the young orphans sit before him. Then he caressed their heads with affection and fulfilled all their wishes. In the dead of the night the Imam personally carried food to the houses of orphans, widows and deprived people. It is narrated from Ali Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Ja'far (a.s) that once he was facing much poverty. “My father said: Let us go to Imam Hasan Askari (a.s). He is very generous and he would definitely help us. Thus we set out to meet the Imam. On the way my father said that he expected 500 dirhams from the Imam. And that if we got that much amount we would spend 200 dirhams for making clothes and the rest would be utilized for rations etc. Upon reaching the Imam's house we conveyed through the sentry, news of our arrival. After some time a slave appeared and informed us that the Imam was waiting for us. Both of us stepped inside. The Imam said, 'Why did you not inform me about you condition before this?' My father said it was due to embarrassment mostly and secondly he felt ashamed to meet the Imam in such shabby clothes. Hearing this, the Imam fell silent and after sometime bid us farewell with the same servant. When we reached the door the servant gave my father a bag containing 500 dirhams and said: Spend 200 dirhams on clothes and 300 on other requirements. The he took out another bag and said: It contains 300 dirhams, 100 for clothes, 100 for household needs and 100 for purchasing a mount. He then said that the Imam has also advised them against traveling to the mountains and instead suggested a particular area where very soon Allah would remove our poverty.”3 Ismail bin Muhammad says: One day I squatted on the way so that when Imam Hasan Askari (a.s) passes by I may mention my needs. Thus when the Imam happened to pass by I uttered the legal oath and said that I was very severely in need at that time. I don't have a penny. The Imam said, “Why do you utter a false oath? Have you not buried 200 gold coins in the ground?” When I heard this I hung down my head in shame. The Imam said, “I mention it not because I didn't want to give you anything.” Then he told his slave to give me all he had. The slave gave one hundred gold coins. When I walked away with the money, the Imam said, “Remember! The money you have buried and not spent on lawful needs would be of no use to you.” Ismail says, “The prophecy of the Imam proved true. When I dug the ground I found the money gone.” A point needs to be clarified regarding the generosity of the Holy Imams (a.s). A question arises that from where the Imams (a.s) got so much wealth that they distributed hundreds of dirhams and dinars without any qualms? They had no connection with rulership. The rulers were always antagonistic to them to have helped them. The Imams (a.s) themselves did not practice any profession that could have generated so much wealth. When they were themselves leading such a life of financial hardship, from where did they get all the money for charity? The explanation is first of all the Holy Imams (a.s) were the trustees of all the endowments of the Sadat (Syeds). Secondly the followers of Ahl ul-Bayt paid their Zakat and Khums money to the Imam of the time. This was sometimes sent secretly and sometimes openly. This was the reason that the temporal rulers were always suspicious that the Imams (a.s) were gathering forces to revolt against them. Although after investigations their suspicion always proved wrong. All the monies that Imams (a.s) received in this way were swiftly distributed among the deserving people. They hardly used anything from it themselves. For their own upkeep they either spent from the money they received from orchards etc. or by the labor of their own hands. Or when the above was not possible they only took as much from the Khums money as was necessary to avoid death. Patience is the best virtue of man, because Allah is with the patient ones: Surely Allah is with the patient. (Surah Baqarah 2:153) Patience means that when calamities befall man he refers to the Almighty and he does not utter a single word of complain. Some people start complaining about the Creator of the Universe at the slightest difficulty. For example, if there is too much rain they say: Allah is causing non-stop rain! Or: This rain is a punishment! If one has many children he starts a string of complains etc. There are many things regarding which man begins to complain against the kingdom of Allah. This is opposed to patience. But the patient ones may be afflicted with the greatest calamity but they would not utter a single word of complain against the Almighty God. There is no difference in their referral to Allah. They do not even slightly let go the reins of reliance. The high level of patience found in the Holy Imams (a.s) was such that its equal is not to be found in the Muslim world. Also, it is wrong to think that weeping in a calamity is impatience. Weeping is a psychological behavior. How can Islam promulgate a law against it? One who has an aggrieved heart would definitely cry. Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) was patient in all the calamities that befell Ahl ul-Bayt after the departure of the Messenger of Allah (S) from this temporal world. Actually it began during the lifetime of the Prophet (S) when people prevented him from writing a will in favor of Ali's successorship. After the sorrowful passing away of the Prophet of God the absence of the companions in the funeral was another fact that caused unhappiness to the Imam. Then the forcible insistence for pledging allegiance! The crashing of the burning door on the side of Fatima by a person well known for his ferocity as a result of which the unborn fetus was aborted. Then the deprivation of Amir'ul-Mu'minin from the right of caliphate. Rejection of the Quran he had compiled etc. They all were such terrible events that if they had befallen anyone else he would have either been fed up with his life and committed suicide or fought with the enemies. If not, then he would have started complaining about Allah Almighty. However, Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s) did not do any of these. Patient is one who, keeping in mind the circumstances restrains his desires for vengeance. The patient person has the consequences in his view and he does not give preference to a little gain in exchange of a larger benefit. In order to maintain patience in all such circumstances Ali (a.s) had to bear untold torture. He says thus in Nahjul Balagha: I remained patient while there was a thorn of sorrow in my eye and suffocation in the throat. Ibn Abil Hadid truly said: At such a time a valiant warrior like Ali (a.s) chose to keep his sword sheathed. Only Ali could accomplish this feat. We add here that: If the welfare of Islam had not been intended, nothing could have restrained the sword of Ali(a.s). The patience exhibited by Imam Hasan (a.s) is such that it has no equal. The treatment people meted out to his respected mother and holy father after passing away of Allah's Messenger (S), is sufficient to make the sentiments of any mortal uncontrollable. However, the Imam remained patient at every, juncture. The intrigues that Muawiyah engineered against him or the cursing of Ali (a.s) from the pulpits for years. The slayings of innumerable followers of Ahl ul-Bayt. Instigating a mutiny in the Imam's army. Not following the terms of treaty for a single day. The amount that was agreed to be paid to the Imam every year according to the terms of the treaty was not even paid once. Poisoning of the Imam through his wife Judah binte Ashath. Such kinds of calamities befell him but the Imam bore all this in patience. He never became the initiator of any kind of mischief or turmoil. He could have also retaliated more severely but he did not allow the emotion of revenge to control his reason, and did not allow the blemish of bloodshed to taint his infallibility. Some battles fought against Muawiyah were all initiated by Muawiyah and defense became obligatory on the Imam. If we describe this epitome of patience it would make a whole book. No one had the patience of Imam Husayn (a.s). If we leave all the incidents of his life and only consider the tragedy of Karbala’ we would see that the patience of the whole world combined couldn't rival it. Prophet Ayyub (a.s) was very patient but his patience in comparison to that of Imam Husayn (a.s) was like a drop in the ocean. The mountains of calamities that crashed on him in Karbala’ and the hardships that surrounded him are well known to all. But at no time and under no circumstance the lips of Imam Husayn (a.s) uttered any complaint. In the time of calamity the sentence he repeated was: We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. Can one in whose every vein of the body the spirit of patience flowed could be disconcerted with the calamities surrounding him? Rather as much the difficulties intensified as much Husayn 's face brightened. He became as much reliant on Allah. The world accepted that Husayn is the Chief of the patient ones. In the matter of patience neither a prophet nor a saint could be his equal. If we did not have regard to brevity we would have written a whole book only on the patience of Imam Husayn (a.s). The enemies of Islam committed such oppressions on Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) after the carnage of Karbala’ , that only to imagine them makes the heart tremble. However the Imam remained patient in all those hardships. May be someone says that what else could the Imam have done, other than bearing all the things patiently? He did not have any army with which he could have retaliated. What strength did he possess that he could have exhibited? We reply: He could at least have prayed to the Almighty to remove the calamities and hardships. He could have complained to Allah why He was not helping him. He could have cursed his enemies and prayed for their destruction. Agreed that at that time he was a prisoner of his opponents and could not do anything. But after being released from the prison he could have narrated the atrocities of Bani Umayyah and instigated the people to rise against them. He could have raised an army like Ibn Zubair. At that time even low scale propagation would have been successful, because injustice and oppression had made Yazid hateful to everybody. It was this same tragedy of Karbala’ that was used by Ibn Zubair, Saffah and Mansur etc. to raise armies around themselves and to lay the foundation of their empires. The call of Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) would have been a thousand times more effective. The whole of the Arab world could have been involved in the conflict. But the fact was that the patience of Ahl ul-Bayt was intact. After being released from captivity they entrusted the revenge for the blood of Imam Husayn (a.s) to the Almighty God and remained silent. Do not consider it cowardice. It was the most excellent kind of valour. Do not refer to it as weakness. It was the greatest type of patience. He wanted to show that though they allowed themselves to be destroyed they never could permit the perpetual bloodshed of Muslims. They never did initiate any conflict. Only when they are absolutely helpless and the enemies confront them wielding the swords and their remains no scope for reconciliation do they remove their swords from the sheaths and defend the truth. Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s) was also very patient and thankful. Many circumstances arose for him that anyone else would not have been able to bear, but he observed absolute patience and self-control. What can be said about others, some wretched relatives of the Imam himself caused trouble to him. They also made many efforts to cause disrespect to the Imam, but he observed patience. Hisham the ruler of Syria had restricted his movements and made life very difficult for him but he never forsook patience. He continued to act on the behavior of his holy ancestors. The narrator says: One day I paid a visit to Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s) when one of his sons was seriously ill. I had gone to see the ill child and I found the Imam standing at the door in an aggrieved state. Then he went inside and remained there for some time. When he came out again it was seen that his condition had changed and he did not seem as much worried as he before was. I thought that maybe the child was now better. I asked the Imam about him and he said that the child has passed away. I said, “Master! You were worried when he was alive but are no more aggrieved after his passing away?” The Imam said, “This is the practice of us Ahl ul-Bayt. We seem worried and aggrieved before the coming of a tragedy but when it actually occurs we submit to the Divine Will and we act with patience and accept with pleasure all that comes from Him. “Satisfied with His destiny and accepting His command.” This is the specialty of us Ahl ul-Bayt. What we pray from Allah, He accepts it. But if His wisdom does not agree to accept it, we reconcile to His Will and we never utter a word of complain to Him. The author of Rawzatus Safa writes that a descendant of Umar was the governor of Medina. He used trouble Imam Musa Kadhim (a.s) greatly, and mentioned unbecoming remarks about Amir'ul-Mu'minin (a.s). The close companions of the Imam requested many times to permit them to slay this man. But every time the Imam restrained them and said, “Do not do that without my permission.” One day the devotees of the Imam said that they could no longer bear the insults and high-handedness of the Governor. “For God's sake allow us to take revenge from him.” The Imam said, “All right, tell me where his house is and where you can find him?” The people informed him. At once the Imam mounted a horse and headed for his house. There was a blooming and green field that belonged to the governor. The Imam steered his horse inside the field and began to trample it. Someone reported this to the governor who came out at once and began using abusive language. The Imam did not pay any attention and continued to ride the horse all over the field. When the crop was absolutely destroyed the Imam came to the man and asked how much he had spent on it. He said: Two hundred dinars. The Imam gave him three hundred dinars and said, “Take this amount now and also be hopeful of the future crop. If Allah wills this time the harvest would be much more than your expectations.” Seeing the excellent behavior of the Imam, the fellow got up, kissed his hands and began to ask forgiveness of his past misbehavior. He said, “Indeed no one in the world is better or even equal to the descendants of the Prophet.” After this, the Imam returned home and related the whole incident to his companions. Then he asked them, “Now tell me whether this act of mine was better or what you had intended?” They all said that what the Imam had done was much better. The Imam actually trampled his field so that he may know that by the auspiciousness of the steps of Ahl ul-Bayt of the Prophet there is increase in the fertility of fields. Their trampling was much beneficial than ordinary greenery. During the period Imam Ridha’ (a.s) resided in Merv as the heir apparent of the caliph there was an Abbaside leader who was very jealous of him. He was always waiting for an opportunity to degrade the Imam in the eyes of Mamun, but he did not get any chance. One day he came to the Imam and criticizing the Shiite religion began to foul-mouth the Imam. The Imam asked him, “O Man! After all, what is your aim with this?” “To insult you!” he replied. The Imam said, “The special servants of Allah are never humiliated.” “I do not consider you among the chosen servants of Allah,” he said. The Imam said, “When did I ask you to consider me thus? But the One Whose servant I am considers me thus.” He said, “Show me a miracle and I will accept it.” The Imam said, “Is it anything less than a miracle that you are talking in such a bad way and I am maintaining patience and self-control? Can I not complain to the ruler and have you punished severely?” Hearing this the man became regretful and fell down at the feet of the Imam and said, “From today I have become your devotee. I had come with the intention to make you behave arrogantly with me so that I can fight you and defame you in the town. But I have become a devotee of your good behavior. The fact is that being on such an important position the patience and forbearance you have shown is impossible by anyone else.” The officers of the Abbaside dynasty were highly jealous of Imam Muhammad Taqi (a.s) specially when he became the son-in-law of Mamun Rashid. The nobles of the Abbaside clan did not like that Ummul Fadl be married to Imam Muhammad Taqi (a.s) because they had intense enmity to the family of the Holy Prophet (S), but they failed to change the decision of Mamun. This failure made their opposition more severe. Now they began to poison the ears of Ummul Fadl and said to her in a taunting way: Your father has done a great injustice upon you. He has married you to a poor and destitution-loving man. You should have been given in marriage to a prince or a son of an officer. Ummul Fadl was herself of a haughty nature while these people instigated her day and night. The result was that from the first day of marriage she began to oppose the Imam. And then she gave so much trouble to the Imam that cannot be fully related. However, the Imam observed patience and self-control. Some of his relatives also used to trouble the Imam but he never opted for any retaliatory tactics. Imam Ali Naqi (a.s) resided in Samarrah for thirty years. During this period he had to bear every kind of hardship and difficulty at the hands of the Abbaside rulers. Especially at the hands of Mutawakkil, the most oppressive one. However, the Imam remained patient and thankful. Seeing the atrocities of Mutawakkil and the patience of the Imam the people were much astounded. In spite of the fact that the Imam had hundreds of visitors from among his Shias, he never mentioned his woes to them. If he had even slightly instigated his followers there would have been a revolution in the kingdom of Mutawakkil, because Samarrah and the surrounding areas were heavily populated with the Shias. Motamid the Abbaside ruler did not leave any atrocity undone on Imam (a.s). The limit was that during the time the Imam was in captivity no one was allowed to meet him. He was given to drink cold water for two years continuously. No more than two loaves of bread were rationed for him every day. He bore all these hardships with patience and self-control. Even after his release, he was not allowed to live a free life. Such a strict vigilance was maintained on him that nothing could be more severe. But he continued to be patient in every hardship. Who can be patient like Ahl ul-Bayt? Though we have mentioned in brief one or two incidents connected with each of the Imams (a.s), it is a fact that the Holy Imams (a.s) underwent untold hardships and calamities all their life at the hands of the rulers and hardly a day passed in peace and comfort. But in spite of lifelong hardships those patient servants of the Almighty continued to thank Him.

- A Chronological Presentation The New State (1964 - 1974) - The Establishment of the PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was established in 1964 as an umbrella organization for the various Palestinian armed groups, with the explicit aim of achieving, through armed struggle, the "liberation of Palestine" from "The Zionist Entity." The West Bank and Gaza, occupied by Jordan and Egypt respectively, were at this time not targets of the PLO's struggle for liberation. In the 1960's, with Egypt's loss of Gaza as a base for guerilla operations into Israel, Jordan (the West Bank) and the Syrian Golan Heights became the preferred launching grounds for attacks on Israel. Israel reacted with attacks of retribution across the borders into Jordan and Syria. aircraft destroyed on the runway, June 5, 1967. - The Six Day War In 1966 the Syrian attacks on northern Israel from the Golan Heights intensified, and in the spring of 1967 the armed clashes between the two countries escalated further. Fabricated Soviet reports of alleged concentrations of Israeli troops near the Syrian border made the Arab leaders step up their threats against Israel, and on May 15, 1967 the Egyptian president Nasser ordered his troops across the Suez Canal, into the Sinai Desert. In the following days Nasser expelled the UN peace-keeping force and reimposed the blockade of Eilat. Israel's Defence Minister, Moshe Dayan (center), and Chef of Staff, Yitzchak Rabin (right), arrive in Jerusalem after the fall of the city i 1967. Israel sought support for the lifting of the blockade with its Western allies, but was rejected. The Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol stated in a speech that Israel did not seek a military confrontation with its Arab neighbors. With Israel completely isolated, Jordan and Iraq joined the Egyptian-Syrian defense pact, while several other Arab countries promised support for the coming war against Israel. Nasser declares that the Arab's objective is the complete annihilation of Surrounded by the Arab forces, which measured by troops and equipment outnumbered the Israeli armed forces more than two to one, and with the prospect of attacked from all sides, the Israelis chose to strike first. On June 5, 1967 Israeli warplanes bombed Egyptian airfields and in a matter of a few hours eradicated almost the entire Egyptian air force. Israel appealed to Jordan to stay out of the fighting, and promised that if it did, Israel too would refrain from attacking and the occupied territories after the Six Day War in June 1967. But when the Egyptians reported of their allegedly successful attack on Israel, Jordan that same morning initiated a massive shelling of West Jerusalem and other Israeli population centres. Syria bombarded northern Israel from the Golan Heights, and Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi planes attacked other Israeli targets. Israeli jets were dispatched against Jordan and Syria, and quickly destroyed both countries' entire air forces. Left completely without air support, already on the first day, the Arab armies were doomed, and within only six days Israel conquered the Gaza Strip, the Sinai desert, the Golan Heights and the West Bank including the Old City of Jerusalem. 1967 - UN-Resolution 242 and the "Three Noes" In the wake of Israel's overwhelming victory in June 1967, the United Nations Security Council on November 22 the same year adopted resolution 242, setting the guidelines for future peace negotiations. The resolution called for a peaceful solution, negotiated between the parties, and based on the following principle: Israeli withdrawal from an unspecified part (to be negotiated) of the territory occupied in June 1967, in exchange for which Israel's neighbors must recognize the Jewish state, guarantee its security and respect Israel accepted resolution 242, having from the outset shown willingness to negotiate a withdrawal from most of the territories in exchange for peace. The entire Arab World rejected the resolution. At a summit of the Arab League in Khartoum, already in September 1967, a resolution was adopted containing the following "three noes": no to peace with Israel, no to recognition of Israel, no to negotiations with Israel. Subsequently, a number of Arab states have accepted resolution 242, however in a somewhat liberal interpretation, according to which, Israel must unconditionally surrender all the territories conquered in 1967. 1969 - The War 1970-72 - PLO and The Six Day War had only just ended, when Egyptian forces started shelling Israeli positions along the Suez Canal. Israel's answer was to conduct air and commando raids accross the canal against Egyptian targets. The Soviet Union sent large amounts of advanced weaponry accompanied by Soviet military advisors to Egypt, and in the summer of 1969 Nasser declared a "war of attrition", aiming to inflict on Israel the highest possible amount of losses, and thereby breaking the will of the Israelis to maintain the occupation of the Sinai Desert. But the strategy failed, the crisis escalated, climaxing in the summer of 1970, when Israeli fighter jets downed four MiGs flown by Soviet pilotes. The US pushed for a cease-fire, which then came into effect on August 7, 1970. The War of Attrition ended up claiming several thousand lives on either side of the Suez Canal. After the Six Day War various Palestinian armed groups under the umbrella organization, PLO, continued their attacks on Israel. However, the Israelis managed fairly quickly to crush the PLO's infrastructure in the occupied territories, after which the organization, under its new leader, Yasser Arafat, estab-lished itself in neighboring Jordan. The PLO became an influential power in Jordan, even threatening King Hussein's regime itself, and fighting broke out between the PLO and the Jordanian army. When PFLP, a subgroup of the PLO, hijacked four Western airliners and brought them to Jordan, Hussein had enough, and ordered his army to attack the refugee camps that served as bases for the PLO. 2000 guerrillas and many more innocent civillians PFLP blows up a hijacked passenger plane, Jordan, September 1970. The surviving guerrillas escaped to Syria, where they received training and equipment from the Syrian army. Subsequently, the PLO established itself in neighboring Lebanon, from where they were able to launch attacks against residential areas in northern Israel. Following an attack by PLO on an Israeli school bus, in which 12 people, children and their teachers, were killed, Israel in May 1970 launched a large military operation in southern Lebanon, creating a 3 kilometer (2 mile) wide buffer zone, which temporarily reduced the Palestinian masked Palestinian terrorist during the hostage crisis in Munich, September 1972. Meanwhile, the PLO developed a new way of placing its cause on the international agenda. In 1968-72 Palestinian terrorists directed a string of attacks against international of passenger planes became a specialty, but also other targets related to Israel or Jews were attacked. One of the most spec-tacular attacks was the hostage crisis at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, which ended with the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes. 1973 - The Yom Kippur The cease-fire agreement of August 7, 1970, which ended the War of Attrition, was broken that very same day, when the Egyptians moved advanced Soviet weapons systems all the way up to the Suez Canal. The preparations for the next all-out war against Israel had begun, and were, after Nasser's death the same year, taken over by his successor, Anwar sadat. Syria, like Egypt, received enormous quantities of weaponry from the Soviet Union, and in January 1973 the armies of the two countries were placed under joint command. The Israeli prime minister, Golda Meir, and her advisors chose to ignore warnings from the Israeli intelligence community that something was in the offing. The country was therefore completely unprepared, when Egyptian and Syrian forces on October 6, 1973, on the Jewish holiday of "Yom Kippur", initiated a coordinated surprise attack in the Sinai and the Golan. Israeli pontoon bridge crossing the Suez Canal, Oktober 1973. During the first days of the war, the Arabs made significant progress. But as the Israeli forces were mobilized, the fortunes of war turned. Having halted the Arab advance, Israel succeeded in breaking through enemy lines on both fronts. When the fighting ended on October 25, Israeli artillery was within firing range of both Kairo and Damascus. Militarily, Israel emerged victorious from the war. But the Arabs had proved that they still posed a real threat to Israel, and therefor regarded themselves as victors. Almost 2700 Israelis were killed in the Yom Kippur War, and after public protests the Golda Meir government in April 1974 was forces to resign. A lightly wounded General Ariel Sharon meet with Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, the Yom Kippur War, 1973. Chapter 4 - Peace With The Arabs?

Friday, March 31, 2006 This has been a rather sad week, with the deaths of two wonderful young women locally, and now the anniversary of the death of Terri Schindler Schiavo. Regardless of where you stand on the "pulling the plug" debate, I cannot understand how anyone can assert that Terri Schiavo was treated humanely in her death. I personally believe that baby seals and lab animals routinely get better treatment, and in some quarters much more compassion and sympathy than did Terri Schiavo--or her parents, for that matter. As far as I'm concerned, if Terri's parents wanted to take care of her for the rest of her life, regardless of her condition, then WHY NOT???? Maybe I'm too simplistic. I just don't get it. If anything redeeming has come out of the whole thing, it is the fact that the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation has dedicated itself to sparing other disabled Americans the kind of death she endured. David Gibbs III To mark this anniversary, I'd appreciate it if you'd read my June 2005 interview with Schindler family attorney David Gibbs III. In the meantime, despite the sadness that surrounds us in this fallen world, we can have joy. God is still on the throne, and He is sovereign and gracious. Have a blessed weekend! Related Tags: Terri Schindler Schiavo, prolife Wednesday, March 29, 2006 Every news story about death is sad, but there are certain stories that hit closer to home than others. I had to report on such a story today. Two young women who were involved in Rockford's Master's Commission* program were killed in a traffic accident yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Katie Prosopio, 19, and Wendi Watson, 20. My co-host, Darren Marlar, has blogged about this beautifully. Do take a moment to read Darren's post if you can. A Master's Commission spokeswoman tells me the girls were both "wonderful people" who had missionary plans. She mentioned Wendi's "grit and determination" that kept her going despite financial obstacles. Wendi wanted to go on a missions trip to Sri Lanka, but couldn't afford it, so she put together a benefit concert to raise funds for the trip. That concert was supposed to take place this Friday. Now, it's uncertain if the concert will go forward. It could possibly end up being a combination memorial service/worship service in Wendi's memory. Katie was described as "the epitome of the fruits of the Spirit." She planned to go to India as a missionary, and start an orphanage. In one of those strange twists of what some call fate and others call God's providence, the driver of the truck is also a Christian. Joy McCarnan tells me that William (Terrell) Goodwin is a faithful and well-loved member of Morning Star Baptist Church in Rockford. Although he was not at fault in the accident, he also needs our prayers as, in Joy's words, it's "emotionally painful to be involved in such a thing." Joy writes, "We don't understand why God so clearly took these girls' lives, or why He so clearly spared Terrell, but we have to be awed at His sovereign ordaining of everything that happened yesterday morning." We closed our morning show today with Steven Curtis Chapman's We Are Not Home Yet: "From one who's seen the view And dreamt of staying on the mountains high And one who's cried like you Wanting so much just to lay down and die I offer this, we must remember this We are not home yet We are not home yet Keep on looking ahead Let your heart not forget We are not home yet Not home yet" *Master's Commission is a program aimed at providing students with a nine-month opportunity to pursue God and follow his commission without distraction. Read more about the program's vision here. Monday, March 27, 2006 Listen to an excerpt A few months ago, I interviewed a wonderful writer named Deborah Bedford about her novel, Remember Me. Embarrassingly, I did something I make it a rule never to do...I interviewed Deborah BEFORE I had finished the book. The good news is, I have now finished the book, and I truly enjoyed it. The book centers around Sam Tibbits, a bachelor pastor who can't seem to forget the childhood sweetheart with whom he's lost contact. As problems swirl in his pastoral and personal life, he decides to take his troubled nephew and make his way back to the quaint Oregon seaside village where he spent his childhood summers...only to find that his childhood sweetheart has also returned. There are complications, of course. And how Sam (who is a very likable protagonist) deals with them is both absorbing and faith-affirming. And I love Deborah Bedford's writing. It's lovely and evocative, and makes you feel the wet sand squishing between your toes and hear the cry of the sea-gulls. Deborah was a delightful interviewee, with a ready laugh and a sparkling personality. You can listen to an excerpt of our interview below: Friday, March 24, 2006 It's hard to believe, but yesterday I celebrated my 25th anniversary of working here at 101QFL. Yes, I was 10 years old when I started here. :) Not really. I was 24 years old, a young wife and the mom of an almost-one-year-old baby boy. (I started out only working four hours in the afternoon, but I still cried when he waved good-bye to me as I dropped him off at the babysitter's on March 23, 1981.) I was still apparently young and pretty enough to get out of a speeding ticket when a cop stopped me on my way to my first day. "Officer, I'm sorry! I'm on my way to a new job, and I just wasn't paying attention to the speed limit..." I had worked for three years at KWFC in Springfield, Missouri. I was so excited to be working in Christian radio again. If someone had told me that day that I would still be working here in 25 years' time, I probably wouldn't have believed them. But I have to say that I've enjoyed most of my time here. The news director who hired me, Wes Bleed, is now the news director at WGN Radio in Chicago. He was a terrific news director and I learned a lot from him during the short time we worked together. I respect him deeply and enjoy occasionally hearing him on WGN. Brian Wright, who was the program director at 101QFL for a while, is now a consultant for the station, and he has the distinction of being probably the only consultant whose advice I fully respect and who I thoroughly like! Brian was always brimming with creativity and chutzpah, and even in 1981 he was ahead of his time. Ron Tietsort, the general manager at the time and now operations manager of our sister-station, Radio 91, is the only employee who pre-dates me at the station. I still enjoy working with him as I do the news for Radio 91. To give you some insight on how things have changed in the past 25 years: *When I first came here, I typed my news stories on a manual (yes, MANUAL!) typewriter. I remember being thrilled when the newsroom got an electric! I now have a computer complete with AP news and SounDesk as well as the Internet. *We recorded our interviews on reel-to-reel and transferred them to cartridges. My soundbites are now all recorded onto my computer (from mini-disc if necessary.) *I sat through lengthy county board and city council meetings in order to garner a few minutes of soundbites. 101QFL is now a music-intensive station whose focus has shifted away from a heavy emphasis on news, so such coverage would no longer be a wise time investment. *I used to truly enjoy covering murder trials and calling in reports to the station. One of the most exciting things that has happened to me as a reporter was when I was covering the trial of accused murderer Ray Lee Stewart. At one point, he escaped from a guard on his way to the courtroom and was shot by law enforcement authorities before being on the loose for a few hours. I and a TV reporter were the only people in the courtroom at the time, waiting for the trial to resume after a recess, and we got the story to our respective stations before anyone else. *When I first came here, the station was in a residential neighborhood that wasn't close to any retail or food places. We had to travel a ways to even go to McDonald's, and what is now a major thoroughfare (Riverside Boulevard) was just a two-lane road. Now, the station is in prime real estate surrounded by every sort of business and eatery. *Brian Wright and other staffers used to do their best to crack me up while I was on the air. I usually managed to make it through the newscast, but then I would completely lose it as soon as the mic was turned off! *I started working on March 23rd, 1981, but I was scheduled to go on the air for the first time on Monday, March 30th. However, a certain event called a presidential assassination attempt pre-empted me! Yes, that was the day President Reagan was shot. We went with ABC Network News, and I never made it on the air that day. There are a lot of great--and not-so-great--memories. General managers who were complete jerks, and a few who were wonderful. A long list of DJ's and support staff for whom I will always feel affection. Many colleagues--like Mike Marino, Mike Schlote, Joel Griffith, Randy Adams, Joe Buchanan and Chris Carmichael--who I still miss to this day. Others with whom I'm now working, like Darren Marlar,help make radio a continous joy for me. I don't know how much longer I'll be in radio...maybe as long as the Lord gives me a voice and a mic to speak into! But to all who have worked alongside me this past 25 years, and all who have listened to me, thanks for the memories. Thursday, March 23, 2006 "Mary Magdalene has suffered from two thousand years of bad press."--Liz Curtis Higgs With the huge popularity of the book, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, and now the imminent release of the movie based on the book, I think it's important to examine the real Mary Magdalene. Two Christian books--one recently released, one from a few years back--are well worth reading to discover the truth about this much-maligned and misunderstood woman. I recently read and reviewed Angela Hunt's Magdalene. You can read my review here and listen to it here. Though fictional, Angela's book reflects what we actually know about the historical Mary Magdalene. The second book is Unveiling Mary Magdalene by one of my very favorite authors, Liz Curtis Higgs. I just got off the phone with Liz...I was interviewing her about her recent novel, Grace in Thine Eyes. But I couldn't resist asking her, as someone who has done a great deal of research on Mary Magdalene, what she thinks of DaVinci Code-type fallacies that have arisen about the woman...such as the "fact" that she and Jesus were romantically involved with each other. "Mary Magdalene has suffered from two thousand years of bad press," Liz tells me, "and for several reasons. First of all she's from Magdala, which was a bad town...the town known for fabric, feathers, fish and fallen women. And so when you have a woman with a history like Mary's...seven demons...and make her from a town like Magdala...well, sometimes a town can taint a reputation!" Another point of confusion about Mary, says Liz, is the multiplicity of Marys in the Bible. "The Mary stories sometimes get confused. You throw in the sinful woman who anointed Jesus feet with her tears; she has no name, but people who often confuse her with Mary of Bethany, who also anoints Jesus' feet. "...Even in The Passion of the Christ we saw Mary [incorrectly] as the woman taken in adultery who was about to be stoned." As for what Higgs calls "the DaVinci Code problem"--suggesting that Mary and Jesus had, in Higg's words, "a thing going on"--Liz says, "I'll give you one place of scripture to look to absolutely discount that, and that is when Mary, in John 20, is outside of the tomb, and Jesus speaks her name. She turns around and says, 'Rabboni,' which means 'my great teacher.' That pivotal moment establishes what the relationship was." Higgs also stresses that the Bible never even hints that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, a misunderstanding that Higgs believes goes back to the "too many Marys" confusion. If you'd like to know more about the fallacies of The Da Vinci Code, go to Liz's website and click on DeCoding DaVinci, where Higgs compares the controversial book with what the Bible says. "I'm on a mission," says Liz. "I wrote that book [Unveiling Mary Magdalene]in 2001, long before DaVinci ever came out...and you know, I've always been such Mary fan, I hate to see her so dissed." Look for a transcript of my interview with Liz about Grace In Thine Eyes sometime soon. Tuesday, March 21, 2006 I've said before that the true test of a really good book is how late I stay up reading it when I should be sleeping. Well, last night I was up waaay past my bedtime because I simply couldn't put down The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney, by Randy Singer. I've read a few of Randy's books before--Dying Declaration, Irreparable Harm, Self Incrimination--and really liked them. In my opinion, Randy (who happens to be a lawyer as well) is right up there with John Grisham when it comes to legal suspense--maybe even better in some respects. His writing is crisp, fast-paced, reader-friendly--laced with humor and imbued with spiritual insight. But Singer's latest, The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney, takes the cake. From page one, the reader is on a thrill ride of suspense and intrigue that doesn't stop until the very last page. Through it all, Singer manages to make a strong apologetics-style case for Christianity and weave an entertaining subplot that has to do with the fascinating subject of codes and code-breaking. This book is actually a companion piece to Singer's nonfiction book, The Cross Examination of Jesus Christ, which I haven't read yet...but which is also featured throughout the fiction book. Confused? You won't be when you read the fiction book, which I highly recommend. Monday, March 20, 2006 In a tiny little sliver on my FM radio dial resides a very unique little radio station. In a day when most radio stations (including the wonderful ones I work for) have decided that you must narrowcast and niche-market in order to be your best, this little low-power station throws out all the rules and plays whatever it wants, mixing Christian music with secular and with no apparent obeisance to any sort of rigid playlist. WTPB LP is owned by Third Presbyterian Church of Rockford, and broadcasts out of Rockford College. My daughter discovered it during one of her many channel-surfing sessions. Like me, she loves the old standards...music that you just don't hear on the radio anymore...but you hear it on WTPB. As of now, WTPB doesn't have live announcers. The music they play is apparently pre-recorded and played over and over again on a loop, punctuated only by brief recorded comments by Third Presbyterian's Pastor Murray Hanson. So, my daughter and I kept hearing this lovely young female voice, singing classics like "At Last," "Baby it's Cold Outside" and "The Way You Look Tonight." We fell in love with this voice and its style, which manages to be nostalgic and retro, fresh and youthful all at the same time. Who WAS this girl? We had to know, but WTPB doesn't back announce song titles or artists, so we had no way of knowing. I have a slight acquaintance with Pastor Murray Hanson, having interviewed him a couple of times in the distant past for one reason or another. I got so curious about this artist that I called him up on the phone and just asked him. He laughed and said, "You know, you're about the fifth or sixth person to ask me that. Her name is Tilly Cryar, and her album is called 'A Kind of Daydream.'" Pastor Hanson said that Tilly is actually one of his favorites as well. Well, we checked out Tilly's website, and found out a couple of things. First of all, A Kind of Daydream was recorded about two years ago, and as far as I can find out, she hasn't recorded anything since. Secondly, her dad is none other than Christian singer Morgan Cryar, who we played here on 101QFL a LOT during the 80's. Apparently Morgan was amazed to discover his daughter's talent: "I was walking through the hall one day and heard this sound. I was stopped in my tracks because it was too live and naked to be a recording but it sounded like some classic 40’s record." They decided to put together an album before Tilly headed off to David Lipscomb University in Nashville, where I assume she is still attending college. You can hear samples of Tilly's songs here. If you love the old, romantic standards, you may be as charmed by Tilly's voice as my daughter and I were. The only thing is, the website doesn't appear to have been updated since October 2004. I would love to know what's happening with Tilly and if she'll be recording again. Tilly, if you read this, give me a holler! Friday, March 17, 2006 ...these are a few of my favorite Irish-related things... (I hope you'll forgive me, but I said everything I wanted to say about St. Paddy's Day in my post a year ago, so the following is a re-post!) It took me years to realize that a lot of people use St. Paddy's Day as an excuse to party and get drunk. The day still has happy connotations for me of being a kid in school and making sure I was wearing my green so I wouldn't get pinched. Just in case you forgot to wear green, though, you could also pin on a green construction-paper shamrock! Now, I use it as an excuse to reflect on my Irish heritage, dream about visiting Ireland someday, and think about some of my favorite Irish-related things. Favorite Irish author: Maeve Binchy I believe I've read all of Binchy's books to date, and there's not one I haven't enjoyed. Her breezy, humorous and casual style gives the reader the feeling that you're chatting with a good friend, but don't be fooled--her storytelling ability is impeccable. Among my favorites: Circle of Friends, Tara Road, and Light a Penny Candle. Favorite author who writes about the Irish: B.J. Hoff It's no secret to anyone who reads this blog that I'm a major B. J. Hoff fan. Her Emerald Ballad series hooked me, and I've continued to be impressed by her absorbing tales which often feature Irish immigrants. When asked why, B. J. replied, "Well, who’s more interesting than the Irish, after all? There’s no danger of ever running out of stories about them! "Seriously, I love writing about the people who built our nation—our ancestors—and there’s really no way to do that without writing about immigrants. And since the Irish immigrants played such a hugely important role in settling America—and since my own family tree is exceedingly 'green—' I chose years ago to focus on Irish characters." (Click on the titles to read my reviews of B. J.'s Prelude and Cadence.) Also, check out B.J.'s All Things Irish page on her website for some interesting facts. Book that started my fascination with the Irish: The Red Knights from Hy Brasil, by Christine Savery. I blogged about finding this beloved childhood book recently. I fell in love with mysterious and charismatic Shane O'Coghlin, one of the book's main characters, and in fact the book began my lifelong love affair with all things Irish. OK, end of re-run... And if you're interested, Saint Patrick's own testimony. Have a happy St. Paddy's Day and a blessed weekend, everyone! (Oh...and by the way...Katy pleads with you to PLEASE not call it "St. Patty's Day"! Wednesday, March 15, 2006 If you're a Lord of the Rings fan AND a Princess Bride fan (which happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time)...then double your pleasure, and your laughter, with "Is This a Kissing Book?" Hat tip to Blest With Sons. Thanks to all who commented... ...on my post about reading to your children. I'm encouraged that there are still many who make that a regular part of their children's lives. One thing my post failed to address is using bedtime stories to reinforce biblical truths to your children. There's a lot of great literature out there aimed at doing just that, in a way that's appealing and enjoyable for your child. In fact, let me know if you can recommend any and I'll pass them along. Check out The Crusty Curmudgeon's post on the subject. Among other things, he speculates about why many classic books, like Anne of Green Gables and Little Women, are not on the lists. "Little Women" was THE book that really introduced me to the joys of reading. I latched on to fiction at around age 8, and have never looked back! Six months after Katrina... ...rebuilding efforts continue for Lakeshore Baptist Church, and weariness threatens to take its toll. "At times we feel the strong temptation to buckle under the overwhelming burden," writes Pastor Don Elbourne. But he's thankful for teams from around the country that have come to help in the ongoing efforts. Read more here. Tuesday, March 14, 2006 ...and the Bestselling Children's Books of All Time I was saddened to read this story (hat tip to my 101qfl co-host Darren Marlar) about the fact that reading bedtime stories to your children appears to be a dying tradition, at least according to a UK survey. It's been many years since I read bedtime stories to my children, but I did it on a regular basis--and I'm convinced that's one of the reasons why all three of my kids enjoy reading to this day. (In this piece by my oldest son Jonathan, he reminisces about being read to--although I don't think I read the Chronicles of Narnia to him "every night." :)) To this day, I can remember bits and pieces of books I read to my kids. One was a well-worn Little Golden Book by Richard Scarry. Although I can't remember the title of the book, I can recite whole chunks of it to this day: "On rainy days we stay indoors. We have a lot of fun. But there is so much work to do When rainy days are done." "We like to dress up wickedly. We march to our ship...yo ho! yo hee! And then we sail across the sea." "When pots and pans are handy A big parade is dandy." And there was the page depicting a big bird--a seagull, I think--to which little Jonathan always pointed and said "Caw! Caw!" Ah, sweet memories. If you don't read bedtime stories to your children, you're the one missing out. Although my kids are grown now, I can still feel how their little warm bodies felt, clean and pajama'd, encircled in my arm as I read to them. And how, when I would try to condense a long story, they would never let me get away with it: "That's not how it goes, Mommy!" Which is why I enjoyed reading them quirky, humorous books like those by Richard Scarry and Dr. Seuss. The 100 Bestselling Children's Books Which brings me to Publisher's Weekly's list of Bestselling Children's Books of all time. There are actually two lists--hardcover and paperback---and I first went to the paperback list. I was puzzled that many children's favorites weren't on the list. Then I went to the hardcover list, and apparently "Little Golden Books" count as hardcover, because there were several there that I remembered reading to my kids: "The Poky Little Puppy," "The Tawny Scrawny Lion," and several of my Dr. Seuss favorites. Anyway, here are the top 100 on the paperback list (there are actually 150 on the list), and I've highlighted the ones I've read, and made notations on others. Why not glance through the list and see how many you've read? Let me know in my comments section or on your own blog. And check out The Crusty Curmudgeon's post on why he read girls' books as a boy. (And if you like, read about some my OWN favorite childhood books here.) Publisher's Weekly list of Bestselling Children's Books (paperback) 1.Charlotte's Web, E. B. White; illustrated by Garth Williams (1974) 2. The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton (1968) 3. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Judy Blume (1976) 4. Love You Forever, Robert Munsch; illustrated by Sheila McGraw (1986) 5. Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls (1973) 6. Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell (1971) 7. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J. K. Rowling (1999) 9. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, Judy Blume (1972) 10. Shane, Jack Schaeffer (1972) 11. The Indian in the Cupboard, Lynne Reid Banks (1982) 12. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle (1974) (I've heard so many good things about this book--I must read it) 13. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams (1971)(Interestingly, my sister, who didn't even like to read that much, was the Laura Ingalls Wilder fan in our family...the only one I read was: 14. Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams (1971) 15. The Incredible Journey, Sheila Burnford (1984) 16. The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1968) 17. Johnny Tremain, Esther Forbes (1969)(loved this book when I read it in school--tried to read it to my kids years later, and they hated it so much I had to stop) 18. Just Me and My Dad, Mercer Mayer (1977) 19. Go Ask Alice, Anonymous (1976) 20. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. J. K. Rowling (2000) 21. Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, Judy Blume (1976) 22. Blubber, Judy Blume (1976) 23. The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare (1972) 24. Superfudge, Judy Blume (1981) 25. Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson (1987) 26. Freckle Juice, Judy Blume (1978) 27. On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams (1971) 28. That Was Then, This Is Now, S. E. Hinton (1972) 29. Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Louis Sachar (1985) 30. The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger (1951)(!--this is a children's story?!) 31. Farmer Boy, Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams (1971) 32. Just Go to Bed, Mercer Mayer (1993) 33. Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak (1984) 34. Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown; illustrated by Clement Hurd (1977) 35. The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams (1971) 36. The Berenstain Bears' New Baby, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1974)(pretty sure I read this to one or more of my kids at one point) 37. By the Shores of Silver Lake, Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams (1971) 38. Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams (1971) 39. The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1983) 40. The Pigman, Paul Zindel (1978) 41. The Yearling, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1961) 42. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E. L. Konigsburg (1973) 43. Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad, Mercer Mayer (1982) 44. Just Grandma and Me, Mercer Mayer (1975) 45. Just for You, Mercer Mayer (1975) 46. Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan (1987)(No, but loved the movie with Glenn Close and Christopher Walken) 47. When the Legends Die, Hal Borland (1984) 48. Bunnicula, James Howe (1980) 49. James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl; illustrated by Nancy Burkert (1988) 50. The Berenstain Bears Go to School, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1978)(may have read this one to my kids) 51. The Night Before Christmas, Clement Hurd; illustrated by Douglas Gorsline (1975) 52. These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams (1971) 53. All By Myself, Mercer Mayer (1983) 54. Stuart Little, E. B. White; illustrated by Garth Williams (1974) 55. The First Four Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams (1971) Hatchet, Gary Paulsen (1988) 56. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson (1979) 57. The Cay, Theodore Taylor (1970) 58. Kristy's Great Idea (Babysitters Club #1), Ann M. Martin (1986) 59. The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1985) 60. Then Again, Maybe I Won't, Judy Blume (1973) 61. I Was So Mad, Mercer Mayer (1983) 62. The Berenstain Bears Meet Santa Bear, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1984) 63. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1994) 64. The Berenstain Bears and Too Much TV, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1984) 65. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl (1988)(haven't seen the movie yet either, but my oldest son recommends it) 66. The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1985) 67. The Berenstain Bears Learn About Strangers, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1985) 68. Julie of the Wolves, Jean Craighead George (1974) 69. The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1981) 70. The Berenstain Bears and the Truth, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1983) 71. Gremlins, George Jipe (1984) OP 72. Stone Fox, John Gardner; illustrated by Marcia Sewall (1983) 73. I Just Forgot, Mercer Mayer (1988) 74. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst, illustrated by Ray Cruz (1976) 75. How to Eat Fried Worms, Thomas Rockwell (1975) 76. The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Beverly Cleary (1980) 77. When I Get Bigger, Mercer Mayer (1983) 78. The Berenstain Bears in the Dark, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1982) 79. 500 Words to Grow On, Harry McNaught (1973) 80. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor (1984) 81. Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia, Peggy Parish; illustrated by Lynn Sweat (1987) 82. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry (1990) 83. Thee Trumpet of the Swan, E. B. White; illustrated by Edward Frascino (1973) 84. The Cricket in Times Square, George Selden; illustrated by Garth Williams (1970) 85. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry (1956 0(a friend my age tells me this is the ONLY fiction book he's ever read!!! He loves it, by the way) 86. It's Not What You Expect, Norma Klein (1976) OP 87. Matilda, Roald Dahl; illustrated by Quentin Blake (1990) 88. The New Baby, Mercer Mayer (1983) 89. The Chocolate Touch, Patrick Catling (1984) 90. Corduroy, Don Freeman (1976) (I might have read this. Is it about a bear?) 91. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis (1970)(One of my favorite books of all time. 1970? Maybe that was just one of the publishing dates) 92. The Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1981) 93. The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight, Stan and Jan Berenstain (1982(might've read this one) 94. Sounder, William H. Armstrong (1972) 95. The Return of the Indian, Lynne Reid Banks (1987) 96. The Kitten Book, Jan Pfloog (1968) 97. Dinosaurs, Peter Zallinger (1977) 98. Wee Sing Children's Songs and Fingerplays (1977) 99. The Truck Book, Harry McNaught (1978) 100. Barney's Hats (1993) Monday, March 13, 2006 And time for the Monday Madness meme: Using the letters in the word 'MONDAY,' list things that you do (or would like to do) in your spare time. OK, some of these are kind of a stretch! Making new recipes--I get in a rut! Outdoors--as in "spending time in the"--IF the weather is nice! Needlework--no, I don't do it now, but I'd love to learn! Doing absolutely nothing--sometimes it's great to just be lazy Airplane--as in flying on one to some wonderful location Yo-yo-ing--Actually, this one isn't true at all. I have absolutely no desire to play with a yo-yo. Or to yodel, for that matter. And I'm not crazy about yoga. But hey, I had to finish the acrostic! Happy Monday, everyone! Thursday, March 09, 2006 Go here to listen to my review of Angela Hunt's Magdalene. UPDATE: I'm now experiencing problems accessing this sound file on my computer. If you were able to successfully listen to it, PLEASE let me know! Here is the written version: Magdalene, by Angela Hunt Review by Cindy Swanson They say some of the best works of fiction are spun around the question, "What if...?" In "Magdalene," Angela Hunt takes this question and crafts a riveting tale of revenge and redemption with Mary Magdalene--or Miryam of Magdala--as the central character. "What if" Miryam is a Jewish wife, mother and tradeswoman until she loses everything in a horrific tragedy? "What if" Roman soldiers brought on that tragedy in retaliation for a zealous act on the part of Miryam's firstborn son? "What if" Miryam's characterization as a woman of ill repute is thrust on her by circumstances beyond her control? "What if" her thirst for revenge continues to drive her, even after a meeting with Yeshua (Jesus) miraculously changes her life? And "What if" the very Roman soldier she blames for her loss carries with him a powerful link to Miryam's past? While weaving a fictional story from these questions, Angela Hunt is careful to honor the Biblical record of this remarkable woman and the actual things we know about her--such as the fact that Jesus delivered her from seven demons. This is especially important when so many wild speculations about Mary are being presented as fact, including the falsehoods put forth in the popular book The Da Vinci Code. Miryam is fleshed out as a very real woman--headstrong and independent, big-hearted and loving; but riddled with pain, grief, and a relentless craving for justice and revenge. We see how her life is changed irrevocably by her following of Yeshua, the wise and compassionate teacher who claims to be nothing less than the Son of God. It's wonderful to see familiar Bible events come alive through Mary's eyes. Hunt makes Yeshua a real person, portraying his humanity without diminishing his deity in the least. The parallel story of Atticus, the Roman soldier whose secret links him inextricably to Miryam, is equally compelling. It sheds a great deal of light on what it was like not only for Jews to be under Roman oppression, but for a Roman soldier to be stationed in Israel. Angela Hunt's writing has never been more beautiful and evocative, redolent with the sights and sounds of first-century Palestine and vivid with well-researched historical accuracy. The result? A finely-crafted fictional tale of "What if...?" that ultimately leads us to a very true and timely look at redemption and forgiveness. A true American hero I received this e-mail from a personal hero of mine, evangelist and Marine Tim Lee: "Thirty-five years ago yesterday, at 1:30 in the afternoon, I stepped on a land mine that ripped both of my legs from my body. I am convinced that God spared my life. If I would have stepped on the mine in just the right way it would have blown my body to thousands of pieces. The mine was large enough to have destroyed a Jeep. "So what does a person do to 'celebrate' such an anniversary? I went to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. to visit our soldiers and Marines who have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Several months ago S/Sgt. Joe Bowser who had been hit in Iraq and had his right leg blown off called me and asked if I could come and visit him and others at Walter Reed. I was unable to change my schedule to go any earlier, however, since I was in a crusade this past week in Annandale, Virginia it worked out perfect for us to go yesterday. "Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Berbano is a member of Capital Baptist Church, where I was speaking. She and her husband are both Army Doctors. Her husband is in Iraq right now.She went to work and set it up for me to be able to visit and to spend some time with our soldiers and Marines who have given so much for this country. "Marine Chief Warrant Officer Charles Andrews was our liaison person at the hospital and a tremendous help. "First, we went to visit the soldiers that were in physical therapy. There were approximately 15-20 who were in therapy and most of them, if not all, were amputees. Some were still in a lot of pain, but every single one of them had a great attitude. "From there we went to Occupational therapy and there was a class going on with about 75-80 in attendance with the majorityof them being amputees also. I was given the opportunity to address them and it was an awesome time. We took my testimony in CD format and our Deadline Vietnam tract and gave them out to all that we came in contact with. I was then taken to a few private rooms to visit some who were going through some rough times. "The Commander of the hospital, Colonel V. T. Deal came to welcome us and spend a little time with us. "Well, I could write so much more, but this is getting pretty lengthy. It really was an awesome day for this Marine, who gave my legs 35 years ago, to visit and try to encourage so many young men and women who have given so much of themselves for you and I today. Please continue to pray for these heroes. "I have said thousands of times that America is worth living for and she is worth fighting for and if needs be she is worth dying for. "P.S. I hope to get some photos up on our web site in the next few days." God bless Tim Lee and our troops around the world. Commenting on my Chicago visit, Matt B had this to say: "Cindy: How can you go to Chicago and not eat Giordanno's pizza? With all respect to Dianne,[another commenter] it's much better than the stuff at Gino's East. And, surely you didn't leave without stopping for some Garrett's popcorn - did you??" Funny you should ask, Matt! We passed Giordano's during out trip, and one of my sons said, "I wonder if this Giordano's is different or better than the one we have in Rockford?" Because we do have a Giordano's in Rockford. I've eaten there, and it's quite good. However, I stick by hometown Italian eatery Giuseppe's (especially the thick crust variety) as being the very best pizza I have EVER eaten. (I've never had Gino's, but I have had Lou Malnati's...also quite good.) As to Garrett's...well, it had a long line coming out the door and well out onto the sidewalk, as is so often the case. However, when I visited Chicago last April with my mom, sisters and daughter, we made a point of going to Garrett's. It's special to me, because Garrett is my maiden name, and it was established in 1949...the same year my parents got married. My mom had never been to Garrett's and wanted to make sure she got a souvenir tin, which she did. And yes, the popcorn is nothing short of heavenly! (By the way, Dianne, I'm sure the context in which you were visiting Chicago had much to do with your lack of love for the city.) Dee's Flash Fiction Meme Dee has tagged me with a flash fiction meme...flash fiction being "a story that can be told in a flash." As you can see from my story, I'm a hopeless romantic. I'm not tagging anyone, but if you choose to take part on your own blog, please let me know and I'll link to it! The Train, by Cindy Swanson The fog hangs thick and dreary as he trudges up the stairs, wearing his loneliness like a heavy and ill-fitting coat. The people waiting on the el train platform are silent, dark sentinels standing carefully apart; they appear to him almost like featureless, wavering blobs. But she is there again, and she alone is bathed in color and light, like the little girl in the red dress in the black-and-white Spielberg film. Breathing in her gentle perfume, taking in her glowing skin and cloud of auburn hair and sparkling eyes, the energy that radiates from her, he gathers strength to face another day. It is all he has to look forward to, this fleeting daily moment of brightness and beauty. The train exhales to a stop; he gets on and sits down, hopeless and resigned. And suddenly she is sitting beside him. She turns to him and smiles, and the thick ice around his heart begins to thaw. It is the strangest sensation. "My name is Jillian," she says. "I see you here every morning, and I thought it was about time we met." It takes a moment to find his voice. "I'm Brian." The city is still fogbound, the workday still yawns before him, the people on the train still seem colorless and drab. Nothing has changed, yet everything has. The train speeds off into the future. Wednesday, March 08, 2006 One of the highlights of my son Jonathan's visit was when our family headed into the Windy City for some shopping and dinner at Ditka's. There's a little frisson of excitement for me when the Chicago skyline comes into view. I don't know what it is about the sight, the ambience, the heartbeat of a big city that does that to me, but it just does...it's just cool. I actually bought absolutely nothing at the Water Tower Place, but that's OK. I enjoyed browsing the shops. (We walked along the Magnficent Mile, but most of the shops there were closing, it being a Saturday evening. Water Tower shops stay open until 8 PM.) And Ditka's is always good. We all took a cheat night from our respective diets and enjoyed the huge cheeseburgers named after former Chicago Bear "Refrigerator" Perry. We truly enjoyed having our oldest son home with us for a few days. What a wonderful young man! And I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom. :) I've loved Larnelle Harris since I first "discovered" him back in 1978. My husband and I were students at BBC Springfield, looking for something to do on a date night, when I found out that Larnelle would be singing at an Assemblies of God meeting at the Hammons Center. I had heard Larnelle on the radio station where I worked, KWFC. Well, we were blown away. I went out the next day and bought a Larnelle 8-track (people, this was 1978), and I've been a fan ever since. Fast forward to 2006. I've discovered a little discount book store that carries a lot of older Christian music, and I managed to pick up Larnelle's First Love (1998) cassette tape for 4.97. (Our jeep unfortunately has only a cassette player, not a CD player, so I've been trying to find decent cassettes to listen to when I'm driving it.) Although the lush orchestration can sound a bit dated on a few of the songs, there are some real gems...notably "Were it Not for Grace": "Were it not for grace I can tell you where I'd be Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere With my salvation up to me I know how that would go The battles I would face Forever running but losing this race Were it not for grace" Larnelle's voice is at its most beautiful and appealing here--imbuing each syllable with meaning and feeling; varying each nuanced note with quiet contemplation or soaring joy. It helps that the song is pretty much stripped down to little more than a piano accompaniment, allowing Larnelle's voice to be the featured instrument..an instrument that takes poignant lyrics and renders them powerful. I'm glad to see Larnelle recording again after what seemed, at least, like a lengthy absence. He may not easily fit in to a CCM playlist, but that talent is too good to be sitting on a shelf. Go here to scroll down and listen to a snippet of "Were it Not for Grace." The Windows media version, by the way, is much clearer and cleaner than the RealPlayer version. And snippets of stuff... I love Joel Griffith's way with words! Read his post about Hillary Clinton being photographed praying in front of Jerusalem's Western Wall. I love this line: "... this photo is striking because of the wall (no pun intended) of photographers busily snapping Hillary's picture as she implored Heaven to do who knows what. All they needed to do was airbrush in a halo and the tableau would have been complete." This editorial eloquently captures why many people had problems with Brokeback Mountain. And this one by Roger Ebert purports that one is not necessarily homophobic if one thought Crash was the better picture. I finished Liz Curtis Higgs' Grace in Thine Eyes, and...wow. Look for a review here soon. Friday, March 03, 2006 Here are my answers to today's Friday's Feast. Why not answer the questions here on my comments section, or on your own blog? How many pillows and blankets do you sleep with?--2 pillows. No blanket...our bedspread/comforter is pretty heavy. What are you currently "addicted" to?--American Idol! And by the way, I thought the four people who went home last night--Brenna, Heather, David and Sway--were the very ones who needed to go, and I predicted their departures to my son Justin. By the way, I'm becoming more and more impressed with Elliott Yamin. And my favorites among the girls are still Paris, Mandisa and Katharine. If you could make a small change to your current routine or schedule that would make you just a little bit happier, what would it be?--Actually, it would be kind of a big change. I love doing the morning show on 101QFL, but I wish I didn't have to get up at 4 AM to do so! I wish I could sleep till at least 6 o'clock every day. What luxury that would be. Which adjective do you find yourself using often?--"Amazing." I say that way too much! Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker?--NO. Well, I'm enjoying having my son Jonathan here for a few days! I'll be taking Monday off, so won't be blogging again till Tuesday. Everyone have a wonderful, blessed weekend! Thursday, March 02, 2006 ...a patriotic poem If you're patriotic and support the troops, you'll probably like this poem, Reporting from the Front, by Michael Marks. It was forwarded to me by my brother David, who is a Texas police officer and former Marine currently in Iraq training commandos in hand-to-hand combat. I was curious about the poet, Michael Marks, and decided to try to find out more about him. My search turned up this Washington Times article. Apparently Marks is a 42-year-old resident of Leesburg, Virginia, who grew up the son of a Marine in what he calls "a very patriotic household." He seems to have the ability to write poetry that is stirring and patriotic without being overly sappy and sentimental. More on Michael and his poems here. "Narnia" stars in tonight's Movieguide Faith and Values Awards This from AP's Religion Roundup: MOVIEGUIDE FAITH AND VALUES AWARDS TO BE HANDED OUT TONIGHT LOS ANGELES (AP) - The films that will be honored tonight in Beverly Hills have been far more popular at the box office than those nominated for Best Picture Oscars at Sunday's Academy The top nominees at tonight's 14th annual Movieguide Faith and Values Awards Gala include "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which has earned an estimated 640 (m) million dollars so far worldwide. Movieguide publisher Ted Baehr says the Narnia film is nominated for Best Family Movie and could also win the 50-thousand dollar Templeton Foundation Epiphany Prize for most Other nominees for Best Family Movie include "Madagascar," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Chicken Little," "Dreamer," "Robots" and "The Greatest Game Every Played." Comments? How do people get comments? Give me comments! OK, I'm genuinely asking! I love getting comments to my posts, but I often get none, and sometimes just a handful. Yet I see other blogs who are in the same vicinity as I am in the TTLB Ecosystem, who consistently get 20 or so. How do you do it? I know that in radio, controversy breeds feedback...but often the blogs that I see getting lots of comments are non-controversial and often fairly prosaic. (That statement doesn't include bloggers like La Shawn Barber and Pyromaniacs, who are often controversial and heavily opinionated, which of course, breeds comments.) So, I'm asking. Do you get comments? How do you engender them? Do you see any kind of a pattern...any posts that tend to get more feedback? While we're at it, if you often read my blog but have never commented, I'm asking you to come out of the woodwork here! Please leave a comment today, even if it's only to say "hi" and "yes, I'm reading"! That would make my day. Wednesday, March 01, 2006 A new Liz Curtis Higgs book is always an event for me, and I've looked forward to this book ever since I finished Whence Comes a Prince. Grace in Thine Eyes continues the series in which Higgs has very creatively-- but wonderfully convincingly--set the Jacob/Leah/Rachel story in Scotland in the 17- and 18-hundreds. Grace in Thine Eyes is the story of Davina McKie, the daughter of Jamie and Leana McKie. (Their Biblical counterparts? Jacob, Leah and daughter Dinah.) Of course, setting her story in Scotland in 1808 means some necessary changes from the Biblical story on which it's based, but the connection is clear. I've thoroughly enjoyed the first three books in this series, and I can't wait to interview Liz again on March 23rd. You can read a transcript of my last interview with her here. And speaking of Scotland... Today is whuppity scoorie day! Boy, do those Scots know how to celebrate! Apparently, whuppity scoorie is how Lanark, Scotland celebrates the arrival of springtime. By the way, we have our own Lanark here in Illinois. No word as to whether they'll be celebrating whuppity scoorie today, though. Do you know more about the Simpsons than you do your own freedoms? This from AP: "Americans' knowledge of 'The Simpsons' apparently exceeds what they know about the First Amendment. Only about one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment -- Freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of But more than half of Americans can name at least two members of the fictional cartoon family. That's according to a survey by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum in Chicago. The survey found that while 69 percent of people could name freedom of speech as a First Amendment right, just under one out of four people could name freedom of religion." More on the museum here.

You wouldn’t believe (I hope), the amount of folks there are living in the centre of the earth. Over the centuries numerous fallacious philosophies have surmised that our supposedly hollow planet is the purported domicile for numerous races, fallen angles, dammed souls, droll aliens and even spiritually enlightened super-beings. Early Christian theology of course affirmed that the head quarters of its arch nemesis is located deep beneath our feet in a damnable netherworld. But Old Nick and his painstakingly harvested souls don’t have this warm and cosy little domain all to themselves. Indeed, Christianity was not the first ideology to locate its torturous purgatory deep underground. Greek, Nordic and Jewish creeds had already bagged the underworld as the preferred site for their very own Hades, Svartalfheim and Sheol. Furthermore, following the somewhat misfortunate day and night that saw the sinking of Atlantis, the descendants of this soggy Utopian society also allegedly opted to relocate to these popular subterranean climes. The already bustling underground kingdom is also famously home to the Agarthans. A race of technically and spiritually advanced immortals who occasionally like to pop up to the surface for a day trip in their nice shimmering UFO’s. It’s quite clearly a lively old place down there. One recent visitor to the inner earth, Richard Shaver, claimed he had a very nice stay with a bunch of giant people called the Elder Race. The Elder race apparently relocated to Earth from another solar system a long time ago, but found it a little too balmy on the surface for their liking. They therefore created a brave new underground world for themselves. Despite their nice new subterrestrial domain, most of the Elders got a bit bored and eventually buggered off to find themselves another planet to occupy. But being a bit of a mischievous lot, before setting off to the next planet, the Elders left behind some evil robot-like descendants called the Deros, with the express purpose of annoying the hell out of the people on the surface. During the Nazi heyday the Thule Society were ostensibly keen to find the opening to the underworld. Convinced the entrance lay close to one of the Earth’s poles, they dispatched a fleet of submarines post haste to the Baltic island of Rügen to scout out the front door. Many even believed that rather than perishing in a bunker, the Führer himself, accompanied by his super best Third Reich buddies, legged it to the South Pole and scampered down to the underground realm in search of refuge. Indeed, a collaboration between the astute Agarthans and the renegade Jerrys could go a long way into explaining the later generations of efficient and popular well screwed together UFO’s. If you constrict your thinking to the characterless geology professed by conventional science and its darned fixation with evidence, you’ll no doubt wonder how such a myriad of civilisations could co-exit beneath the earth’s crust. Those familiar cut-away diagrams of our planet that show the inner and outer cores, the mantle, the upper mantle and indeed the crust, seem pretty tightly packed together. No room it would seem for a paltry moustachioed megalomaniacal fugitive and his cronies, let alone a race of fickle galactic colonists and their naughty robotic children. If however you ignore the geologists and find yourself a gibbering fruitcake (of which there are plenty), they will be more than happy to tell you (and at great length too), that the earth is in fact a hollow shell containing two (or more, depending of which fruitcake you talk to) concentric spheres, separated by a luminous atmosphere and a rather useful bijou sun at the centre. This hollow earth hypothesis at least provides some attempt at an explanation, albeit an whimsical one, as to how to accommodate all these disparate residents into the cramped interior of our enchanting little blue-green planet. What it doesn’t really do, is explain how this ragtag posse of fishy people, sinners, totalitarians and wayward interstellar squatters seem to get along so well. Allow me therefore to expand the Hollow Earth hypothesis with an equally whimsical postulation. I posit that peace and security is quite clearly maintained by the United Under Nations.

Recipe by TJ Johnson "A very easy to prepare meatloaf that is always very juicy and flavorful." Hmm. None of these ingredients are on sale today. Show ingredients on sale Sort stores by Save money at local stores when ingredients are on sale! Watch video tips and tricks 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup, divided 1 1/2 pounds dry bread crumbs egg, lightly beaten prepared yellow mustard shredded mozzarella cheese I didn't change the ingredients, but after browning the loaves I put them in a crock pot, poured the soup mixture over everythnig and cooked on low for 3 hours. I served everything over cooked rice. This is a great comfort food dish even during the hot afternoons when you don't want to sweat over an oven or stove. Meat was just delicious, juicy & tender but I didn't care for the sauce too much of an intense tomato soup flavour. Will make it again but alter the sauce with maybe a little extra water and some Worcestershire sauce I would have given it 5 stars, but I changed a couple things. I added a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce as suggested by others and used a small jar of Marinara Sauce instead of the Tomato Soup. It made the meatloaf richer and spicier. I also browned the meat on top of the stove, then put it in the oven for 45 minutes uncovered. It was delicious with mashed potatoes and green beans. Will make it again soon. Thanks for the recipe. I found this recipe very good. I changed it a little and instead of sing condensed tomato soup, I substituted condensed cream of mushroom soup and it came out delicious. My meatloaf loving husband gives this 5 stars. I thought it was toooo salty but he's the expert so I'll go with his evaluation. I used Italian bread crumbs and omitted the cheese. It was so easy and no need to heat up the kitchen by baking it in the oven. Left overs great in sandwiches too! try using pizza sauce instead of tomato soup mmmmm We loved this easy meatloaf! I used Italian seasoned bread crumbs and a can of pizza sauce instead of the soup. There's only two of us, so we have the second loaf for leftovers. Thanks for the recipe! A definite family favorite! My husband loves this recipe, you don't even have to tweek it to make it any better. It tastes great how it is. * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Serving Size: 1/6 of a recipe Servings Per Recipe: 6 Amount Per Serving ** Calories: 311 ** Calories from Fat: 152 Celebrate Passover with Jewish main dishes, desserts, and traditional holiday foods. Choose your Easter dinner main dish from hams, savory lamb, and over 150 more recipes. Delicious recipes, party ideas, and cooking tips! Get a year of Allrecipes magazine for $7.99! See how to make a super-quick and easy meatloaf. Discover what a touch of buttermilk can do for your meatloaf. This incredibly moist, tender meatloaf is based on Italian meatball technology.

Residents displaced by fire move to temporary shelter Residents may be able to return to Building Trades Tower in 2-3 days After spending the night at a nearby church, the 113 people displaced by the fire at Building Trades Tower in Birmingham are on the move. Busloads of mostly elderly people displaced by Monday's fire are being taken to the Levite Jewish Community Center on Montclair Road. It’s a bigger, more comfortable place to stay while their homes are repaired. It may be two or three more days before residents are allowed back into the building. Residents on the second floor, where unattended food may have caused the fire, may be moved temporarily to vacant apartments within the building. Many folks were worried about their medicines and oxygen. We are told they have been reunited with their lifelines. For now, the Red Cross is handling the large task of feeding and caring for so many who need a helping hand. Building managers have been busy with insurance adjusters and repair crews and were unable to speak with WVTM 13 Tuesday. However, early indications are that air quality, debris and water problems left over from the fire could prevent residents from getting back into their apartments for at least a couple of days.

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Netanyahu Rejects Attack on Reform Judaism by Shas Minister The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement Wednesday night saying that Netanyahu “strongly disagrees” with the comments of David Azoulay of the Sephardic Orthodox Shas Party, in which he reportedly called Reform Jews “a disaster for the people of Israel.” “As he has in the past, the Prime Minister will ensure that Israel remains a place where all Jews can feel at home,” the statement said. Azoulay made the comments during a meeting to discuss the Women of the Wall group, the Israel Hayom daily newspaper reported Wednesday. The meeting reportedly took place on Tuesday between Azoulay and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of the right-wing Jewish Home party. “The Western Wall belongs to everybody,” Azoulay said, according to Israel Hayom. “What these women do is provocation. To come with tallitot, tefillin and a Torah scroll is not praying but rather provocation.” Women of the Wall meets at the beginning of each Jewish month for a women’s service at the Western Wall. Many of the women wear tallitot and tefillin, and have been lobbying to be allowed to read from the Torah during the service. On Wednesday morning the women met for their monthly service, during which five young women celebrated their bat mitzvahs and read from a Torah scroll smuggled in through security. Also on Wednesday, the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism sent a letter to Netanyahu asking him to publically reject Azoulay’s statements. “This type of statement from a member of the Knesset strongly and gravely upsets the feelings of millions of Jews in Israel and the Diaspora and seriously endangers the relationship of the Jewish community in the Diaspora with the State of Israel,” said the letter. Azoulay’s comment “casts a dark cloud on whether he is fit to serve in this position in a way which gives proper respect to the basic democratic values of the State of Israel and of its being the national homeland for Jewish people of all sects, communities and streams,” the letter added.

I watched 20th Century Fox's "Anastasia" again the other day. You know, the one where Rasputin is a bloodthirsty maniac who becomes a magical ghoul. As I understand it, Rasputin was a Christian mystic possessed of a supernatural endurance, and had the ability to calm the hemmorhaging infirmity of the Czar's son when he was around. When his political enemies tried to have him assassinated, he survived being poisoned, shot, and stabbed, before finally succumbing to drowning in an icy river. There seems to be as much myth as fact surrounding stories of Rasputin. I can't say for certain if the stories of his miraculous power are exaggerated, nor the stories of wanton hedonism. But I want to use him as a jumping board to talk about his feats of Christian mysticism in light of what we now call Pentecostalism. Pentecost, called "The Feast of Weeks" or "Feast of Firstfruits" is the second holiest Jewish holiday, and literally means "50 days". It occurred 50 days after the resurrection of Christ, and was the onset of the Holy Spirit upon the earth (as chronicled in Acts 2:1-11), the promised "Comforter", and the "Power" that Jesus warned his disciples to not leave Jerusalem without. Today, Pentecostalism refers to the class of Christian denominations which embrace the "ecstatic gifts", the "moves of the spirit", "manifestations", as described in I Corinthians 12:8-10. We believe the gifts did not cease after the first century--a common belief held my non-Pentecostal denominations. The most common of the gifts is glossolalia--praying in tongues (which is a personal gift; the cousin of this, "speaking" in tongues, is a corporate gift in that it, when followed by the interpretation (which is a different gift), serves the same purpose as a prophecy (yet another gift): a message from God to the assembly). Needless to say, this phenomenon is misunderstood, even feared by many. If Rasputin truly excerised these gifts, he was surely feared by those who couldn't understand how he could do what he did. Nevertheless, all the gifts are manifested for our good... either ourselves, or those around us. Granted, the employer of a gift may have idiosyncrasies and shortcomings (which in Rasputin's case may be a serious understatement), but the gift *itself* is pure, as it comes from God. That must not be understood. God continuously works out for what is best for us, even when it's not what we "want". Although I enjoyed the movie, it still galls me that it paints Rasputin as such a diabolical villain. If being a Christian mystic makes one a villain, then watch out... my church is loaded with them!

Recipe by ELLENMARIE "This is a sweet bread, made into a round loaf." Hmm. None of these ingredients are on sale today. Show ingredients on sale Sort stores by Save money at local stores when ingredients are on sale! Watch video tips and tricks 4 1/2 cups 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast halved candied cherries candied citron peel This is almost exactly like my recipe for JULEKAGE (Norwegian Christmas bread). Don't bake it in the casserole, but rather form it into a circular loaf and bake on a cookie sheet. Butter the top when it comes out of the oven. It is best when sliced and toasted, then buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Store wrapped in plastic or a Ziploc bag. Yummy! This was more like a batter bread. Needs more flour. A 2 qt. casserole was not large enough for this recipe. Slopped over the edge and fell in the middle. I was very disappointed. Delicious. Baking as round loaf on greased baking sheet worked better than casserole. Monitor carefully while baking to avoid overcooking. Not a recipe for novice or beginner bakers. More experienced bakers should have no problem. * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Swiss Christmas Bread Serving Size: 1/18 of a recipe Servings Per Recipe: 18 Amount Per Serving Calories from Fat: 46 Celebrate Passover with Jewish main dishes, desserts, and traditional holiday foods. Choose your Easter dinner main dish from hams, savory lamb, and over 150 more recipes. Delicious recipes, party ideas, and cooking tips! Get a year of Allrecipes magazine for $7.99! See how to make simple French bread dinner rolls from scratch. The crust is crunchy and the center is moist. What’s not to love? It’s so easy to make fun, delicious monkey bread.

I Dreamed of a Butch Knight My mother lingered at the gas station up the boulevard from our apartment in Van Nuys, California. It was 1961 and I was four. “See those men?” she said to me, gesturing to a seedy bar across the street. “They’re women.” I’m sure it took some real observation to see that the women entering the bar were not straight couples. It was a working-class bar in a working-class neighborhood. The butches looked like male laborers or maybe truck drivers — uniforms, white T-shirts, plaid flannel shirts, D.A.'s and cropped haircuts — while the femmes were womanly in appearance, like any woman in a summer dress with a purse on her arm that you might see in a department store. My mother also had a thing for tough men. I mean real tough, like thugs and bad boys, and the sinewy tattooed junkies that operated the rides at Pacific Ocean Park in Venice Beach. My father, a Robert Mitchum look-alike, was an alcoholic chain-smoking bricklayer with a motorcycle, missing teeth and a heart of gold. I was born when they were teenagers, and she left him when I was three. My grandparents told her she had to marry a Jewish man. It was a threat. So she married a much older Sephardic Jew who was a swarthy wimp — a badly dressed bookkeeper with a comb-over, a guy who sexually abused children. She never said a nice thing about him but kept up her adoration of macho men and manly women like they were mythical, as if their masculinity was the promise of something. Rescue maybe. Image: Sam Howzit I absorbed my mother’s fascination with hyper masculinity and it became my obsession. Even before I had a clue about gender or sexuality, my little heart pounded when I saw a tough woman in men’s clothing. As a preteen, I daydreamed about a young man kissing me goodnight at the doorstep, but underneath it all he was a woman. As soon as my mind went there, I shut the fantasy down. I had so much shame. When my stepfather had me committed to a mental hospital at 16, after I finally told a neighbor that he'd raped me, I met Tony, a “he/she” (a common "freak" slur that caught my breath). She was on the adult ward and they didn’t mingle with the teens, so I did my best to seduce her during outdoor time on the broken and weedy blacktop, scorching in the California sun, while she smoked cigarettes between her thumb and forefinger, all the way down to the butt. Before I ran out the emergency exit and into the waiting car of my high school girlfriend, Tony told me we’d get married after her sex-change surgery. In our fantasy, I would make dinner in an apron while she worked as a laborer and she’d come home all dirty and sweaty, and I’d have a martini ready. I never did get Tony’s last name and never saw her again but she became my mythical macho man. For years, I watched manly women from the margins, too ashamed of my desire to act on it. It was my secret. In the meantime, I took lots of drugs and had sex with girls in bands, girls at high school, girls in scenes for guys. There was an unspoken agreement that we were straight, but just fooling around because it was Hollywood and we were decadent and free spirits. Mostly, I slept with rock stars and random men, lots of them, for money and a place to stay. When I left Los Angeles for New York City in 1984, with a good job in the music business, I made a decision to start my life anew. Essentially, I wrote a script and acted in it: no drugs, drink, dykes; marry a Jewish man, have children. It was the script that trapped my mother. When I was in my 30s with two young children, a husband (Jewish) and an undergraduate in college for the first time, I started cruising the HQ section in the NYU library. I hid books among the stacks: early transgender autobiographies, lesbian cultural history, pulp fiction, anthologies of personal narratives. The writing was mostly dreadful but that is how I figured out there were woman like me — femmes — and that all butches were not monosyllabic truck drivers in the corner seat of a bar. I came out to my husband when my children were 5 and 8 years old. He was kind and tried to be understanding; it breaks my heart to think about it. I was a mess. Imploding. It was a hard choice to make because my straight life was great but I could not be like my mother in a long-unfulfilled life of yearning for something unknown. What I did not understand until I had two long-term relationships with butches and dated several more, is that I went from one mythical world to another. I could no more re-create myself as a straight wife without a past than I could as a femme wife in an apron with a martini ready. But more relevantly, gender expression, especially beefed-up masculinity in men and women is just one part of a person. Don’t get me wrong, I love the look, but when you imbue a person with attributes based on their appearance, you’re heading into quicksand. Masculinity does not mean a person is the breadwinner, it doesn’t mean they throw you down sexually, or know how to build a bookshelf. It doesn’t mean they can’t cry, or feel, or cook. Right now I live on my own and find it thrilling to be self-reliant after a lifetime of waiting for a butch knight. Originally published at Purple Clover.

Zdeněk FIBICH (1850-1900) Symphony no.1 in F major, op.17 (1883) [36:45] Impressions from the countryside, op.54 (1878) [25:26] Czech National Symphony Orchestra/Marek Štilec rec. CNSO studio no.1 ‘Gallery’, Prague, 6-7 February 2012 NAXOS 8.572985 [62:18] The account of Fibich’s first symphony that has been generally the best regarded was set down as long ago as February 1950. The performers were the Czech Philharmonic under its then chief conductor, Karel Sejna. The recording is still available as part of their two-disc traversal of the composer’s three symphonies (Supraphon SU 3618-2). Listening to that recording today, it is obvious why it has, in almost all respects, stood the test of time. In spite of the vicissitudes of the second world war - not least the purging of its Jewish players - the 1950 Czech Philharmonic was still distinctive. Its style and standards were still recognisably those of the orchestra of Václav Talich, their chief conductor 1919-1931 and 1933-1941, who had established them firmly on the world’s musical map. The pleasurable task of listening to some of their pre-war recordings - still widely available thanks to the Naxos Historical label- confirms that essential musical continuity. Moreover, in performing this music the orchestra was very much on its own home turf. Musicologists - “who can read music but can’t hear it” - Sir Thomas Beecham - may claim that Fibich was more cosmopolitan in outlook than his more “nationalist” contemporaries Dvořák and Smetana. However, to my ears, at least, the opening movement of this F major symphony is pretty well indistinguishable from something by the New World’s composer in full lyrical flow. The conductor is the third element in the 1950 account’s success. Karel Sejna (1896-1982) was a stalwart of a national musical life which was much more intense and inward-looking than we are used to today. It may be hard to believe, for example, that in the 1920s there actually was such a thing as a Czechoslovak Railway Workers Symphony Orchestra, but there was - and Sejna was its conductor. Virtually all of his training and career took place in his homeland, a fact reflected in the huge degree of authenticity he brings to his recordings of Czech music. The 1950s Eastern European technology means, though, that this enjoyable and thoroughly idiomatic account of Fibich’s first symphony understandably shows its age. As well as having been recorded in mono, the overall sound is rather opaque and many of the score’s delightful inner felicities are thereby somewhat obscured. My own copy, in spite of boasting that it has been “24 bit digitally re-mastered”, even boasts a faint but immensely annoying pre-echo on one of its filler tracks: the attractive A springtime tale for soprano, bass, choir and orchestra. Such sonic deficiencies were certainly not in evidence in January 1993 when Neeme Järvi recorded a new DDD account of the first symphony with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (CHAN 9230, with the second and third symphonies following a year later on CHAN 9328). While that was certainly a competent and welcome addition to the rather thin Fibich symphonic discography, it also lacked its Czech predecessor’s sheer character. As a typically cosmopolitan late 20th century conductor, Järvi inevitably failed to match Sejna’s intuitive grasp of the native Czech musical idiom. Moreover, the playing of the Detroit orchestra, very fine as it was, offers a useful illustration of the erosion of distinctively national orchestral characteristics that occurred as the world became more open in the late 20th century. While individual players furthering their careers in a worldwide free market no doubt found that to be a positive development, it is undeniable that it also helped create some blandly anonymous orchestras displaying few individual or “national” characteristics. While that may have been, in certain aspects, a good thing - although I, for one, have a soft spot for braying Soviet brass sections (me too. Ed.), in many others the baby has certainly been thrown out with the bathwater. The orchestra featured on this new Naxos recording, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, did not even exist until after the fall of the Iron Curtain and is, moreover, often used in recording film scores and other non-classical work. The conductor, Marek Štilec, was only 26 years old when he led this performance. With a 21st century musical training and background and a personal inclination towards contemporary scores, he might well be expected to have a broader and less “nationalistic” outlook than someone of Sejna’s generation. As a result, I was not expecting much innate empathy with Fibich’s music from either orchestra or conductor. I could not, however, have been more wrong. Štilec and his band play here with a hugely attractive “rustic” tone that is entirely appropriate to these scores and that entirely escapes Järvi’s Detroit orchestra. In that respect, the cover pictures of the respective discs are very apt: Chandos depict an urban image of Prague’s beautiful Charles Bridge while Naxos has chosen an idealised representation of the Czech countryside. Fibich’s father had been a forester and the young composer had spent much of his childhood in a remote lodge deep in the Czech countryside at VŠebořice. In spite of the occasional dramatic flourish that never amounts to much, the symphony’s opening movement is essentially bucolic in character. Within just a few moments, the CNSO’s deliciously fruity woodwinds have transported us magically away into the Bohemian countryside. By the time the memorably lyrical second subject comes along (2:06) I was hooked in a way that Järvi’s account had never managed to achieve in its two decades on my shelves. Štilec’s account is altogether lighter and more airy than that of his rivals, fully in keeping with the emphasis he places on the score’s pastoral elements. His is also an appropriately gentler and more relaxed approach, with an overall timing of 36:45 that comfortably exceeds both Järvi’s (34:13) and Sejna’s (30:05). Thankfully the engineering team of Václav Roubal and Karek Soukeník has done a superb job of keeping the sound crystal clear - though my more critical colleague Nick Barnard describes it as having a “clinical glare” - so that all the woodland rustlings and flutterings that Štilec so carefully teases out can be fully appreciated. The coupling on the Naxos disc, the op.54 Impressions from the countryside, gives Fibich full rein for his romanticism and is in this context an entirely apt one. It is equally well played. It is a shame, though, that, with a total disc time of just 62:18, the opportunity to add another track was missed. This is apparently the first disc of a series of eight that will include all Fibich’s orchestral scores recorded by the same forces and that will appear over the next few years. I suspect we may well be in for a few musical revelations in that time and certainly look forward to hearing the next instalment from these intriguing and talented new performers. A hugely attractive rustic approach entirely appropriate to these scores. Support us financially by purchasing this disc from

Rabbis Without Borders Rabbis Without Borders is a dynamic forum for exploring contemporary issues in the Jewish world and beyond. Written by rabbis of different denominations, viewpoints, and parts of the country, Rabbis Without Borders is a project of Clal – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. I am a self-confessed football fanatic. From September through January, my Sundays are centered around the performance of the San Diego Chargers (my star-crossed hometown team). The feeling of elation after a victory casts a positive glow throughout much of the following week, while a loss leaves me virtually inconsolable for the rest of the evening. My considerate spouse tends to discourage other non-fanatics from coming over to the house to watch games with me: I have been known to yell somewhat loudly, and I take literally the word “throw” in “throw pillows.” To others who share this unhealthy obsession with football, the period between the Superbowl in February and the beginning of the season in late summer can feel like an eternity. But there is a spring oasis, a football three-day holiday, that emerges each spring called the NFL Draft. For seven rounds, football teams select college football players to add to their professional ranks for the coming year. Ostensibly, the purpose of the draft is to restock depleted rosters with relatively affordable players. But for football fans, the draft takes on a far more important role: it gives us hope: hope that these 20-22 year-old amateurs will take their physical gifts and become franchise players; hope that your team’s first-round pick this year will become an all-star rather than an expensive bust; hope, in short, of the power of potential to become reality. Judaism, too, offers a spring-time multi-day exploration of the power of potential. From the second day of Passover until Shavuot, we count off a 49-day period called Sefirat ha-Omer (“Counting of the Omer”). According to Leviticus 23:15-16, “You shall count from the eve of the second day of Pesach, when an omer (“sheaf”) of grain is to be brought as an offering, seven complete weeks. The day after the seventh week of your counting will make fifty days, and you shall present a new meal offering to God.” Despite its agricultural-sacrificial original context, the Counting of the Omer has become a period for spiritual rejuvenation. At a national level, the Omer bridges the gap between Passover’s celebration of freedom from slavery and Shavuot’s formation of Jewish communal identity with the receipt of the Torah. At a personal level, based in part on Kabbalistic (mystical) teachings, the Omer becomes an opportunity for individual spiritual purification from a slavish mentality (to money and materialism, work, preconceived notions, etc.) to one that is open and receptive to the instruction of the Almighty. The Counting of the Omer has become more popular within Jewish circles, I believe, precisely because it taps into the Western cultural desire we all have—NFL fans and those indifferent to the gridiron—to celebrate potential. Despite the toxic nature of our political discourse, the relentless economic malaise we have experienced since 2008, and the tragic violence that continues to penetrate into our daily lives, we still yearn for hope. We still want to be inspired. So when our political and economic leaders fail us, we find other avenues for satisfying our innate need to find and experience potential. We are riveted by the latest hi-tech gadgets, from iPhones to Google Glass (often waiting in line for hours and paying ridiculous amounts of money) because of what they might enable us to do. We watch The Voice or The Bachelor because we want to be part of the process of “discovering” potential greatness. We live in a culture that venerates youth not only because we are shallow and vain but also because youth epitomizes limitless opportunity. For better or for worse, we are a “stem cell” culture: just as embryonic stem cells have the potential to transform into any other cells in the body as they mature, so too do we seek to recapture that fleeting time and sensation when we had not yet become what we are. The Omer represents an authentically Jewish way to tap into this innate human need to celebrate potential without the cultural detritus of superficiality. Mindfully using the Sefirat ha-Omer enables us to take part in the excitement, the freshness, and the opportunity to re-claim the potential we still have to reinvent ourselves spiritually, both individually and communally. So I encourage you to take advantage of the time remaining in the Omer this year (we are at 34 days and counting). Visit The Huffington Post’s Omer Liveblog for some incredible visual and poet insights; begin reading or studying some text you have always wanted to but never found the time for; attend a yoga or meditation class for the first time; or just carve out a few minutes each evening to think about how you would like to improve your religious life for the upcoming year. Few of us are blessed with the physical tools to become professional football players, but each of us are blessed with the capacity for spiritual, intellectual, and moral growth. May the Omer remind us that we don’t need to wait to be drafted by others to take hold of our own potential for greatness.

|Olympic medal record| Yury Naumovich Vengerovsky (Ukrainian: Юрій Наумович Венгеровський, Russian: Юрий Наумович Венгеровский; 27 October 1938 – 4 December 1998) was a Ukrainian volleyball player who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1964 Summer Olympics. In 1964, he was part of the Soviet team which won the gold medal in the Olympic tournament. He played all nine matches. - Joseph Siegman (2000). Jewish sports legends: the International Jewish Hall of Fame. Retrieved 1 August 2011. |This article about a Soviet Olympic medalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.| |This biographical article relating to volleyball in Ukraine is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|

A Moscow Show Brings Chagall 'Back Home' By JOHN RUSSELL, Special to the New York Times Published: September 3, 1987 MOSCOW, Sept. 2— After decades of purposeful neglect, the art of Marc Chagall is receiving a full-scale exhibition in his native land. More than 250 paintings, prints and drawings by the artist, drawn from private collections and from Soviet museum storerooms, are in a show that opened here today at the Pushkin Museum. The exhibition marks the centenary of Chagall's birth. The opening was a festive occasion, with speeches, music, a poem by Andrei Voznesensky, who has championed the artist's cause, and an overflowing and attentive crowd of convinced admirers from all over. Valentina Chagall, the artist's widow, was the guest of honor, but there were times when it seemed as if everyone who had ever had anything to do with Chagall - not excluding, by the way, his dentist - had made the journey. The opening of the show was covered extensively on the prime-time television news, sending the message around the country that the painter was now officially accepted. And Mr. Voznesensky spoke for everyone present when he told a news conference that Chagall was ''a genius of our century'' and said, ''Let us rejoice that he is back at home, or that at least his works are.'' That Chagall is not yet fully ''back at home'' has recently been made clear by hostile articles and speeches by Communist Party members in Chagall's native Byelorussia. There have recently been a number of attacks on both Chagall and his champion, Mr. Voznesensky, in the Byelorussian press. At a party meeting in June in Minsk, the Byelorussian capital, Chagall's work was openly attacked and his ties to the Soviet Union repudiated by one speaker. The centenary exhibition may be a triumph for Chagall in Moscow, but the authorities in his hometown of Vitebsk have made clear they have no intention of turning his birthplace into a museum, Mr. Voznesensky said. The Moscow show offers the Soviet visitor a first-ever broad conspectus of Chagall's activity from 1911, when he turned 24 and was hitting his stride as a painter, to not long before his death more than 70 years later. Fifty paintings have been lent from the private collection of Mrs. Chagall in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, near Nice. Twenty-five have been lent by their daughter, Ida, who lives in Paris. Everything else comes from Soviet sources - from great museums in Moscow and Leningrad, from provincial museums in Batum, Pskov and elsewhere, and from private collections whose very existence has been unknown in the West. The result could not be comprehensive, in the sense that the recent major retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Royal Academy in London was comprehensive. But the family loans are warmed by a particular and specific affection and include many paintings that have not been lent out before. The choices have, in fact, a devotional quality to which Russians of no matter what political or religious orientation never fail to respond. As for the Soviet loans, they have been a matter for speculation and excitement ever since plans for the show were first made known. Very few visitors from the West had ever seen the decorations that Chagall made in 1920-21 for the auditorium of the Jewish Theater in Moscow. Chagall himself owned several sketches for them, but the scale, the energy and the inspired conviction that Chagall brought to the completed works made them a matter of legend long after the theater itself had ceased to exist and the decorations had passed (so it was said) into the care of the Tretyakov Gallery. Worked for the Theater Chagall was also known to have gone deeply, at this difficult and problematic period of his life, into work for the theater in general. Whether for three short plays by Sholem Aleichem, for Sean O'Casey's ''Playboy of the Western World'' or for ''The Dybbuk,'' he gave freely of his heart and his imagination, with results that were sometimes acceptable and sometimes not. Once again, precise information was hard to come by. As it turns out, and much to our disappointment, none of the Jewish Theater material is in the present show. ''The Red Jew'' of 1915 notwithstanding, the emphasis is on family life, the potential of daydream and the persistence of purely Russian themes even after more than 50 years in the West. The paintings are a revelation, by reason of their directness, their simplicity and their depth and immediacy of feeling. These are paintings that demanded to be made, and they have lost none of their peremptory appeal. It is good to see them where they belong, with the Tretyakov version of ''The Stroll'' of 1917-18 on a high wall by itself at the end of the main room. A mass of cognate material, nearly all of it unfamiliar, begins with a self-portrait of 1914 and includes the ecstatic and very large painting, dated 1914-18, of Chagall and his bride floating high, free and safe above Vitebsk, a town that had had its full share of pogroms during World War I. It is good to be able to add that the choice of work from the artist's last years has been made with a particularly sure and convincing hand. This is advocacy that leaves us persuaded.

Web: www.twitter.com/flyingwithfish – E-Mail: email@example.com 16/10/2008 – The Jewish Holiday Of Sukkot Is Not A Threat To Airline Security According To The Department Of Homeland Security Three days ago at Sunset, on the evening of the 13th of October, the Jewish festival of Sukkot began. Sukkot is the joyous holiday essentially celebrating the harvest. With the holiday of Sukkot approaching the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) put out the following press release a few days before the start of this holiday. Religious Events of Sukkot TSA recognizes that the travel period for Sukkot, a significant event for persons of the Jewish faith, begins approximately on October 14, 2008, and ends approximately on October 20, 2008. TSA’s standard operating procedures do not prohibit the carrying of the four plants – which include a palm branch, myrtle twigs, willow twigs, and a citron through the airport or the security checkpoints, or on aircraft. These plants are not on TSA’s Prohibited Items List. TSA understands that this is a significant religious event for the Jewish faith and has reminded its security workforce that members of the Jewish faith may be observed engaging in religious practices or meditations and carrying the four plants. I have read this press release and reread this press release, and for the life of me I cannot fathom why someone at the DHS or TSA though they needed to announce you could travel with the items customarily found in a Sukkah while celebrating Sukkot. None of these items are banned from carry-on baggage at any time during the year. …………..so with the TSA’s blessing (so to speak)………To all the Jewish readers of Flying With Fish, L’shanah tovah, and happy and a healthy 5769!

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace seems to believe that there is no racism on the left according to a moment during on her show Tuesday during a conversation with Rick Stengel and Elise Jordan. The three were speaking about Rep. Steve King’s comments about how white supremacy had become a bad word, which many of the leftist talking heads took as their “Ah ha!” moment and began pointing at the Republican party as the racist party with gusto. “When did saying white nationalism or white supremacy become a bad word? I mean, the problem is there are voters who are thinking that, too, like, what is wrong with that? And that’s the problem with the Republican Party,” said Stengal. “That those people have nowhere else to go and they have a president who seems to endorse those views which are un-American.” “And it has been particularly empowered under Donald Trump. You were working for President Bush when Trent Lott made his statement that Strom Thurmond, how much better off would we have been if he had become president, and George W. Bush said this is unacceptable, no, and he resigned,” added Jordan. It was then that Wallace chimed in with the idea that there is no racism on the left and that’s why racists flock to the Republican party. “Part of the problem is we think — this does not have a parallel on the left. There just — it doesn’t. There isn’t. There isn’t a strain of racism on the left. I don’t — so I think that this gets brushed under the rug. People sort of tolerate — it’s been normalized,” Wallace responded. “Like you just said, they don’t have anywhere else to go, so they attach to the Republican Party. The Republican Party doesn’t have to let them. How — how do — how do Republicans sort of get back to doing something decent?” Wallace is deeply mistaken here. The Republican party can say with full confidence that we reject racists who attempt to glob themselves onto the party, and this also includes President Donald Trump, though that narrative will never sink below the waves so long as he’s in power. They didn’t let it for George W. Bush, who the left is now cool with, while he was in power, but that’s the sad state of politics. The Democrats, however, cannot claim that they reject racists. I’ll gloss over the fact that they celebrated Congressman Robert Byrd, an avowed member of the KKK and a Grand Dragon within their ranks, no less, and head straight into modern-day examples. The first, and most glaring one being the left’s embrace of hate preacher Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam church. This is the same Farrakhan who called Hitler a great man, and recently compared Jewish people to Termites. Yet this hasn’t stopped Democrats from embracing him as a something of an icon. Recently Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) embraced him lovingly in her office, and has been spoken of highly by Farrakhan in the past. Farrakhan is also a hero of the Women’s March leadership, and Tamika Mallory refuses to flat out condemn Farrakhan’s antisemitic remarks. Speaking of the Women’s March leadership, activist Linda Sarsour can’t seem to take a breath without unleashing some sort of hate toward Jewish people. Just last November, she was on record blaming the “Jewish media” for the flagging support of Democrats. Last October, CNN’s Don Lemon labeled “white men” as “the biggest terror threat in this country,” adding “we have to start doing something about them.” “Comedian” Kristina Wong created a kid’s show on YouTube teaching kids racism and sexism, where one girl is prompted to say “there’s just something about white people that just makes me be like…” at which point the girl makes an odd face. The list could go on for days, but the point is clear. Racism exists in spades on the left, it would just appear that many on the left don’t consider racism to be racism if its directed at certain groups, namely Jewish and white people. And while that racism is blatant, the left practice a low-key form of racism as well. A recent study found that members of the left tend to dumb down their speech when speaking to minorities. While elements of racism exist on both sides, it is clearly more pronounced and welcome on the left.

Well it’s February again, and while yes we know Valentine’s Day, or Lupercalia; whichever you prefer has passed by a couple of days, we still wanted to express our subversive love. Just not more than we wanted to smack naked young men running through the hills with blood. Now we have one less thing on our collective bucket list. After several years of watching movies about heroic horses and Bands of Brothers and the like, we’d like to bring a bit of appreciation back to the U.S. Home front. We’re prone to try to forget a lot of American citizens were interred in camps at the very same time Jewish Europeans were. We didn’t kill them but we didn’t treat them nicely either and we stole all of their stuff, made them live in substandard facilities like racetrack horse stalls and thrown together barracks and didn’t give them daily supplies that we would expect our criminals to have access to. But in 1942 Fred Korematsu said no to this. At 23 years old he refused to be stuck on a train and sent to a camp. Fred Korematsu chose to defy the order and carry on his life as an American citizen. He underwent minor plastic surgery to alter his eyes in an attempt to look less Japanese. He also changed his name to Clyde Sarah and claimed to be of Spanish and Hawaiian descent. On May 30, 1942, he was arrested on a street corner in San Leandro, California, and taken to San Francisco county jail. While in jail, he was visited by Ernest Besig, the director of the San Francisco office of the American Civil Liberties Union, who asked Korematsu if he was willing to become the test case to challenge the constitutionality of the government’s imprisonment of Japanese Americans. On September 8, 1942, Korematsu was convicted in federal court for violating the military orders issued under Executive Order 9066. He was placed on five-year probation. For several months, he lived at the Tanforan “Assembly Center” in San Bruno, CA, one of the former horse racing tracks where Japanese Americans were first held before being sent to the more permanent American concentration camps. Korematsu and his family were transferred from Tanforan to Topaz, Utah, where the government had set up one of 10 incarceration camps for Japanese Americans. Believing the discriminatory conviction went against freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, Korematsu appealed his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In its December 1944 landmark decision, the high court ruled against him in a 6 to 3 decision, declaring that the incarceration was not caused by racism, and was justified by the Army’s claims that Japanese Americans were radio-signaling enemy ships from shore and were prone to disloyalty. The court called the incarceration a “military necessity.” In one of the three stinging dissents, Justice Robert Jackson complained about the lack of any evidence to justify the incarceration, writing: “the Court for all time has validated the principle of racial discrimination … The principle then lies about like a loaded weapon, ready for the hand of any authority that can bring forward a plausible claim of an urgent need.” (Source: Korematsue Institute) After the war Fred went on to marry his wife Kathryn, who was a white woman. This was also still illegal in many states and the couple had to move to Detroit to get married. He tried to live out his life with no real intentions of becoming an activist but his U.S. Supreme Court conviction had a lasting impact on his basic rights, affecting his ability to obtain employment. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that then President Carter began looking into the incarceration of Japanese Citizens during WWII and a committee was appointed. During this process several lawyers in the San Francisco area found Fred’s case and contacted him. His case was finally overturned in 1983. Afterwards Korematsu did not sit on his laurels. He began working on the cause of Redress for Japanese Americans. He traveled to Washington DC and helped lobby for the passage of the bill which would grant an official apology from the U.S. government and a token compensation of $20,000 for each surviving Japanese American that was incarcerated. This finally signed into law in 1998 by President Regan who initially was against it. But it wasn’t just Japanese Americans Fred Korematsu was concerned with, after 9/11, Korematsu continued to speak out. In 2003, he filed a “Friend of the Court” amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court for two cases appealed before the Supreme Court of the United States, on behalf of Muslim inmates being held at Guantanamo Bay: Shafiq Rasul, v. George W. Bush and Khaled A.F. Al Odah v. United States of America. In the brief, he warned that the government’s extreme national security measures were reminiscent of the past. In 2004, he filed a similar brief on behalf of an American Muslim man being held in solitary confinement in a U.S. military prison without a trial. Similarly, in his second amicus brief, written in April 2004 with the Bar Association of San Francisco, the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, and the Japanese American Citizens League, Korematsu responded to Donald Rumsfeld v. Jose Padilla. The amicus brief’s statement of interest emphasized the similarity of the unlawful detainment of Fred Korematsu during WWII and that of Jose Padilla following the events of 9/11 and warned the American government of repeating their mistakes of the past. He believed that “full vindication for the Japanese Americans will arrive only when we learn that, even in times of crisis; we must guard against prejudice and keep uppermost our commitment to law and justice.”(Source: Korematsu Institute) Fred Korematsu passed away in 2005 and while he is not in text books nor is there a federal holiday for him, as a defender of civil rights he deserves to be remembered and we hope; emulated. Curious George Escapes Hitler! Most kids born after the mid 1940’s know and have affection for Curious George. In fact Curious George himself is defiantly a subversive monkey. Sneaking on to ships to come to American with The man in the big yellow hat. Taking off on adventures that while naughty, also have people opening up and becoming inspired to save that little primate. However, if Margret and H.A. Rey had never fled Paris on bicycles-we assume in the middle of the middle of the night with children’s manuscripts and a sniffing German Sheppard after them- we just like to embellish like that, then we may never have had this book which for generations has taught kids, it’s okay to see what’s possible and, there are very exciting things out there even in our everyday world. However it happened, we are glad that in their time of trial and stress; in fleeing the country they made it a priority to bring with them their manuscripts of their children’s books including Curious George. It was and remains a risk to bring non-essential things when in flight and for that, we thank them. Lewis R Redmond Americans have a great love for the romanticized outlaw. We love Jesse James and we love Doc Holiday. And we should. They stood for something we all want, freedom to live our lives the way we see fit without unnecessary and very often self-serving intervention. We have a mixed reaction when we perceive outlaws as being very different from us or in producing things without paying taxes like the Moonshiners of yesteryear. Now we aren’t talking here about the moonshiners caught up with gang activity brought on by a bunch of crooked politicians in the years of Prohibition. Rather we would like to introduce you to an outlaw who started getting in trouble because he didn’t pay his taxes. Kinda like his ancestors likely did in the Revolutionary war a couple generations before him. Lewis Redmond was a Scots-Irish mountain man who lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains. As anyone who knows about the Scots-Irish and their history, their life was a simple but hardworking one and there were many times when it was hard to get by. Many a man made his money by moonshining, which was not illegal at the time. However when the civil war started up, Alcohol revenue was something that was too enticing to pass up and moonshine fell under that. Lewis Redmond’s life as an outlaw began by not paying taxes. He became a more ‘wanted’ man when a Federal Marshal came looking to arrest him without a warrant. The result was a dead Marshal and Redmond became a folk hero. To understand this, one needs to understand the Scots-Irish were a long displaced folk. Casualties of British subjugation, they were families sent to Northern Ireland to try to give the British a foothold there. The Irish understandably didn’t want them and the Scots frankly didn’t want to be a tool for the British. They were effectively starved out and migrated to Nova Scotia and parts of the American South like The Blue Ridge Mountains, places where they would be left alone. They wanted only to live out their life style and culture. In fact many Scots Irish held out against joining the civil war on principle- they didn’t care what the government wanted- until they no longer could and the fight was brought to them. With this cultural attitude, a man who stands up to unjust charges and refuses to come to town for arrest without the proper paperwork makes complete sense as an outlaw hero. Redmond avoided the law for several years until he was cornered near his home and shot 13 times. However, he lived and was tried in federal court in Greenville and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Redmond only served 22 months of the sentence before President Chester A. Arthur pardoned him in 1883. Redmond returned to Walhalla and ironically went to work for a government distillery that produced “Redmond’s Hand Mash” and his picture was on the whiskey’s barrels. He lived a quiet life and died in 1906. The reason we find him as enticing as a subversive individual is similar to why he was one in the first place. In this time of unjust governmental control on our lives, with issues like immigration, racial profiling, SOPA, and imprisonment without charges, it just feels good to root for an outlaw that said, “I want no part of this, I’m simply trying to get by and take care of mine.” And we suspect the coming years will see more situations where men and women just trying to get by will become outlaws again. Unnamed Occupiers Everywhere Our Subversive love notes wouldn’t be complete this year without a special message of gratitude to the anonymous members of the Occupy movement. Whether you’re an active supporter or feel the global mushrooming protestors will have very little effect on administrative decision making, they have given us a concept; an idea that has not been tried before and is unique in its perception; a leaderless revolution. We are a society founded on a hierarchy of authorities and leaders. We are accustomed to choosing some from among us to represent the whole. Under the precepts of the Occupy Movement, the whole is determined by giving equal voice to each of the parts unanimously. It is a collective with no political bias, no leadership aspirations, no desire to usurp authority, but demands that the disparity in the wealth be addressed, that the banks return to financial responsibility, that industry ceases squandering our resources and that the global monopolies be brought under control. They are ordinary people with ordinary lives, but the extraordinary idea that we can rebuild from the shambles of our extravagant society, we can find a more compatible life style to suit our environment, we can manage our resources wisely and we can engage in fair trade with other countries without using forceful means. Because they have generated an idea that is slowly blossoming to its fruition, we send the Occupy Movement a love note. Fr. Bill Bichsel 83 year old Bichsel, who is of the Jesuit order and has been a long time activist. In June of 2010 he went along with a lot of others to a protest being held against the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where a new nuclear weapons manufacturing facility is being planned. He and others were arrested and he was being held in the Federal Detention Center near Seattle, WA where he was serving a three-month prison term. He had been moved to a transitional facility on Jan 10, 2012 due in part to health issues, but the next day was returned to prison due to a group of Buddhist monks drumming outside of his facility in support of him. Although unprompted or even known by Bichsel, the authorities seem to think he asked the group of monks over to have a demonstration. This would have been hard to do as he was just released from the Detention center and could not have contacted them. Resultantly Fr. Bichsel began a hunger strike suffered solitary confinement without bedding or heat which caused problems with his circulation. He has since been given a blanket and pillow. He was finally released on Feb 9, 2012 What we really appreciate and love about this man is his continued commitment to fight for what he believes in and remain upbeat in his correspondence even in such conditions. He is an example to us all that age an infirmity are should not excuse us from doing what is right at all costs. It is also a terrible example of just how far below the line of acceptability our own human rights behaviours are here in the states. To find out more about him and his group see Disarm Now Plowshares. We also really like that he has his own “Nonviolent Action Figure.” [cartoon by R.R. Anderson] As we spend our time working on stories and working on our own individual lives what we notice and appreciate most are the people who just “do” things. They see a need and they roll up their sleeves. These are the people who would most likely be embarrassed to receive accolades. Barbara Wishingrad is one of these. When Barbara Wishingrad first enrolled in University studies, her ambitions were to become a medical doctor, or a surgeon like her father. Midway through her studies, however, she began to wonder if she had made the right choice. She asked herself if it wouldn’t be more practical to teach preventive medicine than to treat the symptoms of diseases. She switched over to natural medicine, giving her advice freely on diet for everything from diabetes to cancer. While in her late twenties, she developed an interest in midwifery. This interest took her into Mexico where she began studying and interacting with indigenous midwifes. She often states they were some of the best years of her life. She loved delivering babies in a natural setting and felt the connection between mother and child was far greater in natural childbirth. It was there that she also developed a fascination for the rebozo, a shawl traditional Mexicans wore to ward off the sun, warm their shoulders in the evening and carry their babies in. She began importing rebozos into the United States and giving lectures on their multiple uses and ways of carrying the baby from infant to toddler in them. For awhile, she owned her own company, “The Rebozo Way”, which she sold in recent years. While still in Mexico, she also developed an interest in natural treatments for cancer patients. She began offering her services in massage therapy and hydrogen peroxide baths. However, eventually, she began to feel the yearn to return home and retired from natural medicine to work full time on her Rebozo project in Santa Barbara, California. Retirement though, is always the furthest thing from Barbara’s mind. It wasn’t long before she became concerned with water conservation and the impact of water shortages due to commercial waste. She began concentrating on what the individual could do to better utilize and conserve water. She attended a seminar in Venezuela dedicated to global water conservation. When she returned to Santa Barbara, she joined a team that specializes in terra-forming gray water runoff for the natural feeding of trees and plants and rain turrets with special water filtering containers. Her volunteer work in water conservation methods prepares the groundwork for a new era of water efficiency use at a time when clean water will become the next critical resource shortage.

It is instructive to place the current hysteria over Russia’s meddling in American elections and other internal affairs in historical context. There is nothing new about Russia meddling in American politics or resorting to dirty tricks to reach its goals. However, when similar incidents occurred in the past, the “progressive” media was, remarkably, on the opposite side of the ideological divide. Rewind the clock all the way back to the late 1940s and early 1950s. The United States and the Soviet Union were in the middle of the Cold War. This is just a small sample of what happened in the world then: the Berlin blockade; the Korean War; Mao Zedong’s Communist forces defeated Chiang Kai-shek; and pro-Soviet parties took full control of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania and executed their opponents after brief show trials. There was no shortage of brazen incidents in the United States involving Soviet agents and American law enforcement. Many groups with innocuous names like the “World Peace Council” were set up or supported by the Communist Party and fronts for KGB programs. This is what Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB general, said in an interview with CNN: In that sense, the Soviet intelligence [was] really unparalleled. … The [KGB] programs — which would run all sorts of congresses, peace congresses, youth congresses, festivals, women’s movements, trade union movements, campaigns against U.S. missiles in Europe, campaigns against neutron weapons, allegations that AIDS … was invented by the CIA … all sorts of forgeries and faked material — [were] targeted at politicians, the academic community, at [the] public at large. Yet the progressive media in the United States mocked and dismissed such accusations by calling them “looking for a Red under every bed;” “witch hunt;” “red menace;” and even “better Red than dead.” It did not just circle the wagons, they glorified the Soviet Union. Here are two striking examples illustrating the aura of that time and the mindset of progressive America. My Friend’s Death Is Nothing to the Soviet Union As a child living in Moscow, I remember songs recorded by Paul Robeson, an actor and singer with a beautiful bass voice. Robeson was a darling of the American Left because he praised the Soviet Union. He was accorded a hero’s welcome during his concerts in Moscow where, among other songs, he sang a famous Soviet patriotic song proclaiming, “I know of no other such country where a man can breathe so freely.” Robeson knew, or should have known, that millions of Soviet citizens could not breathe freely, as they were languishing in the Gulag for “crimes” like having been prisoners of war in World War II. Here is an especially tragic episode described in several books (see references to them in this Wikipedia article). One of the Gulag prisoners was Soviet poet Itzik Feffer, who happened to be Robeson’s personal friend. Soviet propaganda denied Feffer’s arrest, but Robeson knew the truth. Yet when Robeson returned to the United States, he flatly denied the fact that Feffer or any other political prisoners were in Soviet jails. Robeson’s biographers attribute that to his reluctance to criticize the Soviet Union. A couple of years later, Feffer was executed, along with a group of 12 other Jewish poets and writers in what became known as “The Night of the Murdered Poets.” Had Robeson spoken out against Feffer’s persecution, he may have saved his life. Instead, he chose to betray his friend for the sake of political expediency. Of Course You’ve Heard of the Rosenbergs The second example is more widely known. It involves the ultimate martyrs of the progressive causes of that time: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. They were U.S. citizens convicted of passing atomic weapons secrets to the USSR and executed for treason in 1953. The progressive media portrayed the Rosenbergs as victims of McCarthyism and even anti-Semitism. Many activists had insisted on the Rosenbergs’ total innocence up until their court transcripts were released. Now they generally admit Julius’s guilt, and just claim Ethel played a relatively minor role and thus should have been spared execution. Examples aside, what is a rational explanation of this love-hate reversal? The media usually cites such reasons as Russia’s intimidation of its neighbors, taking over their territory and murdering dissidents, including journalists. Although the same applies to other countries, notably to China, the progressive American media does not show nearly as much indignation toward them as it does toward Russia. In 2015, for example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that 21.7 million personnel records of government employees were stolen. The records included personal data and even fingerprints, which, for example, could be used to identify Central Intelligence Agency agents in China. The breach was linked to the Chinese military, but it did not generate nearly as much indignation as the Democratic National Committee (DNC) breach. And Where Is the Outrage about China? One may argue that interference in the electoral process is so egregious that it eclipses all Chinese wrongdoings. Alas, the Chinese have interfered in the electoral processes in the United States, too. During the 1996 campaign there was a scandal called Chinagate, when the DNC received an illegal donation. The donor was a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Taiwan and named Johnny Chung, but the money was traced to the Chinese military. The DNC had to return the donation, but it was hardly a major event in 1996. Chinagate was not about financial improprieties. When the Chinese military gave money to a certain candidate, it tried to influence the election. The same Johnny Chung visited the White House 49 times between 1994 and 1996. Nearly half of those visits were authorized by the office of the first lady. Chinagate involved many other brazen elements, but no independent investigator was ever appointed. Hence, we have to conclude that, while Russia may be guilty of all or many wrongdoings attributed to it, there is no rational justification for the current hysterical wave of Russophobia the progressive media is fueling. The explanation must lie not with Russia per se, but rather with the “mysterious progressive soul.” Instead of psychoanalyzing this soul, let me just rephrase Winston Churchill’s famous quote: The progressive soul is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

The first round of ideas to be developed for the Design Council’s Living well with dementia design challenge have now been announced. The five teams listed below were chosen to share £360,000. The teams will be showcasing the prototypes of their solutions and services early next year and have 20 weeks to develop their ideas. - Dogs for people with early stage dementia – developing a service that explores the potential of trained dogs in a dementia situation to help maintain independence, dignity, companionship and joy (Alzheimer Scotland, Glasgow School of Art (product design) + Dogs for the Disabled) - A permanently worn discreet wristband to aid dementia sufferers. The product will provide user identification, personal monitoring and emergency alert functionalities via 3D accelerometers and RFID, and will enhance the current buddi telecare system. (Buddi + Sebastian Conran associates) - A web and mobile-based service for carers of people with dementia to help them find work that can be delivered on a time and location flexible basis. This will enable carers to supplement their income and protect their savings whilst also enabling them to stay within the world of work. (CREO Strategic Solutions, A+B Studio, FLY Design, FeedHenry) - ‘The Scent Clock‘ – a home scent-device to stimulate appetite and enhance nutritional status in dementia. The device will look to increase the likelihood of eating, reducing the issues of weight loss, dehydration, fatigue and malnutrition that people with dementia experience. (Rodd Design, The Olfactory Experience, Gwen Coleman + Crossmodal Research Lab, University of Oxford) - ‘Grouple‘ – a collaborative caring and sharing tool which enable the family to support their relative through easier, accessible communication. Applicable from the point of diagnosis, Grouple will provide online and physical tools to facilitate co-ordinated support. (Studiohead, BT Innovate & Design, Louise Wilson, Ifung Lu, Meike Walcha + Jewish Care) In the video below Professor Alistair Burns, National Clinical Director for Dementia, talks about the joint project between the Department of Health and the Design Council to develop new design-led ideas for products and services that make life simpler and more enjoyable for those with dementia, and for their carers.

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Return to Transcripts main page JOHN KING, USA Democrats Facing Intensity Gap Aired September 28, 2010 - 19:00 ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks Wolf and good evening everyone. It is five weeks to Election Day and it is a dramatic night in politics. President Obama is at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, looking to reignite the campus energy that played such an important role in his big 2008 win. It's part of an urgent, even some Democrats used the word desperate attempt to close the big intensity gap enjoyed by the Republicans this midterm election year. The White House is using some tough love in its appeal to disgruntled liberals and disconnected younger voters. Stop whining was the vice president's lecture yesterday. And on the Penn State campus today, don't write that obituary yet was the V.P.'s new message. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The reports of the death of the Democratic Party are premature. We're going to do just fine, folks. (END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Tonight's event and the pre rally is already under way. We're told it will be a return to full campaign mode for the president. We'll take you right there to Madison, live once the president gets under way and will break down his big and difficult challenge this year with "The Best Political Team" on television. So let's set the stage and the stakes. Our exclusive political duo James Carville and Republican Mary Matalin join us from New Orleans and here in Washington, our Joe Johns and Gloria Borger. And James Carville, let me just start with you and let me tell me upfront we could interrupt you at any moment when the president takes the stage there, but you have run campaigns where late in this campaign you've seen all the polling data. Republicans are energized. And part of the Democratic issue is that the younger voters tend to check out in midterm elections. What's the challenge? JAMES CARVILLE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the challenge is, is that you're right. The Republicans are more energized than the Democrats. And I think the White House has calculated that they need to do something. There's not much of a risk that they're going to energize the Republican or Tea Party people anymore than they're energized and it would probably make some sense here. And they close enthusiasm gap three or four points, they'll save you know a couple or three Senate seats and save some House seats. So it's a reasonable calculation that they're making. And there's not a whole lot of risk to it. KING: Not a whole lot of risk. Mary, you know this president. He's an excellent campaigner, an excellent communicator. Can he get younger voters who tend to say this doesn't matter to me it's not a presidential election? Can he get them out to play this year? MARY MATALIN, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: You know it's got to be more effective than telling them to stop whining. Kids never like to hear that, but it's not just their enthusiasm gap. It is that their number one concern is that he hasn't done what attracted them in the first place. And that's change the way things are done in Washington, which was specifically to their ears and to many Independents' ears to get past partisanship and he's really become the most partisan, as Ed Gillespie said, it's hard to know when he went from post-partisan to most partisan. So he's cross pressuring when he goes to energize them, by what I'm going to be predict is going to be a partisan speech tonight. It's going to be equally offsetting to those other voters that he needs. And particularly in Wisconsin where Feingold is almost double digits behind, which is a seat the Democrats are not expecting to have to defend. CARVILLE: Let me agree that it's going to be a partisan speech -- I'll agree with that. CARVILLE: I mean I'll defer to the great nonpartisan Ed Gillespie on that. KING: I'm thrilled I got you guys to agree on something. Let's show the live picture for just a second here because you see the Milwaukee mayor, Tom Barrett (ph), he is speaking right now. He'll introduce the president. We'll get to that in a minute. It's important to note he's not just the mayor; he's the Democratic candidate for governor. And Senator Feingold, the Democratic senator spoke just a few moments ago. He is trailing as Mary noted. So is Mr. Barrett (ph). Republicans looking to turn this state that years back was a swing state; it has been reliably blue in recent years. Republicans try to make inroads (ph). I'm going to go over to the "Magic Wall" and we'll bring Gloria and Joe in as we wait for the president. Just to underscore how important the youth vote is. Number one, this is not just the president's day. You see his labor secretary, his trade representative, the vice president, the Democratic Party chairman and the Health and Human Services secretary all on college campuses today, all with the same message to young people, don't sit this one out, we need you. Now why does that matter? Let's take a quick look here before we get back to the event. I want to underscore this number. In the presidential election voters under -- voters between the ages of 18 and 29 made up 18 percent of the electorate and they voted overwhelmingly two-thirds for Barack Obama. In the 2006 midterms when the Democrats surged and took back control of Congress, 18 to 29 percent was only 12 percent of the electorate. They voted overwhelmingly Democrat, but look at the difference. Twelve percent of the electorate versus 18 percent of the electorate, 60 percent for Democrats at large, 66 percent for President Obama. What the president wants this year is to try to recreate something like that, to get that number up. Many Democratic pollsters though tell you that this number, they're worried, could even go below 12 this year. So as we wait for the president of the United States, Gloria Borger, this is one piece of the puzzle. They've been essentially almost lecturing the liberal base in recent days. They need African- Americans. They need younger people and they need liberals disaffected by whether it's the health care issue or Afghanistan or whatever. GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I'm thinking they're going to show up at some homecoming weekends you know this weekend maybe, maybe go to some fraternity parties to get out the vote. The other group of voters, John that we need to talk about are Independent voters. You look at polls Independent voters say they're more energized to come out in this midterm election than they have been in previous midterm elections. And overwhelmingly they've turned on Barack Obama. And so, you know, that's another group of voters they have to talk to. But going to these college campuses and if the president is partisan, partisan, partisan, it may turn off some of those Independent voters, so there's a double-edged sword here. KING: But Joe, many Democrats, and I'm sure you get the same reaction, and we'll bring James and Mary in on this as we wait for the president, is that they believe most of those Independents are gone. JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Right. KING: They're mad at the president or mad at the Democratic Party, maybe it's the spending, maybe it's the health care bill and so if you've lost a universe that you know is going to play in the election, the challenge for the president and politics we make it over complicated sometimes -- KING: -- it's math at the end of the day is to get these people who are not going to show up at the moment to come out. JOHNS: That's absolutely true. They're trying a little bit with some of the Independents who used to identify as Democrats in trying to reach common ground on certain issues like corporate greed and so on, but at the end of the day they're trying a surgical strike, if you will. You listen to Axelrod and others. They say yes we want to pick off a few of those Obama surge voters and the other half of it is hope that you can do something with those races that may have been made more vulnerable due to Tea Partiers in certain parts of the country, so a little bit of this, a little bit of that. KING: Let's listen live just for a minute. We're going to listen for the moment just to get a sense of the energy in the room and what the president says right off the top then I suspect he'll have a long list of friends he wants to say hello to. We'll drop out for a second during that. BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, Wisconsin. OBAMA: Oh, hello, Wisconsin. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you everybody. I am -- I don't know about you, but I'm fired up. OBAMA: And I'm ready to go. A couple of people I want to acknowledge, first of all, a great mayor, somebody who's fighting for working families each and every day, Tom Barrett (ph). Please give him a big round of applause. KING: We're going to continue our conversation as the president goes through the list of the dignitaries he wants to say hello to. We will get back to the speech when the president gets into the meat of it, but I want to return to a point, Mary, you were making before hand because you heard the president there -- I'm fired up. He knows one of his challenge is to fire up people who were with him in 2008, who are mad at him now for whatever reason. And he gave an interview to "Rolling Stone" magazine. And I want to read you a little bit from it because you say he's lecturing people. And that is part of the tone of this year. It isn't about health care mostly. "I could have had a knockdown drag-out fight on the public option. It might have energized you -- remember, he's talking to "Rolling Stone" -- and The Huffington Post -- the liberal Web site -- and we would not have had the health care legislation now. What are we trying to do here? Are we trying to just keep everybody ginned up for the next election or at some point do you try to win elections because you're actually trying to govern?" So Mary, the president's point there, and President Bush faced this from time to time and James certainly knows President Clinton did. The president is saying I got the best deal I could to actually get a health care bill and now these liberals who wanted me to get more are saying well forget about you. MATALIN: Well just to go back to square one, they -- they misread the mandate. 2008 which was a -- he ran a great campaign and his victory was not a mandate for health care. There are problems with health care. It needs reform, et cetera. But the mandate from the election was to stabilize the economy. So he did something that the overwhelming majority of the population didn't want in the first place and then did it in a way that they didn't like. And all the time -- all the way along they were saying stop, stop, stop, we don't like this. And the only thing that changed in the polls in the past year is the intensity of opposition to it. So attacking Arianna Huffington, my buddy over there, or the liberals, I don't -- it's such -- he's cross pressuring his own people. He's trying to get out. KING: James -- help me on that, James, because you know and you know from firsthand experience, you're sitting with your wife right now -- I know from firsthand experience -- when somebody's mad at you in a relationship, you don't fix things by saying you know you're wrong to be mad at me. Get over it -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't -- MATALIN: Well said -- what a good husband you are. CARVILLE: I think he's trying to explain -- I think he's trying to explain the situation. I saw a t-shirt one time in Austin that said liberal about everything but other liberals. Sometimes liberals can be somewhat annoying -- certainly not Arianna. She has a great Web site there. But he's trying to make the case and I think it's a reasonable case and they've expressed some frustration with the fact that they're under attack and they're trying to do the best they can. It's a point that he's trying to make. And I give him some credit. They're going out there and trying to do something and, you know, who knows? Let's see what happens. If they get a little more enthusiasm they could save a few seats. KING: It's almost odd, Gloria that we live in a town now that one of the criticisms and it's a fair criticism that the town has not changed. You can't blame it all on the president. But because he said it would change there's a lot of the anger and frustration about that is aimed at the president. In this polarized environment he has to deal with both polls, both the left and the right are mad at him. BORGER: Right -- right and he's talking to the left right now because they're the ones who can help him and essentially his message is get real, folks. You know -- KING: Let's listen. Let's listen -- I'm sorry to interrupt, but the president is getting real on this speech. Let's step in and listen for a while. OBAMA: Two years ago you defied the conventional wisdom in Washington. The message out there was no, you can't. No, you can't overcome the cynicism of our politics. No, you can't overcome the power of special interests in Washington. No, you can't make real progress on the big challenges of our time. No, you can't elect a skinny guy with a funny name, Barack Hussein Obama. OBAMA: They said no, you can't, but what did you say, Wisconsin? UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Yes, we can! OBAMA: You -- you proved that the power of everyday people going door-to-door, neighbor-to-neighbor, friend-to-friend, was stronger than the forces of a status quo. It made more difference than PAC money. It made more difference than all the TV advertising. You tapped into something that this country hadn't seen in a very long time. You did that. And every single one of you is a shareholder in that mission of rebuilding our country and reclaiming our future. And I'm back here today because on November 2nd we face another test. And the stakes could not be higher. Think about it. When I arrived in Washington 20 months ago, my hope and my expectation was that we could pull together, all of us as Americans, Democrats and Republicans and Independents to confront the worst economic crisis since the great depression. I hoped and expected that we could get beyond some of the old political divides between Democrats and Republicans, blue states and red states that had prevented us from making progress for so long because although we are proud to be Democrats, we are prouder to be Americans. And this country was confronting a crisis. Instead, what we found when we arrived in Washington was the rawest kind of politics. What we confronted was an opposition party that was still stuck on the same failed policies of the past whose leaders in Congress were determined from the start to let us deal with the mess that they had done so much to create because their calculation was as simple as it was cynical. They knew that it was going to take a long time to solve the economic challenges we face. They saw the data. They were talking to the economists. They realized that Obama was walking in and we had just lost four million jobs in the six months before I was sworn in, 750,000 jobs the month I was sworn in, 600,000 jobs the month after that, 600,000 jobs the month after that. So before we -- our economic policies could even be put into place, we'd already lost most of the eight million jobs we would lose and they knew that people would be frustrated. And they figured if we just sit on the sidelines and just say no and just throw bombs and let Obama and the Democrats deal with everything, they figured they might be able to prosper at the polls. And that's what they've done for the last 20 months. They have said no to just about every idea and policy I've proposed, even ideas that historically, traditionally they agreed with. So now the pundits are saying that the base of the Republican Party is mobilized. The prediction among the pundits is there's going to be a blood letting for Democrats. That's what they're saying in Washington. And what they're saying is -- and the basis of their prediction is that all of you who worked so hard in 2008 aren't going to be as energized, aren't going to be as engaged. They say there is an enthusiasm gap that the same Republicans and the same policies that left our economy in a shambles and the middle class struggling might ride right back into power. UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (INAUDIBLE) OBAMA: Now, that's what they're saying. I'm not making this up. You guys read the papers. You guys are watching the television. They're basically saying that you're apathetic, you're disappointed, you're, oh, well we're not sure that we're going to turn out. Wisconsin, we can't let that happen. We cannot sit this one out. We can't let this country fall backwards because the rest of us didn't care enough to fight. OBAMA: The stakes are too high for our country and for your future. And I am going to get out there and fight as hard as I can, and I know you are, too, to make sure we keep moving forward. OBAMA: The other side would have you believe this election's a referendum on me or a referendum on the economy, a referendum on anything except them. But make no mistake, this election is a choice. And the choice could not be clearer. Understand for the last decade the Republicans in Washington subscribed to a very simple philosophy. And I want to be clear. This is the Republican leadership in Washington, whole bunch of Republicans out all across America are feeling pretty disaffected too by what they saw when the Republicans were in charge. But their basic theory of the Republican leadership was you cut taxes mostly for millionaires and billionaires. You cut regulations for special interests whether it's the banks, the oil companies, or health insurance companies. Let them write their own rules. You cut back on investments in education and clean energy and research and technology. So basically the idea was if you just put blind faith in the market, if we let corporations play it by their own rules, if we leave everybody else to fend for themselves that America would automatically grow and prosper. But that philosophy failed because in the period when they were in power, understand this, from 2001 to 2009, job growth was slower than it had been in any decade since World War II. Between 2001 and 2009, middle class incomes fell by five percent. The cost of everything from health care to college tuition just kept going up. And a free for all on Wall Street led to the very crisis that right now we're digging ourselves out. So it's not like we don't have a controlled experiment here. We have -- they were in charge. We saw what happened. So I've got -- I've had two main jobs since becoming president to rescue the economy from this crisis, to clean up after their mess, and to rebuild our economy stronger than it was before. That's been my job. OBAMA: And over the last 20 months, over the last 20 months we've made progress on both these fronts. We're no longer facing the possibility of a second depression, and I have to say, Wisconsin, that was a very real possibility when I was sworn in. We had about six months where the economy was teetering on the edge and we could have plunged into a second depression. Now the economy is growing again. Now the private sector has created jobs for the last eight months in a row. There are about three million Americans who wouldn't be working today if not for the economic plan that we put into place. Those are facts. OBAMA: By the way, I emphasize those are facts because the other side isn't always interested in facts. To rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation we passed Wall Street reform to make sure that a crisis like this never happens again, so that these reforms are going to end the era of taxpayer-funded bailouts forever. Reforms that will stop mortgage lenders from taking advantage of homeowners, reforms that will stop credit card companies from hitting you with hidden fees or jacking up your rates without any reason. But we didn't stop there. We started investing again in American research and American technology and homegrown American clean energy because I don't want solar panels and wind turbines and electric cars of the future built in Europe or Asia. I want them built right here in the United States of America with American workers. KING: Rousing applause for the president of the United States there. He's at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and you see the sea of red behind him, Badger (ph) country he's in right now, trying to rally the youth vote to come out and vote in this year election. An impassioned case from the president we listened to about 13 minutes of the president there. We are going to break this down and discuss it in the other top political news, because we just spent 13 minutes listening to a Democrat, I want to be fair to our Republican friends who are with us tonight. Let me go first to Mary Matalin in New Orleans and Mary, get your take and then to Erick Erickson from RedState.com. You know Mary he is a persuasive speaker and he says that the other side is just throwing bombs and here's my question. When the president says in the next five weeks he's going to fight and fight and fight and be out there, that's good for the Democrats, he's their best weapon. But does it also run the risk if he's out there so much and then they lose big, does it diminish him? MATALIN: Yes and no, but you know, he looks good. That was an energetic event but he's a one-trick pony. It looks like a retro one- trick pony at that. So what worked in 2008 in a campaign perception is reality, he's now in 2010 and it's been two years of his being in control with the majority of both chambers and large ones at that and he owns these policies so now reality is reality. And he can talk about -- he can make straw man arguments, he can distort the Republican philosophy, he can distort the cause of the economic crisis, but the reality and the fact that is facing all Americans today is 9.6 percent unemployment and the highest unemployment among the youth demographic in the history of counting such things. So yes, he gives a good speech, but as is always the case, and now we recognize this more he's a -- what we say in politics -- a Chinese dinner. You're hungry an hour later. KING: Erick Erickson of RedState.com is that a Chinese dinner and Mary is going to make the partisan rebuttal to the president there and that is what we expect and that's why she is here. When the president says the Republicans said no and no and no, on that ground, that's not a distortion from the president. That is what happened. Now the Republicans say they disagreed and said no and no and no -- ERICK ERICKSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Right. KING: -- because they had philosophical disagreements with the president. But you don't take issue with factually what he is saying there that the Republicans by in large have said no? ERICKSON: Oh absolutely they've said no and it's worked pretty doggone well for them this cycle. I mean the president campaigned on yes, we can in '08. And the Republicans are campaigning on no, you can't. And guess what, they have got the Independent voters, senior citizens and the like with them. He's really become Humpty Dumpty and all of his student supporters and college kids and Democratic strategists aren't going to be able to put him and his coalition together again for November. KING: All right Erick and Mary are going to stand by with us. James Carville is in New Orleans as well, Gloria and Joe are with me here. When we come back, we'll break down more of what the president's message is and some other big political stories including we now know for certain on Friday the White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will say good-bye and head back to Chicago where he is most likely to run for mayor -- a lot more to come -- please stay with us. OBAMA: Make people's lives better. I haven't talked about the fact that we made sure that tobacco companies -- OBAMA: Women were out there marching for the right to vote. They weren't sure when it was going to -- KING: The president of the United States live there on the University of Wisconsin campus at Madison. A crowd of about 25,000 people on hand. This the most political event the president has done and the timing is no coincidence. Five weeks from today the American people vote in a midterm election that at the moment looks bleak for the president and his party. Let's continue our conversation of the president's mission today and other big developing politics and we have James Carville and Mary Matalin in New Orleans. We have Erick Erickson from RedState.com and also with us now is Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! And Amy, I want to bring you into the conversation because part of the effort here from the president is to convince people like you, frankly, who have been not happy with many of his policies to set that aside at least for five weeks and get out and vote in this election. I talked to James about this and Mary earlier in the program, but I want to read back to you as well what the president said to "Rolling Stone" magazine. This is talking about health care. He said "I could have had a knockdown, drag-out fight on the public option that might have energized you and The Huffington Post and we would not have had health care legislation now. What are we trying to do here? Are we trying to just keep everybody ginned up for the next election or at some point do you try to win elections because you're actually trying to govern?" You have heard, Amy Goodman, that from the president. The vice president said last night stop whining, stop complaining about us and get out and vote or you'll get the other guys. Is that the way to convince you to set aside your differences? AMY GOODMAN, HOST, DEMOCRACYNOW.ORG: Well you know I think it's interesting that the mascot of the University of Wisconsin is the Badger. And I think that the president has gone to Madison to badger his base. I think the issue is what he promised leading up to the election and what he has delivered. And there's no one better to symbolize that than the senator of Wisconsin who now faces a real battle. And that's Russ Feingold. Look, Russ Feingold did not support the surge in Afghanistan. He did not support the USA Patriot Act. He didn't support the financial reform package of the White House because he said it didn't go far enough. These are the issues that people care about all over this country. And I wouldn't just say it's progressives. This is what President Obama has to deal with. It's not just the rhetoric and the energy that he has when he goes to a young voter rally. It's about his record and that's what people are measuring him against. BORGER: But the question is would you rather he lose? Russ Feingold? I mean, Russ Feingold, you say, stands up for things that lots of liberals believe in, but he could get booted out of office right now. GOODMAN: I think what he's up against is a man who never did serve in office, Ron Johnson (ph), business executive. He's dominating the airwaves, self-financed campaign. It's not about would we rather he lose. Russ Feingold, who's been extremely popular in this land of Bob Filet (ph), right, there is an interesting history to Wisconsin. You've got fighting Bob Filet, who was senator, who was governor, extremely progressive. And you also have the land of McCarthy. The red-baiter. And the question is, where is this country going right now? Feingold likes this uphill battle right now. He hasn't had it for a while. But he has very much a strong devoted base because he has stood strong on these principles. And I think Obama would do well to do that. He doesn't have to fear people voting against him, I don't think. I think President Obama's fear is that people won't come out at all, that they are going to feel uninspired, that they're going to feel disillusioned. KING: And, James, you lived through this in the Clinton White House in 1994 when the left was demoralized and upset with President Clinton for a long list of reasons and the right was energized and they came out. I want you to comment and follow up on Amy's point. But I want to read you something else the president told "Rolling Stone." Boy, you can just sense the president's exasperation at this political climate. He says, "Right now we've got a choice between a Republican Party that has moved to the right of George W. Bush and is looking to lock in the same policies that got us into these disasters in the first place, versus an administration that, with some admitted warts, has been the most successful administration in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward. "The idea that we've got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining is just irresponsible." So you have the president, to use Amy's words, badgering his base saying essentially what else do you want? CARVILLE: Yes. And I can sense the frustration. I mean you've got financial reform, that's not good enough. He got health care reform, that's not good enough. And I think in a sense he's saying, look, I'm struggling against all of this and this is what's going on. To some extent this makes him look for human to me. When he -- just in the side of cool, detached thing and that, you know, I don't get angry at anything. I can sense it sort of coming through to him and if you saw the speech tonight, he seemed a little more jazzed up than normally seen him. And you know, at a point I think the man is somewhat vexed by somebody else and he's trying to make his case and he's being told that the 2008 electorate that went to the polls as opposed to what's right now what's likely to go to polls in 2010, he would do -- the Democrats would do something like six, eight points better. And so they're trying to get some of these people back in. Whether or not this is the most effective way, we can certainly debate this. But I kind of like the fact that he's kind of human about it. KING: And, Mary, you lived this in 2006 when you were helping the Bush/Cheney administration. You had many of the same dynamics. President Bush's base. Some of the base was down. Maybe they didn't like the spending in Washington. Maybe some of them had grown tired of the Iraq war. And independents was the group that just said, sorry, Mr. President, and went over to the Democrats. And that's why Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the House because of the big shift of independents and then a liberal-based enthusiasm in 2006. Can you do anything five weeks out? You see a more animated president today. That's probably part of it. But especially that group in the middle. Is there anything you can do to get them back? MATALIN: The reason, and I'm so glad you brought this up is it goes to my earlier point about misreading mandates. The reason the Republicans lost the House in 2006 and that the base was depressed was because they weren't behaving as conservatives. This country -- forget Republican/Democrat. This country self- identifies 2-1 conservative to liberal. And the Republicans were not being -- behaving like good conservatives, particularly fiscal conservatives. One-third of the new Congress in 2006, which is the reason Nancy Pelosi is the majority leader today, were Democrats who ran specifically and full -- with full-throated enthusiasm for a specific conservative ideas and issues. Including culturally conservative ones. So this is a center right, more conservative country. And Amy brings up the good point. She says the point of this election is where's this country going? And those conservatives who were identified 2-1, independents who identify 2-1 are saying we're not going where you liberals want to take us. That's what it's about. She's right. And that's where the country is. JOHNS: John, I just wanted to jump in and ask Amy Goodman one more question, because we talked about this language, the words whining and irresponsible. Do you think the left is being -- is whining? Do you think they're irresponsible as the president and the administration have asserted? GOODMAN: I think people are organizing all over this country. I don't think it's about whining. The administration wants to characterize it that way. You know, it's interesting. You don't have the conservatives going after the Tea Party movement. You don't have them saying they're whining. But when it comes to people who are deeply committed in their communities, whether it's the issue of health care, whether it's the issue of people being foreclosed out of their homes and seeing the president siding with the banks, our money bailing them out and yet not bailing out the people who are being foreclosed by banks that are supported by taxpayer money. People see all of this. And yet you have the White House attacking progressives all over this country. Calling them the professional left. Calling them the whiners. Saying buck up. I think it's progressives who are saying to the president, why don't you buck up? Why don't you stand up for what you said you would represent? Of course, it's not just up to the president. It's up to people, grassroots movements all over this country. To make their demands heard. And the White House is beginning to hear them and is getting scared. They're hearing that people are angry. And that's why President Obama is out there in Wisconsin right now. KING: Competing calls to buck up. The president to his base, the base back to the president. We're going to work in a quick break. We'll continue to watch the president. He's live at the University of Wisconsin. There's a "Help Wanted" sign at the White House. The president needs a new chief of staff. And among those we've talked to today, the son of the vice president of the United States, a man many thought would be the next Democratic senator from Delaware. No, not this year. But we'll get some of his thoughts. KING: All right. The president of United States still speaking. He's giving a rousing speech at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. We're continuing to monitor that. The president trying to get out the vote, especially aiming his pitch at younger voters. You see all those college students behind him. Let's go back to a moment early on in the president's speech where he acknowledged that if you read the polling in just about any state in the country, the polling shows you young people are not as excited, as tuned in to this campaign as the last campaign in 2008. The president says that must not stand. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: They're basically saying that you're apathetic, you're disappointed, you're -- well, we're not sure that we're going to turn out. Wisconsin, we can't let that happen. We cannot sit this one out. We can't let this country fall backwards because the rest of us didn't care enough to fight. The stakes are too high for our country and for your future, and I am going to get out there and fight as hard as I can, and I know you are, too, to make sure we keep moving forward. (END OF VIDEO CLIP) KING: Now we got a great group with us. And one of the points Mary Matalin was making, I believe, a bit earlier was this is not the same electorate. The two years have passed, 20 months have passed. And many of these same voters who supported the president then might not be with him now. Let's just break down some of the polling. Want to come over to the magic wall and then we'll start a conversation with our group. Because Rock the Vote, which of course tries to convince young people to get out and vote, they've done a lot of polling. Who do you want to control Congress? Well, 34 percent of young voters, 18 to 29, want the Democrats to retain control. Close, a little smaller group, 28 percent want the Republicans to take control. But this is an interesting number right here. And this is what the president is getting at when he talks about apathy. Thirty-six percent say it doesn't matter to me. They essentially think congressional elections, same old chatter in Washington, gridlock in Washington. Doesn't matter to me. That's a problem for the president and his party. Now let's move down a little bit and look. Would you be more or less likely to support a candidate backed by the Tea Party? Remember these are voters aged 18 to 29, 54 percent say less likely. So this is not a Tea Party crowd the president is trying to rally for this year's election. And that's important because there are some Tea Party candidates on the ballot in a lot of the critical states this year. More or less likely to support a candidate endorsed by Sarah Palin. Not a Sarah Palin crowd either, 18 to 29-year-old voters. Sixty-four percent say less likely to support a candidate backed by Sarah Palin. Now how about this? More or less likely to support a candidate endorsed by Barack Obama? So the president is in relatively safe territory. Half of voters aged 18 to 29 say essentially they'll listen to the president. If he says if he's for somebody, half of them would be inclined to agree. But here's interesting here. Forty-two percent. Forty-two percent. So 4 in 10 younger voters, the very people he's speaking to tonight, say that's less likely. And so, James Carville, I want to go to you in the sense that if these voters were overwhelmingly for the president in 2008, has he lost a little bit of his mojo with them in a sense he's trying to get them all to turn out now? It sounds like he's got a little smaller universe to work with. CARVILLE: Certainly, he may -- and not doing near as well as he did in 2008. So I don't know of a demographic that we would be doing better in. We seem to be doing a little less bad among younger voters than other demographic. And again, it makes sense to him to go out and do the things that he's doing today. But look, there's no doubt if you go from winning an election by, you know, eight points to, you know, where we are now. You're not going to -- you're going to lose altitude across the board. But you'd -- apparently lost a little bit less with these younger voters than other folks. KING: And, Mary, to that point, James is going through the important math of a midterm election. After a presidential election you tend to have a fallout. The groups that fall off the most are African-Americans and younger voters. The biggest drops are among African-Americans and younger voters. Big part of the president's base. The groups that tend to be steady are older voters, that's the most reliable voting bloc. And at the moment, that's not trending well for the Democrats. So in terms of the math, the Legos of building a successful coalition, where is -- what's the president's challenge with five weeks out? MATALIN: Well, the reason that there's falloff is not -- it's not arbitrary, it's not capricious, it's not unattached to anything. And it is -- those words -- that was his margin of victory, it's true. Young people and African-Americans. But to get to have a margin for victory, had all those independents. There is -- the reason they're falling off has nothing to do with his communication skills or his energy or any of the other things we've been discussing because he looks great and he sounds great. There's not one single policy, not one that enjoys majority support amongst independents or amongst all Americans. And for the first time, five weeks before the election, over 50 percent of the American likely voters do not approve of his job. They like him personally, there's a -- in some polls it's a 20- point -- 20 points more than his job approval. So they don't like the job he's doing and they don't support any of the policies, so they're voting against him. That's what this is. It's a referendum on him. He can say it's a choice but it's specifically a referendum on his policies. KING: I need everybody to hang on just one sec. We've got to sneak in one quick break. Again, the president is still live on the campus at the University of Wisconsin. There's a "Help Wanted" sign at the White House. When we come back, we're going to ask our group -- no, not if they'll apply to be the White House chief of staff -- on whether they think the president should stick with his team inside or find somebody new. A fresh voice from the outside. Stay with us. KING: Welcome back. Let's check in with Joe Johns for the latest political news you need to know right now. JOHNS: Hey, John. On the recommendation of his doctors, former President Jimmy Carter is spending the night in a Cleveland hospital. He developed an upset stomach as he flew into the city today. President Obama phoned Carter at the hospital. A presidential spokesman says Carter sounded like he was doing great and will resume his book tour tomorrow. During President Obama's earlier stop today in New Mexico, he was asked why he's a Christian and answered by choice. Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts Jesus Christ spoke to me in the terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead. (END OF VIDEO CLIP) JOHNS: And it's just fascinating the way religion continues to sort of percolate up surrounding the president of the United States. KING: And when given the opportunity to answer that question, he gave a pretty lengthy answer which has convinced me, number one, it's important to him, number two, he remembers the conversation in recent weeks about polling, showing that a number -- 20 percent of Americans roughly think he's a Muslim. So the president wanted to make his point. Joe, I want to go to the magic wall because the Pew Research Foundation had an interesting survey about religion. And here was the religion poll. And this is fascinating to me. They asked a number of questions. They asked 32 questions. An average number of questions people got right, the average e was 16. Who did better on this test about religion? Who did the best? Atheists and agnostics know more about the faiths than people who practice the faiths which is a little bit disappointing perhaps. But you see Protestants, Hispanic Catholics doing the worse on this quiz. Atheists and agnostics followed by Jews and Mormons, white evangelical Protestants doing this. But this is out of 32 questions, this is what you get. Now let's go quickly through some of the data. About half of Americans knew the Golden Rule was not one of the "Ten Commandments." I'm going to skip down. Ramadan is Islamic holy month, 52 percent knew that. Martin Luther inspired Reformation, 46 percent knew that. Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, about 45 percent of Americans knew that. So that's not so bad. These are some of the questions. And Joe, I'm going to give you the quiz. Put you on the spot right here. JOHNS: All right. KING: What's the first book of the bible? KING: Wow. He's a winner. All right, one more then we'll get back to our conversation here. Where is does the Jewish -- when does the Jewish's Sabbath begin? KING: Friday, sundown. The man is a winner. All right. Let's stop that conversation there. So Joe Johns is up on his faith. That's a good thing. Let's get back to the big challenge facing the president. By the way, he just wrapped up his speech at the University of Wisconsin. He's shaking hands now. One of his challenges when he comes back to Washington, his chief of staff, on Friday, Rahm Emanuel, will announce he's leaving. Man, he's got to go to Chicago and make his final decision about running for mayor. We have a great cartoon -- Todd, if you could pop that up on the screen for me. We have a great cartoon. This was in the "Chicago Tribune" on Saturday. And if you look closely at that, "AXE," David Axelrod is the license plate on that little minivan pulling away. "Rahm for Mayor" the bumper sticker on the back. "Our work is done here." Leaving the White House in shambles and you see the president in the rubble there. I could just watch this and laugh for a little while. But I want to go -- let's start with Amy Goodman who is a progressive who has had issues with this White House. Amy, hiring a new chief of staff is a chance to hit the reset button. Give us your advice. Most indications are he'll pick somebody from within. Is that the right strategy? GOODMAN: Well, I mean, we look at who has been within. Who President Obama has surrounded himself with. And you hear that speech he gave in Washington. I think President Obama's, by the way, best hope is the Tea Party, because all he could say is don't vote for them. Whether you're talking Tea Party or Republicans. But about his own record, and that goes to the people he surrounds himself, his advisers. Look, from Larry Summers to Rahm Emanuel, who the bold progressives organization is saying, dump Rahm. He was instrumental ensuring there was no public option. It is a very big problem who he surrounds himself with. Because as we know with all presidents, they get very insulated. And President Obama is no different. Yet he surrounds himself with the old guard. With the very people, the vested interests that he attacks when he's at a young voter's rally at the University of Wisconsin. KING: So Erick Erickson, the next chief of staff will have two challenges. Helping the reelection campaign get under way, but also dealing with a more conservative, more Republican Congress. Give the president some advice and be nice. ERICKSON: Oh, boy. You know, Rahm Emanuel was, if you believe "The Washington Post," one of the guys who moderated some of the White House overreach. I'm afraid if he surrounds himself with more people on the inside, he's going to overreach dramatically which is good for my side. Probably bad for the administration. Frankly, I'm just kind of shocked that all these people are leaving before the election instead of after the election. That's the stunner for me. Larry Summers, Christina -- Larry Summers, Christina -- KING: Romer. Right. ERICKSON: What's her -- Romer. Rahm Emanuel. It's amazing. KING: Well, Rahm Emanuel is leaving because of the filing deadline. ERICKSON: Right. KING: He got to get petitions in Chicago. KING: All right, James and Mary, you both know Rahm well. You also both know the pressures that a White House chief of staff face. I'm going to go the Republican first, Mary Matalin, in the sense that you've been through this in the administration. Andy Card staying a long time, then he left. Rahm Emanuel's only be there 20 months. What is the pressure on the job and what does this president need right now? MATALIN: Rahm, I like Rahm. He is not an ideological progressive, he's a practical politician, which we will see in his mayoral run in Chicago. I think he was a first rate chief of staff, had a few bobbles, and he knows what they were. But that's a very critical job and I don't think they can just have a coasting guy. They got to have somebody as strong as Rahm because this president needs it. He's got to navigate a lot of tricky waters. KING: So, James Carville, you're not volunteering for the job, I don't think. So who's your recommendation? CARVILLE: No, I don't think so. No. Well, first of all, I'll make the point that Rahm has always said that he wants to run for mayor of Chicago. That's always been a kind of dream of his. So this is not surprise that the man now has decided to run and now he's doing it. You know, the president seems to trust a small cadre of people, and if the past is any indicator, he'll pick something from that. I don't know, at some point, sometimes, you've got -- you know, you've got to put layers on the onion. Maybe at a point he'll go outside of that, but I don't know if he's going to do that with this next pick. KING: All right, James and Mary in New Orleans. Erick and Amy, thanks for being with us tonight. Joe Johns, as well, our thanks. A lot of time taken up by the president's speech, but it's an important night in politics. And when we come back, here's a question. The vice president raised it last night. What are you whining back? "Pete on the Street," he's asking it. And he's next. KING: Coming up at the top of the hour on "RICK'S LIST PRIMETIME," let's check in with Rick Sanchez for a preview. Hey there. RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: There is a heck of a story that's going on right now in Mexico. It's in Oaxaca, Mexico, and there's been a landslide. They're saying -- you know, the governor just said a little while ago, John, there may -- be as many as 1,000 people perished in this thing. And the toughest thing is they can't get there because the roads are closed. I'll tell you, we've got correspondent there is and Chad is going to join me. We'll have it for you coming up here on "RICK'S LIST" in just a little bit. KING: Stop whining. That was the vice president's advice to Democrats, and maybe borrowed that line from me. I say it all the time to our offbeat reporter, Pete Dominick. Pete, stop whining. PETE DOMINICK, JOHN KING, USA'S OFFBEAT REPORTER: John -- John, I'm glad you finally said it on camera. I appreciate it. Yes, I mean, listen. I want to encourage people to keep whining. I went out there to ask them what they were whining about and I actually got some people to literally whine. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DOMINICK: What do you want to whine about? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taxes. DOMINICK: Taxes. What specifically? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just taxes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he should do more with this health care plan, and have it -- I think we should save with what we have instead of taking more money from working Americans. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gay rights, I guess. DOMINICK: Gay rights. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. DOMINICK: What do you want? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone to be equal. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm tired of saying the same things that everyone else is saying about jobs and everything else. It's too depressing to even talk about. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything is depressing. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are concentrating a lot more on the celebrities and on unnecessary things. DOMINICK: So your whine is that Americans are distracted by unimportant things? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. DOMINICK: The British, do they whine? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do they whine? Only occasionally, about the weather. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) the train absolutely insane -- DOMINICK: What do they do? The people on the train. What are they doing? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They try and get on the train when they can't fit. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not going to whine at all. DOMINICK: And what about in your personal life? Would you whine about anything there? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I'm going to whine about something in my personal life. DOMINICK: What do you got? What do you got? What's wrong? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need a date. DOMINICK: You need a date? Yes, right. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we can keep whining. I don't know what good it's going to do. Maybe we can get rid of the Democrats and bring something better in. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd love to cry, but I'll whine for the vice president. (END OF VIDEO CLIP) DOMINICK: John King, I've been on -- I've been working for you since day one. And when -- when do I get my personal hair dresser? KING: I'll work on that tomorrow. You know I don't believe in whining. I believe you deal, you move on, you get it done. You fix what's wrong. DOMINICK: You're a problem solver. I agree, John. KING: I'll get you the hair band (ph) tomorrow, I promise. DOMINICK: Thank you, sir. KING: I had an interview with Beau Biden today, the vice president's son and the Delaware attorney general. We couldn't get to it because of the breaking news, the live event tonight. We'll bring you that interview tomorrow. That's all for us tonight. Thanks for stopping by. "RICK'S LIST PRIMETIME" right now.

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Mark Kirk ASSuming someone can't have family who served in the American Revolution because of how they look is the point. Grow… & so says I full blooded American with warrior lineage going back to the American revolution & luv to Victor :) The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution will be donating to the Poricy Park Conservancy... that would be the American Revolution because it revolutionized the way countries revolt inspiring the French Revolution Eyewitness to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution: American journalist's diary released in full 😡 If it's impossible to be both daughter of an immigrant and a daughter of the American Revolution, I have to go tell my kid… that'll be the second "American Revolution." The entire political/economic leadership is corrupt. Evident in Her father's heritage goes back to before the American Revolution. She IS a member o… Call for Papers on “The Adams Family and the American Revolution” Via Very soon, i think there's going to be an American revolution, where Constitution protectors will take up arms to take back our nation. Her father is American, a WWII vet whose family fought in the American Revolution. Mark Kirk is a complete *** (Wa… Note: after the silence following Mark Kirks attack, Tammy Duckworth explains the Daughters of the American Revolut… Tammy Duckworth is a Daughter of the American Revolution, a Purple Heart recipient & daughter of an immigrant. None… Learn all about Cascade Creek a grassfed brand of AMERICAN lamb at "Musket" is an obvious reference to the violent American Revolution. What a coward is. Both ancestors & mine stood together during American Revolution. This is what America looks like. hi pls write my essay on the American revolution for me I can't do it anymore Stand in Solidarity with American Embassy, Dublin Oct.31 at 12pm “I’m a daughter of the American Revolution. I’ve bled for this nation. When we go to war, families like mine are the first… If Tammy Duckworth's ancestor who served in the American Revolution just produces a long-form birth certificate, that'll… US war hero family traces back to American Revolution!. is the worst kind of racist! https… Japanese Inspired. Oregon Crafted. The American saké revolution has begun! Join us. Mark Kirk is a "liberal" Republican and he just cruelly mocked Tammy Duckworth for having ancestors who fought in the America… First Trump attacks a Goldstar family and now Sen Kirk attacks a Daughter of the American Revolution. Nice going… The American Revolution was sparked by British gov't gunning down citizens and disrupting freedom of assembly. Sound familiar? you are a coward!!! How dare you mock a woman who lost her legs fighting for you. Daughter of the American Revolution? U *** It was in response to Duckworth's "I am a daughter of the American Revolution", which has a complex meaning Kirk likely stuck on And a daughter of the American Revolution u need to be proven to be one! Having said all that: the Daughters of the American Revolution are kind of a creepy organization. "My family has served this nation in uniform going back to the Revolution.". *Listens to Hamilton while studying the American revolution to feel more productive when in reality I haven't even started this essay* DAR: Any woman, regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background, who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution additional fun fact: Daughters of the American Revolution commissioned a statue in Duckworth's likeness because of her ancestry. 26 October 1776: Benjamin Franklin leaves for France, to seek French support for the American Revolution. Deborah Sampson, warrier of the American Revolution, was honorably discharge in 1783… Newton was English, and died long before the American Revolution. Blacks owned land and slaves during the American Revolution. Had this been about white supremacy then how was that possible? 'Daughter of the American Revolution (Founding Father Spawn)' saw Alexander hamilton get replaced by a non-white ma… American Revolution stations with timelines, primary sources, sorting and creative caption contests.… finally me and my baby is done w his project! all the books in the world for a hanger mobile this *** chose the American Revolution 😩 My cousin Diana St.John Anderson is a Daughter of the American Revolution and this is an important project that... During the American Revolution, the active forces in the field against the king's tyranny never… "The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands... So, what were the candidates' solutions for the Syrian crisis, again? The Syrian Civil War began like the American Revolution. Do you know anyone who experienced the American Revolution? We are LIVING the second American Revolution. It's called and the PATRIOTS are on the Listen up history buffs! Dr. Gordon Wood talks American Revolution and share his thoughts on Arab Spring on 10/20. JBIO LUDWICK Gingerbread for Liberty! How a German Baker Helped Win the American Revolution by in the name of the founding fathers, the daughters of the American revolution and the American spirit, amen "How do you offend someone with the American Revolution?" "so-called revolution..." it's well edited. He means "American Invasion lead by mercenaries" so sa… Chicken curry is European/ American. Chillies and capsicums brought from Mexico by Portuguese. Taken to Goa. this election is our American revolution. `Third world' U.S. airports could use an upgrade. In American Revolution, only 2-3% of population actively fought against Great Britain. Only 10% identified with cause. A look into the of the American Revolution like never before seen In this watershed election, the American Revolution is on the ballot. Will you be free to control your life--or--will gover… Eleven letters from George Washington written just after the American Revolution. Fingersflying: Give me liberty, or give me death! ~ Patrick Henry March 23rd 1775, became the war cry of the American Revolution "The American revs declared some things. But they also supposed, wondered, questioned, asked & pondered many more." Read this, and see if you find modern parallels in Blueprint to a revolution. it was so hard to focus in American History today because we went over the American Revolution...brb singing Hamilton THE ENTIRE TIME I like how one of the many reasons for the American Revolution was that the American colonists really, really hated Quebec. that Asian American women are not frail, not lotus blossoms, not quiet. Our backs can bear the weight of revolution. Yo wanna write my US history paper asking about how economics motivates the outbreak of the American revolution? Not surprising that a Brit would overlook a seemingly horrible loss and make a tactical error. American Revolution… Saad Almasmari's American dream is alive and well Priming horn used in the American Revolution piece of anti American garbage. My ancestors fought in the revolution for that right you scum. Entire government is corrupt. Time for a revolution. The concept of this being good for the people, is completely . "daughters" or DAR are female decedents of Patriots who fought in the American Revolution know how it works but your not a Daughter of the American Revolution you might be a great,great,great granddaughter if anything. I'll arm this revolution & the next 1 too if thats what it takes but not a single American boot on their soil strong birthplace of the American Revolution @ Boston, Massachusetts What did the Declaration of Independence do?. a. Ended the American Revolution. b. Declared our independence (from... Wow- check out all of these resources from and the are the American Revolution in reverse, begging for a King to rule over them Reproduction of a mortar used by the British in the American Revolution America was barely even a new Nation when it was sold out by the Rich & Wellborn. American 2 "So the aftermath of the American revolution? Gave freedom for some. Freedom for white men" YAAAS professor go AWWFFF Brainstorming inspiration for theme "Taking a Stand" from & wow Revolution Radio is some of Green Day's best work since American *** can't wait to get my hands on it! 📻🔥 "Could King George have avoided the American Revolution by providing better UX to the colonies?" by The success of the American Revolution was not easily duplicated in Latin America. Be positive America even when feel like give in give up if foundation we build on give the American Revolution form England got hard get used to it. re-education of american citizens in next 4 will mirror cultural revolution in PRC Did you know Founding Father Benjamin Franklin was also a super spymaster? Learn more in our latest blog post! Was James Lafayette really a double agent during the American Revolution? Learn more on our blog: Benedict Arnold is America's most famous traitor, but why did he do it? has an answer: Daughter of the American Revolution? Really? ladies in your family tree maybe but not u kid. , What ever contributions Paul Revere made to the American Revolution he was also the nation's first forensic dentist Capitalizing on how much LOVES we created this "Real Story" American Revolution Display Book Review: The Captive Heart by Michelle Griep: This is a 'captivating' American Revolution romance with wo... We must put our American Hat on and get tough like our family did during the American Revolution. For over 20 years I have been telling this truth. America is not a Republic! . TIME FOR: American 2 Starting the American Revolution Children's Book projects today! So many great ideas! related podcast episode on how to research forgotten peoples during the American Revolution in the northern colonies of British North America in the generation before the American Revolution. Violence has always been a last resort.. American Revolution..the peaceful process failed when Britain was angry the colonies declared ind. the American Revolution, the French Revolution, The Russian Revolution & MANY MORE were CAUSED by less than what U & the 1% R doing TODAY Parent organization is the Brigade of the American Revolution, which re-enacts Civil War times Atty. James Otis' 1760 court arguments against Writs of Assistance led to American Revolution in 1776 Nice talk on John Small to the Horseshoe Prairie Chapter of Dtrs of the American Revolution. Thanks, Amanda! The Hispanic Flank of the American Revolution by Miguel Perez | Creators Syndicate via 1800s was an exciting time aside of the Civil War bloodshed, bc it gave birth to the cotton gin, post American Revolution, and IndustrialRev Generally unknown is the role of Rome and the Jesuit Order in the American Revolution. Harry Potter or the American Revolution??? Who can tell?? I'd absolutely open an American Revolution-themed Mexican restaurant just so I could have a menu item named the Aaron Burrito. Writing an alternate history of the American Revolution wherein Benjamin Franklin is the Hulk. Given 1 ride in a time machine I'd go back to the American Revolution & show people and Dark Frontier, think the American Revolution in Space. & Andrew Palmer talk about it here:. US "right to free speech...pioneered by whistleblowers exposing wrongdoing" during height of American Revolution https:/… Paul Ryan is to the Trump Revolution as Benedict Arnold was to the American Revolution. Time for TRUMP. You can say that of the Philippine Revolution, the French Revolution, the American Revolution, of any revolution. NUTS. I ask my friends go through one single day & calculate all taxes they end up paying gas, food, etc. American Revolution was just tea tax! It's strange because the Continental Army used guerilla tactics during the American Revolution. Robert Klein tells that Washington, Hamilton & Jefferson would have been hung had the American Revolution failed. A number of Connecticut figures played important roles in the American Revolution and the often contentious... From my blog: Is it the American Revolution or the War of Independence? | The Professional Interpreter As well as every single war fought before then including the American Revolution. Heard of Crispus Attucks? I live in FL. I have Kids. A son and daughter of the American Revolution. What about their Dreams Senator? Democrats Daughters of the American Revolution chapter to honor Vietnam War veterans at The Mirage Banastre Tarleton - "a legend and great British officer of the American Revolution " talk about POV, not mine . Political sucide. And an American Revolution would have been all over again. the American Revolution ended an era of modern Western Civilization too... That turned out ok. Few people realized how strong Martha Jefferson's selfie game was during the American Revolution Daughters of American Revolution and the United States flags featured at Mt. Carmel Elks Flag Day Sunday. Elks... 2) This was at Fort Pitt, and it was before the American Revolution. It's extremely unlikely in my estimation, and certainly not also carpool karaoke... I do enjoy musicals but I usually understand them I have zero idea about the American Revolution Divine right went out with the American Revolution and doesn't belong ... The second Middle Passage is the sale & relocation of 1 million enslaved people in the South after the American Revolution… I'm afraid if Hillary gets in there & puts Liberals on the Supreme Court it will be in jeopardy. 2nd American Revolution! NEW Sleds on Boston Common: A Story from the American Revolution by Louise Borde listening to Hamilton makes me want to fight for the revolution and im not even american istg Birthday of Samuel Slater, father of the American Industrial Revolution. A luminary of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine died 1809 Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760-1791: Documents and E I had so much fun in my American Revolution class and it was all thanks to she's great! The American weed revolution is being fought in Prague by a Kanye West co-producer: Teach your children that fighting back against big government is as old as the American Revolution! Our first African American president endorsed our party's first female presidential nominee. History made. Progress is real. Real revolution Black folks station in life didn't improve after American Revolution either. been rapping about the American Revolution since 2007 American Revolution: run by landowners. The French Revolution: started by lawyers and journalists. It's the middle class, man. . If that happens, . there will be an American Revolution. And I'll start it myself. The left is undoing the American Revolution, and it's been their goal since the mid-sixties. I spent months profiling two American leftists as they prepared to travel to Syria to join the Kurdish revolution. In the city next to mine some important battle happened during the American Revolution and we had to reenact it all the time at school. I'm an American, so I think revolution is a good response for assuming that a young woman walking alone is a prostitute. . Trump wins there will be a race war. . Clinton wins there will be an American Revolution. Sounds like the beginning of the American Revolution to me. How do you think we got through WW2? Dust Bowl? Civil War? American Revolution? How do you think we got through it? By being offended. Handbell Concerts, Music of John Williams, Music of the American Revolution plus more in the WWUH Classical... Kona Grill Gluten Free: Patrick Henry was a extremely distinguished figure in the American Revolution. try: Sybil Ludington & Star the real heros of American Revolution Forum tonight: David Barrow (York), '...Alfred the Great and the American Revolution on the London Stage’. KM, KG/07, 6pm! Sons, Daughters of the American Revolution lay wreath at Wheeling Park. STORY: Wonderful article about Jewish soldiers in the American Revolution, ahead of Memorial Day The Civil War was the second American Revolution and the first modern war. how about the Civil War and reconstruction as a 2nd American Revolution? Review of Ed Cline's 'Sparrowhawk' which dramatizes events leading up to the American Revolution. Sometimes when I'm very sleepy and see Phyllis Schlafly I start thinking she was alive during the American Revolution ICYMI: my new article on Iroquoian food diplomacy in the American Revolution, in Diplomatic History Reporting the War: Freedom of the Press from the American Revolution to the War On in 1781, Patriot siege of Ninety Six, South Carolina, begins. American Revolution... Becky Bates-McArthur and Barbara Dillon recognized for 50 years of service with Daughters of the American Revolution I wrote a rap about the American Revolution for English...where's my record deal??? In the minds and hearts of the people;: Prologue to the American Revolution: 17 History of California Society, Daughters of the American Revolution - 3 Vols. TIL: The first sub was created during American Revolution (by a Yalie), was pedal-powered Welcome Lehman College Div of Ed to a performance of American Revolution. https… During my Ochem final the School House Rock song about the American Revolution that Mrs McDowell played in 8th grade was stuck in my head Thanks to Susan Thomas, Tennessee State Regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution, for donating Legacies... Well Well - Elena Kagan is an Aspect of the Soul of King George III who we fought the American Revolution against... Really cool history of the American Revolution! Presented by . Ok.So... I dreamt I was baking cakes to support the American Revolution. Some Jungle Book stuff too. Too much Hamilton I suppose. How the Irish Won the American Revolution: A New Look at the Forgotten Heroes of America's War of Independence When Local students named outstanding students by Sons of the American Revolution - Journal Gazette and Times Why do ppl criticize dancing/music in political rallies? From French to American Revolution, revolutionary music has been used in gatherings I hope some American Revolution tourists run into 's Hancock from Fallout 4 on the street. 😂 oriskany started the forum topic Birth of the United States - Wargaming the American Revolution in the group Hi... He was a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, a member of Dr. Shprintzen's American Revolution class welcomed re-enactor Karl Fritzinger to discuss life in Continental Army. I got involved in the DC Madam case for the same reasons a farmer became a Minuteman during the American Revolution. 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Dear Hancock Park Residents, Please see attached notes from our representative from the Mayor’s office. It addresses a variety of issues from Food delivery, Restaurant and other assembly uses, Parking restrictions to new limits on services and city help for people affected by the restrictions. Yesterday, Mayor Garcetti issued an emergency order to strengthen the City’s response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), placing temporary restrictions on restaurants, bars, and other establishments in the City of Los Angeles. The order includes temporary closure of bars and nightclubs that do not serve food, movie theaters and entertainment venues, bowling alleys and arcades, and gyms and fitness centers. Restaurants, bars and retail food facilities may not serve food for consumption on their premises but may continue to offer food for delivery, takeout, or drive-thru. Grocery stores are exempt from the order. As part of the directive, Mayor Garcetti also announced trucks and other vehicles engaged in the delivery of grocery items to stores are exempt from nightly curfews — a measure which will help ensure stores remain well-stocked. Mayor Garcetti has held a number of press briefings providing updates on COVID-19 response effort. To watch the videos in English and Spanish please click here. For accurate and timely updates, visit CDC.gov, PublicHealth.LACounty.gov, and LAMayor.org/Coronavirus. And don’t forget to sign up for NotifyLA, our city’s mass notification system. Updates on COVID-19 from the City (in English and Spanish) click here Mayor Eric Garcetti today relaxed parking enforcement across the City as part of the emergency response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), putting a temporary halt to the issuance of several citations so that Angelenos can more effectively practice the safe social distancing necessary during the outbreak. The order takes effect at midnight and includes the following: Relaxed enforcement of street sweeping restrictions in residential areas Relaxed enforcement around closed schools Moratorium on ticketing and towing for abandoned vehicles and oversize vehicle overnight parking fines Freeze on parking fine increases for the next 60 days Extended grace period for people dropping off or picking up groceries and goods Immediate extension on all deadlines for payment due until June 1 The relaxed enforcement will be in place until March 31, and is subject to extension. Enforcement will be maintained on operations that prioritize health, safety, and emergency access — including colored curbs, street sweeping around encampments, peak-hour restrictions, and repaving and slurry operations. It will also continue at metered spaces to encourage parking turnover for businesses and restaurants relying on takeout and deliveries. Mayor Garcetti's order on eviction was signed last night. This moratorium is currently in effect. If someone receives a notice to quit their unit and they’re brought into court, they may use the Mayors order as a defense in court in an unlawful detainer case, so long as they can prove that they’ve been unable to make rent because of COVID-19. Please see the eviction excerpt below: Finally, I hereby order that no landlord shall evict a residential tenant in the City of Los Angeles during this local emergency period if the tenant is able to show an inability to pay rent due to circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic. These circumstances include loss of income due to a COVID-19 related workplace closure, child care expenditures due to school closures, health care expenses related to being ill with COVID-19 or caring for a member of the tenant’s household who is ill with COVID-19, or reasonable expenditures that stem from government-ordered emergency measures. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to mean that the tenant will not still be obligated to pay lawfully charged rent. Tenants will have up to six months following the expiration of the local emergency period to repay any back due rent. Tenants may use the protections afforded in this subsection as an affirmative defense in an unlawful detainer action. This subsection shall remain in effect during the pendency of the local emergency period. This order may be extended prior to March 31, 2020. Los Angeles Public Library Services All public events, programming, meeting room bookings are cancelled through March 31st. Also, all public computers will be unavailable during this time. You can read more about LAPL's COVID-19 response here. To help our customers get through any financial hardships that may occur as a result of Coronavirus/COVID-19, LADWP offers extended payment plans. Any impacted customer can request a payment plan online at www.ladwp.com or can make arrangements by calling customer care at 1-800-DIAL-DWP (1-800-342-5397). We have also deferred disconnections for non-payment through the remainder of March at this time. Please click here for more information. Public TransportationMetro, Metrolink, and LADOT Transit are all closely monitoring the current situation. Each agency is vigorously cleaning buses, trains, stations, and facilities regularly and will continually review cleaning protocols to ensure they are up-to-date as the situation evolves. Agencies strongly encourage customers to protect themselves from illness. For more information about Metro’s response, visit Metro's website. For more information about Metrolink’s response, visit Metrolink's website. For more information about LADOT Transit’s response (DASH, Commuter Express, Cityride, and LAnow), visit LADOT's website. LAHSAThe Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) is working closely with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) as well as other City, County, and Federal Partners to develop and implement a coordinated COVID-19 response related to people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. This site here is designed to help providers and partners stay updated on resources and information. City Services and General Guidance ● The City will continue to deliver the services Angelenos depend on. Sanitation, street cleaning, and other basic services all remain scheduled and operational. ● Our County health experts encourage people with tele-health options to take advantage of them. ● Be sure to sign up for NotifyLA for up-to-date information and guidance. Food and Water ● There is plenty of food. Stores are restocking their shelves daily. Supply chains have not been interrupted and there is no need to “panic buy” and put unnecessary pressure on supermarkets. ● Our neighbors also have essential needs, and a rush in demand can cause unanticipated buying frenzies and unnecessary anxiety. ● You do not have to hoard water. If you live in the City of Los Angeles, LADWP water is safe, readily available, and even cleaner than what you can buy in a bottle. DWP will defer all water and power shut-offs for at least the next two weeks. COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund As we undertake these efforts together, many Angelenos are eager to know what they can do to help. To answer this call, the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles has created the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. You can donate to this fund to help support families, provide critical services, and strengthen our emergency response. If you suspect a business of Price Gouging, please keep your receipts and call (800) 593-8222 to report it. Have the business name and address ready when you call. Employment Development Department Individuals should check the EDD website to get a general guidance as to what programs are available and what situations may be applicable. If you have a case, you can contact your State Elected Official who can assist with your case and state related issues. Grab and Go Food Centers The 40 Family Resource Centers will become a Grab and Go Food Centers, so on Wednesday, March 18th, together with the Red Cross, they will open a total of 60 Food Centers in the communities we serve. The centers will be open weekdays from 7 am to 10 am, and each child can take home two nutritious meals. Locations of the centers can be found at https://achieve.lausd.net/resources Interest Free Loan The City is looking into assisting small business. In the meantime I would like to refer you to Jewish Free Loan Association to apply for interest free loans for small businesses and individuals who are affected by the virus. CA State Guidance Documents CA State Guidance Documents

On April 21 the Jewish Community Foundation hosted a lunch and learn seminar called “Rock, Scissors and Paper” at the SunTrust building in Fort Lauderdale. Gunster attorney James Davis delivered a presentation on the subject of “basic elements of business succession planning.” He spoke to a full room on both the legal and non-legal aspects of business succession as well as the planning process, timing and exit strategies. The Jewish Community Foundation is a nonprofit located in West Palm Beach, made up of multiple departments and community leaders who are dedicated to advancing Jewish professionals and their families. They host multiple presentations and initiatives throughout the year. James Davis is a shareholder at Gunster and leads the firm’s tax practice. He focuses on estate, wealth and sophisticated tax and asset protection planning. He also provides counsel as to the tax consequences of an array of business transactions including business succession. He is also a frequent lecturer, expert witness and author. In addition, Davis serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law in the Heckerling Graduate Program in Estate Planning (LLM).

by Prof. James Petras August 14, 2013 Representative democracies and autocratic dictatorships respond to profound internal crises in very distinctive ways: the former attempts to reason with citizens, explaining the causes, consequences and alternatives dictatorships attempt to terrorize, intimidate and distract the public by evoking bogus external threats, to perpetuate and justify rule by police state methods and avoid facing up to the self-inflicted crises Such a bogus fabrication is evident in Obama regime’s current announcements of an imminent global "terrorist threat" in the face of multiple crises, policy failures and defeats throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Southwest Asia . Evokes a Global Conspiracy and Revives the Global War on Terror The entire terror conspiracy propaganda blitz, launched by the Obama regime and propagated by the mass media, is based on the flimsiest sources imaginable, the most laughable pretext. According to White House sources, the National Security Agency, the CIA and other spy agencies claimed to have monitored and intercepted unspecified Al-Qaeda threats, conversations by two Al Qaeda figures including Ayman al Zawahiri. Most damaging, the Obama regime’s claim of a global threat by al-Qaeda, necessitating the shutdown of 19 embassies and consuls and a world-wide travelers alert, flies in the face of repeated public assertions over the past five years that Washington has dealt ‘mortal blows’ to the terrorist organization crippling its operative capacity and citing the US "military successes" in Afghanistan and Iraq, its assassination of Bin Laden, the drone attacks in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia and the US-backed invasion of Libya. Either the Obama regime was lying in the past or its current terror alert is a fabrication. If, as Obama and the NSA currently claim, Al Qaeda has re-emerged as a global terrorist threat, then twelve years of warfare in Afghanistan and eleven years of war in Iraq, the spending of $1.46 trillion dollars, the loss of over seven thousand US soldiers and the physical and psychological maiming of over a hundred thousand US combatants has been a total and unmitigated disaster and the so-called war on terror is a failure. The claim of a global terror threat, based on NSA surveillance of two Yemen-based Al Qaeda leaders, is as shallow as it is implausible. Every day throughout cyberspace one or another Islamist terrorist group or individual discuss terror plots, fantasies and plans of no great consequence. The Obama regime fails to explain why, out of thousands of daily internet ‘conversations’, this particular one, at this particular moment, represents an ongoing viable terrorist operation. One does not need a million spies to pick up jihadist chatter about "attacking Satan". For over a decade, Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen have been engaging in a proxy war with Washington-backed regimes and over the same time the Obama regime has been engaged in drone and Special Forces assassination mission against Yemeni militants and opposition figures. In other words, the Obama regime has magnified commonplace events, related to an ongoing conflict known to the public, into a new global terrorist threat as revealed by his spymasters because of their high powered espionage prowess! It is more than obvious that the Obama regime is engaged in a global fabrication designed to distract world public opinion and, in particular, the majority of US citizens, from police state spying and violations of basic constitutional freedoms. By evoking a phony "terrorist threat" and its detection by the NSA, Obama hopes to re-legitimate his discredited police state apparatus. More important, by raising the specter of a global terrorist threat, the Obama regime seeks to cover-up the most disreputable policies, despicable "show trials" and harsh imprisonment of government whistle blowers and political, diplomatic and military defeats and failures which have befallen the empire in the present period. The Timing of the Fabrication of the Global Terror Threat In recent years the US public has grown weary of the cost and inconclusive nature of the ‘global war on terror’, or GWOT. Public opinion polls support the withdrawal of troops from overseas wars and back domestic social programs over military spending and new invasions. Yet the Obama regime, aided and abetted by the pro-Israel power configuration, in and out of the government, engages in constant pursuit of war policies aimed at Iran, Syria, Lebanon and any other Moslem country opposed to Israel’s erasure of Arab Palestine. The "brilliant" pro-war strategists and advisers in the Obama regime have pursued military and diplomatic policies which have led to political disasters, monstrous human rights violations and the gutting of US constitutional protections guaranteed to its citizens. To continue the pursuit of repeated failed policies, a gargantuan police state has been erected to spy, control and represses US citizens and overseas countries, allies and adversaries. The "terror threat" fabrication occurs at a time and in response to the deepening international crisis and the political impasse facing the Obama regime - a time of deepening disenchantment among domestic and overseas public opinion and increasing pressure from the Israel Firsters to continue to press forward with the military agenda. The single most devastating blow to the police state buildup are the documents made public by the NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, which revealed the vast worldwide network of NSA spying in violation of US constitutional freedoms and the sovereignty of countries. The revelations have discredited the Obama regime, provoked conflicts within and between allies, and strengthened the position of adversaries and critics of the US Empire. Leading regional organizations, like MERCOSUR in Latin America, have attacked ‘cyber-imperialism’; the EU countries have questioned the notion of Even dozens of US Congress people have called for reform and cutbacks in NSA funding. The "terror threats" are timed by Obama to neutralize the Snowden revelations and justify the spy agency and its vast operations. The Bradley Manning "show trial", in which a soldier is tortured, often with forced nudity, in solitary confinement for almost a year, imprisoned for three years before his trial and publicly prejudged by President Obama, numerous legislators and mass media (precluding any semblance of ‘fairness’), for revealing US war crimes against Iraqi and Afghan civilians, evoked mass protests the world over. Obama’s "terror threat" is trotted out to coincide with the pre-determined conviction of Manning in this discredited judicial farce and to buttress the argument that his exposure of gross US war crimes "served the enemy" (rather than the American public who Manning repeatedly has said deserve to know about the atrocities committed in its By re-launching the "war on terror" and intimidating the US public, the Obama regime is trying to discredit Bradley Manning’s heroic revelations of documented US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan by focusing on nebulous Al Qaeda terror threats over the In the international political arena, Obama has suffered a series of repeated political and diplomatic defeats with far-reaching implications for his fanatical empire building project. The Obama-backed and Al Qaeda-led Islamist mercenary invasion of the sovereign nation of Syria has suffered a series of military defeats and his proxy jihadist ‘freedom-fighters’ have been denounced by most prestigious human rights groups for their massacres and ethnic cleansing of civilian populations in Syria (especially Christians, Kurds, Alevis and secular Syrians). Obama’s Syrian ‘adventure’ has backfired, and is clearly unleashing a new generation of Islamist terrorists, armed by the Gulf States - especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar, trained by Turkish and NATO Special Forces and now available for global terrorist "assignments" against US client states, Europe and the US itself. In turn the Syrian debacle has had a major impact on Obama’s NATO ally, Turkey , where mass protests are challenging Prime Minister Erdogan’s military support for Islamist mercenaries, based along the Turkish border Erdogan’s savage repression of hundreds of thousands of peaceful protestors, the arbitrary arrest of thousands of pro-democracy activists and his own "show trials" of hundreds of journalists, military officials, students, intellectuals and trade unionists, has certainly discredited Obama’s main "democratic Islamist" ally and undermined Washington’s attempt to anchor its dominance via a triangular alliance of Israel, Turkey and the Gulf monarchies. Further discredit of Obama’s foreign policy of co-opting Islamist "electoral regimes" has occurred in Egypt and is pending in Tunisia. Obama’s post-Mubarak policy in Egypt looked to a "power sharing" arrangement between the democratically elected President the Muslim Brotherhood, the Mubarak-era military and neo-liberal politicians, like Mohamed El Baradei. Instead, General Sistani grabbed power via the army, overthrowing and jailing the civilian President Morsi. The Egyptian army under Sistani has massacred peaceful pro-democracy Muslim protestors and purged the parliament, press and independent voices. Forced to choose between the military dictatorship composed of the henchman of the former Mubarak dictatorship and the mass-based Muslim Brotherhood, US Secretary of State John Kerry backed the military take-over as a "transition to democracy" (steadfastly refusing to use the term ‘coup This has opened wide the door to a period of mass repression and resistance in Egypt and severely weakened a key link in the "axis of reaction" in North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Obama’s incapacity to deal with the new peace overtures by the recently elected President Rouhani in Iran was evident in the Administrations capitulation to a Congressional vote (420 - 20) in favor of further and more severe sanctions designed, according to the bill’s AIPAC "strangle the Iranian oil economy". Secretary of State Kerry’s offer to "negotiate" with Iran, under a US-imposed blockade and economic sanctions, was seen in Teheran, and by most independent observers, as an empty theatrical gesture, of little consequence. Obama’s failure to check the Israeli-Zionist stranglehold on US foreign policy toward Iran and to strike a deal ensuring a nuclear-weapon-free Iran , ensures that the region will continue to be a political and military powder keg. Obama’s appointments of prominent Zionist zealots to strategic Middle East policy positions ensures that the US and the Obama regime have no options for Iran, Palestine, Syria or Lebanon - except to follow the options dictated by Tel Aviv directly to its US agents, the 52 Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations, who along with their insider Zionist collaborators, co-author the Middle East policy script for the US Congress and the White House. The Obama regime’s Israeli-Palestine 'peace' negotiations are seen by most observers as the most distorted and bizarre efforts to date in that Washington has purchased the leaders of the Palestinian ‘Authority’ with multi-million dollar handouts and gave way to Israel’s accelerated land grabbing in the occupied West Bank and ‘Jews only’ settlement construction, as well as the mass eviction of 40,000 Bedouins within Israel itself. To ensure the desired result - a total fiasco - Obama appointed one of the most fanatical of pro-Israeli zealots in Washington as its "mediator", the tri-national Martin Indyk, known in diplomatic circles as "Israel’s lawyer" (and the first US Ambassador to be stripped of security clearance for mishandling documents.) The breakdown of the negotiations is foretold. Obama, caught in the web of his own long-term reactionary alliances and loyalties and obsessed with military solutions, has developed a knack for engaging in prolonged losing wars, multiplying enemies and alienating allies. The result of prolonged unpopular wars of aggression has been the massive built-up of a monstrous domestic police state, pervasive spying around the world and the commission of egregious violations of the US Constitution. This, in turn, has led to crudely concocted "terror plots" to cover-up the repeated foreign policy failures and to slander and persecute courageous whistle blowers and threaten other decent The recent declaration of another vast ‘terror plot’, which served to justify the illegal activities of US spy agencies and ‘unify Congress’, produced hysteria lasting less than a week. Subsequently, reports began to trickle in, even in the obedient US mass media, discrediting the basis of the alleged global terror conspiracy. According to one report, the much-ballyhooed ‘Al Qaeda plot’ turned out to be a failed effort to blow-up an oil terminal and oil pipeline in Yemen. According to regional observers: "Pipelines are attacked nearly weekly in And so an unsuccessful jihadist attack against a pipeline in a marginal part of the poorest Arab state morphed into President Obama’s breathless announcement of a global terrorist threat! An outrageous joke has been played on the President, his Administration and his Congressional followers. But during this great orchestrated ‘joke’, Obama unleashed a dozen drone assassination attacks against human targets of his own choosing, killing dozens of Yemeni citizens, including many innocent What is even less jocular is that Obama, the Master of Deceit, just moves on. His proposed "reforms" are aimed to He insists on continuing the "bulk collection" (hundreds of millions) of US citizens’ telephone communications (FT 8/12/13 p2) He retains intact the massive police state spy apparatus Keeps his pro-Israel policymakers in Reaffirms his policy of confrontation Escalates tensions with Russia, China Embraces a new wave of military dictatorships, starting, but not ending, with Egypt In the face of diminishing support at home and abroad and the declining credibility of his crude "terror" threats, one wonders if the ever-active clandestine apparatus would actually stage its own real-life bloody act of terror, a secret state supported ‘false-flag’ bombing, to convince an increasingly disenchanted and skeptical public? Such would be a desperate act for the State, but these are desperate times facing a failed Administration, pursuing losing wars in which the Masters of Defeat can now only rely on the Masters of The Obama regime is infested with the "toxic politics of terrorism" and this addiction has driven him to persecute, torture and imprison, ...who strive (and will continue to strive) to awaken the sleeping giant, in hopes that the people of America will arise BBC News 8/16/13; Al Jazeera 9/16/13 La Jornada ( Mexico City ) 8/16/13, p. 22;FINANCIAL TIMES 8/10-11/13 - "The exact threat to US missions has yet to be made public." Financial Times 8/8/13, p. 2 and Financial Times 8/10-11 2013 p 2; McClatchy Washington Bureau 8/5/13 Information Clearing House Web Page Financial Times 8/8/13, p. 2. Financial Times, 8/8/13, p. 2.

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Franklin Inn Club Hidden in a back alley near the theaters, this little club is the center of the City's literary circle. It enjoys outstanding food in surroundings which suggest Samuel Johnson's club in London. William Penn wanted a colony with religious freedom. A considerable number, if not the majority, of American religious denominations were founded in this city. The main misconception about religious Philadelphia is that it is Quaker-dominated. But the broader misconception is that it is not Quaker-dominated. Academia in the Philadelphia Region Higher education is a source of pride, progress, and aggravation. A TOAST TO E. DIGBY BALTZELL (1915-1996) The Franklin Inn Club, Philadelphia Annual Dinner, 15 January 2010 |E. Digby Baltzell| I am grateful that our President, Deborah Goldstein, and the Board have given me this opportunity to make precedent -- tonight to strengthen the tradition of the Franklin Inn Club by raising a new toast, following our 18th century icon, Benjamin Franklin, and the 19th century men who founded the Inn, with a 20th century member. We are, after all well into the 21st century. It is my original privilege to honor a member and author who contributed strongly to American social thinking: E. Digby Baltzell. Digby and WASPS Let me right away make two statements about Digby and WASPS. His name is associated with that acronym because it appeared in his book of 1964, THE PROTESTANT ESTABLISHMENT; ARISTOCRACY AND CASTE IN AMERICA. But contrary to a popular misconception, Digby did not invent the term WASP. I know, because a Jewish girlfriend from New York City used that term on me critically ("That's what we call people like you") in 1952. And there is good evidence that the term was in use as a put-down, like other American ethnoreligious slurs, two decades before Digby gave his term for White Anglo-Saxon Protestants scholarly standing in his book. Secondly: however dear his idea was to him, Baltzell gave up on WASP aristocracy before his death. His subtitle had contained his aim: "Aristocracy and Caste in America." He was inspired by Tocqueville's attempt to save the French aristocracy from its own destruction by writing "Democracy in America" during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Baltzell was concerned about his own aristocratic class. These were prep school and Ivy League educated people with family lineage, trust funds, and above all, what might be called Rooseveltian motivation. Either TR, Republican, or FDR, Democrat, party did not matter. Both Roosevelts had the aristocratic drive to excel: not only to lead but to assimilate other talents into leadership. That was the key to the matter: for a responsible aristocracy perpetuates itself by absorbing into ruling power new immigrant energy and multi-class talents, such as, in the 1930s, Fiorello LaGuardia, mayor of New York City, and Sidney Weinberg of Goldman Sachs. An aristocracy is irresponsible, however, when it merely replicates its own ethnic and religious features. By protecting itself with clubbishness it ceases to be an aristocracy and rigidifies into a caste. Baltzell, 1964, feared that WASPS in the USA would let that happen, and wrote in the strong hope that they would not. But it was already happening. Looking back, we can see that the game was almost over. Digby and Me Who was Digby Baltzell? He was born in Rittenhouse Square and grew up in Chestnut Hill to what he called an "impecuniously genteel" family. They sent him off to St. Paul's School in New Hampshire, an exclusive Episcopalian* boarding school formed in an English tradition. In his senior year, his alcoholic father was fired from his insurance company, and soon after died of a heart attack. For college, Digby could not afford Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, where all his classmates went but settled for the University of Pennsylvania. There he got himself through on scholarship, with various jobs such as ticket-taker, usher, and parking lot attendant at Franklin Field. He went on to get a Ph.D. at Columbia and came back to Penn, where he taught for the rest of his employed career. I never met Digby personally because he died in 1996, the year that I joined the Inn. Yet I identify with the man I just described in some distinct ways. My own alcoholic father, a mellow, dear, and vulnerable man, lost his job as a stockbroker while I was in college. There, at Williams, I was a member of the same hard-drinking fraternity, St. Anthony Hall, as Baltzell had been at Penn. I'm not Episcopalian, but being a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian makes me categorically WASP. I feel like Digby did, that I have been a marginal member of the elite. I became an academic to try to figure out what the hell was going on around me. I have, like him, "an insider's heart and an outsider's mind." That has qualified me not to make a fortune, but to write books. Digby and Us We all live in a time of social phenomena Digby never reckoned with -- of Bill Clinton as a white trash national leader; of John Kerry, a Catholic agnostic from St. Paul's School who lost the election of 2004 to G.W. Bush, a retrograde pseudo-Texan who had renounced his father's waspismo. Personalities that Baltzell might barely have imagined: Oprah Winfrey, a multicultural pop icon who is incidentally black; and the Afro-Saxon lawyer-intellectual whom we have chosen President of the United States, Barack Obama. Baltzell finally gave up the attempt to invigorate his idea of a responsible ethnoreligious elite. He realized, and said, "what the Jews have done since World War II is the great untold story." And when he died he was preparing to undertake a book on the end of the Protestant establishment. He recognized that it had been replaced by a meritocracy based on professional performance, which, I think, is far more congruent to American social dynamics. I conclude that Baltzell's last and never completed project was an admission that his three books on the WASP establishment were a failed effort to firm up a transient power structure. I believe that Baltzell had been trying to implant in America a British notion of ruling class flavored with Tocquevillean nostalgia for a lost French aristocracy. Our nation has wholly different components from those, and he was bound to fail. Even as he struggled to make the point, he acknowledged the multi-cultural society around him, while expressing a vivid fear that multi-culturalism enshrined meant moral relativism, which would, in turn, mean an unworkable political system. On that last, he may yet prove correct. And he was surely astute in recognizing the importance in America of a professional meritocracy. If any of us, nonetheless, still yearns for an aristocracy of some kind, I would recommend Jefferson's idea of "a natural aristocracy based on talent and virtue." Digby, although a connoisseur of clubs noted in the Social Register, never joined one, although often invited to do so. He criticized, among others, the Duquesne Club in Pittsburgh, the Links Club in New York, and the Philadelphia Club here for their obtuse and pointless exclusiveness.** But he chose to be a member of The Franklin Inn Club, and in his later years often came from home on Delancey Street to lunch among members. Our cultural, artistic, and literary atmosphere, we may dare feel, was comfortable for him. What he found here was perhaps an aristocracy without power, but a natural one in its components of talent and virtue. Sisters and brothers: let us toast Digby Baltzell -- an exemplar of our values, and an inspiration to us in the Twenty-First Century. |Theodore Friend Sr.| *To the rumor that Baltzell became a Roman Catholic before he died, a close living relative says no: he very much respected the Catholic Church, was interested in healing the breach with Episcopalians and may have attended some Catholic services. But nothing more. **A Jewish friend, responding to my inquiries, tells me that he was admitted to The Union League in 1967, and about twenty years later became chair of the Admissions Committee. What percentage of members now are Jewish? He estimates five percent. Baltzell, THE PROTESTANT ESTABLISHMENT: ARISTOCRACY AND CASTE IN AMERICA , (1964) PURITAN BOSTON AND QUAKER PHILADELPHIA, (1979) THE PROTESTANT ESTABLISHMENT REVISITED, (1991) Brief conversations with members of the Franklin Inn: Daniel Hoffman, Nathan Sivin, and Arthur Solmssen. Originally published: Friday, January 29, 2010; most-recently modified: Thursday, June 06, 2019 |Posted by: Michael Rowe | May 16, 2011 10:39 AM|

MUMBAI: This April get ready to laugh your pants off as Romedy NOW, India’s exclusive destination for Love and Laughter, presents the Best of Charlie Chaplin all this month. Charlie Chaplin, the ‘God’ of laughter, once said “A day without laughter is a day wasted.” So, it’s time to double up, split your sides and guffaw! Romedy NOW brings the antics of The Little Tramp in a month long Chaplin Series titled ‘Jolly Good Chaplin’ for a daily dose of nostalgic laughter every Monday through Thursday. It’s Charlie’s day out in A Day’s Pleasure as he goes on an excursion with his wife and kids. But one trouble after the other like traffic jam and car break-down play party poopers for them! Watch hilarious antics like Charlie walking across a fat woman’s back to get on to the boat and many more in this one. The Tramp falls in love with a visually-impaired flower girl in City Lights and makes friends with a drunkard millionaire after saving him from a suicide attempt. Funny situations like the scrawny Charlie getting into a tournament with a brawny boxer to help the impoverished girl financially make this film cute and hilarious at the same time. Pay Day has Charlie playing a bricklayer whose bully of a wife is like the national bank that takes away his pay as soon as he gets it. But he hides money to enjoy a night out drinking. Missing his last transportation on the rainy night, he gets back home just in time to pretend that he is leaving for work again! From a tramp to a war hero, Charlie makes it to the boot camp in Shoulder Arms where he “surrounds” and captures 13 Germans alone and pretends to be a tree trunk and goes behind the enemy lines! But is it a victory parade or a charade? A farm hand who milks a cow into his coffee, fries eggs by holding the chicken over the frying pan and dances with nymphs in his dreams, Charlie is in love with his neighbour’s daughter but despised by her father in Sunny Side. As he tries to woo her, an injured city slicker has designs on the same girl. So who will win her? The Tramp finds himself employed in a circus and in love with the ringmaster’s stepdaughter in The Circus. A tightrope walk dodging escaped monkeys and many funny acts make this one a riot! Charlie gets adventurous in The Gold Rush as he goes to the Yukon to participate in the Klondike Gold Rush. Watch him play a persecuted Jewish barber as well as a Nazi dictator Hynkel, a spoof of Hitler in The Great Dictator. There’s too much to laugh about as the Tramp plays the double role of a hobo and a wealthy man in The Idle Class and the comedy of errors at a masquerade ball because of the doppelgangers. Get ready for love and laughter as Charlie plays an adoptive father in The Kid. A momentary parting and then uniting this huge hit has funny and tender moments galore. And then check out his comic capers in The Pilgrim where he plays a convict on the run who is mistaken for a pastor in a small town.

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Thanksgiving in the USA coincides with Hanukkah this year.. A time for reflection and thankfulness. The miracle of the Hebrew Nation is being celebrated, starting today, on Thanksgiving Day for the USA. We are grateful for the freedoms we sometimes take for granted. Blessed to be living a mostly comfortable life here. But we know that in many parts of the world today, there is oppression and strife. Those of us Americans who complain about our circumstances, need to consider the plight of other countries and what they are enduring. And of course, what has happened in the past,the horrible parts of the worlds history should not be forgotten. It can and has repeated itself. So for all who celebrate Hanukkah and for those in the USA, lets give thanks to God for this country and for miracles. Give Thanks, and Never Forget Never forget, and yet, so many have. The atrocities of WWII and the Holocaust are slowly becoming a mere ‘one’ chapter mention in many of the latest school textbooks. History is being rewritten it appears, to accommodate the ‘politically correct’ and those who want to keep societies heads in the sand. We all know that those who deny or ignore the true facts of what has occurred in the past , that horrific history, may be repeated if we don’t learn from it. To those who have had to live through any genocide ( or still do ), government lead or otherwise, they need their voices heard now, before they are no longer alive to tell their stories. Stories of first hand persecution, of the lives lost, of the horrors of what other fellow humans have done to them because of their religion, race, color or beliefs. There are many people groups to this day that are victims to hate crimes. From all across the globe and in our own towns. Thankfully our family has never had to endure any atrocities as some of our distant ancestors may have. Right now we are honored to be volunteering and helping a Jewish man who lived through and survived the Holocaust. Through multiple miracles, Jay Ipson and his parents escaped a Lithuanian Ghetto and hid for 9 months from the German Nazi’s and their own countrymen. For 6 of those 9 months, Jay and his parents and 10 other Jews hid underground in a potato hole. A Polish Christian family risked their own lives and protected them on their farm. Jay Ipson lives now in Virginia and teaches Holocaust History ( and at the time of this writing , his mother Eta is still alive, 102 years old! ) His story of survival is portrayed at the Richmond Holocaust Museum, a museum that Mr. Ipson co-founded. Virginia Holocaust Museum. His family saga is told in the book ‘Izzy’s Fire’ About “Izzy’s Fire” | Nancy Wright Beasley. Lawyers without Rights An exhibit is coming to Richmond, Virginia, USA that presents the stories of all of the Jewish lawyers who’s right to practice law was taken from them. Jay Ipson’s father, Israel Ip ( Izzy) was an attorney in Europe at the time and was denied the right to continue his profession. Due to his being so smart and desperately wanting to protect his family, he told a German soldier, when questioned on what his occupation was, that he was “a mechanic”. Through a sequence of events, Israel Ips quick thinking and an adjustable wrench helped save his family. Eventually Jay with his mother and father, came to the USA to live in freedom. To learn more, check in with Jay Ipson’s website: Holocaust Teacher. It is currently under construction, but check in when you can to find out if Jay will be lecturing in your area, or contact him if you would like him to visit and teach your group or class. Some Words to live by from The Good Book: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one”. Deuteronomy 6:4 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself . Leviticus 19 :18 Shalom, peace, may God bless us all. Extra photo credit: A.P., Google images and the producers of the Lawyers Without Rights Exhibit

Wednesday, November 26, 2008 Monday, November 24, 2008 Missing from every one of these calls was a call to work to prevent unintended pregnancies in the first place through sexuality education and contraceptive services. These leaders use the Guttmacher Institute's research that shows that women often choose abortion for financial reasons and that poverty impacts the abortion rate. But what they fail to mention, is that it first affects the unintended pregnancy rate: that poor women are at least five times more likely to become pregnant unintentionally. Here's what Guttmacher Institute's Susan Cohen wrote the last time this abortion reduction strategy was floated by Democrats for Life in 2006: While it is theoretically possible that increased social supports for pregnant women and even more “adoption-positive” problem-pregnancy counseling could have some impact, neither can hope to approach the real reductions in the abortion rate that could be achieved by preventing unintended pregnancy in the first place. That's what the science says -- and I also think it's the moral position. I've worked with thousands of women facing unintended pregnancies. They aren't looking for "abortion on demand"; with less than a handful of exceptions, they sat with me (and often their partners or their parents) and wept as they tried to decide what was best to do. They often did have financial concerns, but they were rarely short term (how would I pay for prenatal care or infant care?) but rather about how they could afford to raise a child (or in many cases another child in a family that already had them) to adulthood. And they too often didn't have partners who they wanted to spend their lives with or who could support them. In the words of one of colleagues, "they had too much responsibility already and too few resources, both personal and economic." So, here's my suggestion for common ground. Let's stop talking about reducing the numbers of abortions as a goal by itself, and let's start talking as a country about reducing unintended pregnancies in the first place. We'll work with you to make sure that every pregnant woman who wants to carry her pregnancy to term can afford to do so and you'll work with us to reduce the number of women and couples who have to face an unintended, unplanned, and often unwanted pregnancy. Sounds like a plan. Hopefully the one that the Obama administration and the new Congress (as well as my evangelical colleagues) will adopt. Friday, November 21, 2008 WHAT? In other words, it will be okay for a doctor or a pharmacist in a federally funded hospital treating a woman who has been raped to not offer her emergency contraception; for a counselor not to tell a woman seeking pregnancy counseling about abortion; for a teenager who is sexually active not to be offered contraceptive services or even contraceptive information if the provider disagrees. And they don't have to refer to someone who will provide that information. It sounds like a scenario from the Handmaiden's Tale...or the Bush administration's last battle against women's health and sexuality. Tens of thousands of people wrote the Bush administration decrying the regulations, apparently to no avail. They included the President-elect, who we hope will add this to the list of executive orders he will overturn on January 21st. Yesterday, Senators Hillary Clinton and Patty Murray introduced a bill to overturn this regulation before it causes much damage. Read Senator Clinton's explanation here. One would expect that all those people calling for common ground on abortion would be protesting this blatant attack on access to contraception. As I have written over and over, surely we can agree that the first steps to prevent abortions are information, education, and access to contraception. So, how come we haven't heard from any of you on this? Surely you understand that limiting contraceptive services is putting women and families at risk...or is this really about punishing women for their sexual activity? Speak up and prove me wrong. Wednesday, November 19, 2008 Sunday, November 16, 2008 I wish you could have been part of the Religious Institute's conference call on Friday afternoon with V-Day founder and playwright Eve Ensler. Eve has recently returned from the Congo, and shared with us heartbreaking stories of the women who have been terrorized there. In some areas, one out of every two women have been raped, some as young as three months, some as old as eighty. At the Panzi hospital, brave medical personnel work tirelessly to repair women's bodies ripped apart by weapons and machetes. Eve's stories of raped girls who leak urine constantly & raped women who have been rejected by their families were set against the courage that she and others are giving women to speak out and reclaim their lives. We listened in stunned silence as she implored faith communities and faith leaders to become involved to end what she has termed "femicide" in the Congo. I am asking each of you who are reading this to become involved...and to pass the word on to other people of faith. You can do something to stop rape and violence against the girls in the Congo. We are asking you to be part of our national Congo Sabbath Initiative. Go to this link and sign up for more information about how you can do an adult education session, a sermon, a prayer or responsive reading AND a collection to support these women. Read more about the Stop Rape in the DRC campaign. Get involved. Spread the word. The women in the DRC are counting on us. Friday, November 14, 2008 I tell them that one of the things I enjoy most about my ministry is that there is no such thing. Here's some of what I've done this week: Worked with my colleagues on finishing up a publication on our survey of how seminaries address sexuality issues. Edited our November newsletter. Spoke at a parents group in a neighboring town about my book, "What Every 21st Century Parent Needs to Know." Concluded the last of the couples enrichment program I lead at my home congregation. Spoke to 60 teenagers at a neighboring UCC church. Prepared for a conference call on our Congo Sabbath Initiative with writer and activist Eve Ensler. Provided assistance to a journalist covering the transition and a minister struggling with a policy about safe congregations. Prepared my workshops and speech for Jewish Family Services in Milwaukee, Wisconsin next week. It is all sacred work. I am grateful for the 150 adults and teens for allowing me to provide sexuality education to them this week and for their trust in me. I am grateful to my colleagues who share my ministry. I am grateful and humbled by this wonderful ministry I am called to do in the world. Blessings to you all. Wednesday, November 12, 2008 The letter begins: Our faith communities, comprising millions of Americans, unite in a shared moral commitment to preserve the reproductive health of our nation. Though traditionally cast as a woman’s issue, we maintain that prioritizing reproductive health and justice is an integral part of achieving greater social justice for all. The ability to plan and care for one’s family is central to addressing the myriad social, political and economic concerns we face. Accessing comprehensive health care services safely and legally is inextricably linked to the ability of our country’s citizens and families to thrive. This is why we urge you to make these issues a priority in your administration. It calls for access to comprehensive sexuality education, abortion services and contraceptive information and options. The letter specifically calls for the President-elect to: *Work to end to the federal abstinence-only-until-marriage education * Support the Freedom of Choice Act *Repeal the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding of abortion services. *Ensure contraceptive access for all women and men by increasing support and funding for Title X family planning clinics and for voluntary international family planning assistance. *Protect and strengthen access to birth control, including emergency contraception. *Restore funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) *Fully coordinate and integrate family planning with HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs. *Repeal the Global Gag Rule (Mexico City Policy), which withholds much needed aid from family planning agencies that even mention abortion. The letter was signed by: American Friends Service Committee Catholics for Choice Christian Lesbians Out Disciples for ChoiceDisciples Justice Action Network Jewish Women International Jewish Reconstructionist Federation Lutheran Women’s Caucus National Council of Jewish Women Planned Parenthood Clergy Advisory Board Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations United Church of Christ United Methodist Church, General Board of Church & Society Union for Reform Judaism Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual You can read the full letter here. Tuesday, November 11, 2008 I’ve been at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexology the past four days. It was held this year in San Juan, Puerto Rico (and yes, it was beautiful and warm!) The theme of the conference this year was about cultural influences on our sexuality. I learned more about such issues as gay and lesbian youth, how the internet is changing sexual attitudes and behaviors, how to adopt harm reduction for university policy, and how HIV was reduced in Uganda. I enjoyed seeing friends and colleagues, and took the last afternoon to visit the rainforest with friends. I deliberately didn’t watch the news for a few days. I needed to get away from the election news cycle for a few days, but I’m ready to get back. I did hear that President elect Obama is willing to overturn as many as 200 of President Bush’s executive orders, and I’m hoping he starts with repealing bans on stem cells, the gag rule and don’t ask, don’t tell. The pictures of Obama and Bush at the White House on Monday thrilled me – but I am still heart sick over the anti-gay votes. I can’t help but wonder if it might not have gone differently if those progressive religious leaders whose mantra was “moral values don’t mean abortion or gay marriage” hadn’t worked so hard to obtain white evangelical votes. (And the last data I saw showed that didn’t work – 73% of white evangelicals voted Republican.) I keep thinking about that scene in the Book of Exodus that is told during the Seder. God reprimands the Israelites for celebrating as the Egyptians perish in the Red Sea: “How can you celebrate when some of my creatures are suffering?” Indeed. It's past time for my colleagues who call themselves progressive to stop talking about the "wedge issues of abortion and gay marriage" and stand up for the rights of women and LGBT people. Thursday, November 06, 2008 I thought I'd share with you the letter we sent to both campaigns in August, with a little bit of updating just for the President elect. Let me know what YOUR priorities are. Dear President-Elect Obama: [i loved typing that right now!!] Too often in the public debates around moral issues, it would seem that the only religious perspective is a conservative one. In your experience, however, you have heard the voices of thousands of religious leaders who hold progressive views on such issues as reproductive choice, sexuality education, and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans. Our hope is that you will make sexual and reproductive justice a priority of your campaign – as a matter of sound public policy, and as an expression of faith. The Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing is a national, multifaith organization dedicated to promoting sexual health, education and justice in faith communities and society. Our network of more than 3,500 clergy, theologians and religious leaders supports reproductive choice, access to sexual and reproductive health care, comprehensive sexuality education, and the elimination of all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender and gender identity. Specifically, we call for the following commitments to be included in the platform and your public addresses: 1. An end to more than 10 years of federal support for ineffective, abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, and a renewed commitment to comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality education throughout the life span. As religious leaders, we hope that young people will learn about their sexuality not primarily from the entertainment media or their peers, but from their parents, faith communities and school-based programs that address the biological, psychological, cultural, ethical and spiritual dimensions of sexuality. The research is conclusive: Teaching about contraception is not associated with an increase in sexual activity or sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Adolescents who receive comprehensive sexuality education have a substantially lower risk of teenage pregnancy than those who receive abstinence-only education or no sex education at all. Abstinence-only education has no impact on reducing teen pregnancy, delaying sexual initiation, or reducing STIs. 2. Full access to affordable, high-quality sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception, emergency contraception, abortion, prenatal care, adoption, HIV/STI prevention and treatment, and safe and proven assisted reproductive technologies. We also urge support for a global HIV/AIDS program free of abstinence-only restrictions. It is precisely because we regard life as sacred that we believe it should not be created carelessly. As religious leaders committed to women's moral agency, we cannot support any strategy to make abortion more difficult to obtain. Rather, we must ensure that women have both the motivation (good education, jobs and hope for their futures) and the resources (including comprehensive sexuality education and access to high-quality family planning services) that will enable them to avoid unintended pregnancies. We oppose measures that would limit access to reproductive services, such as coercive parental consent and notification requirements, and denying international family planning assistance to agencies in developing countries. We call instead for providing resources for parental and adolescent counseling, and for offering women full and accurate information about pregnancy options. Recognizing that rates of unintended births are five times higher among low-income women, that more than half of the unwanted children in the U.S. are born into poverty, and that HIV/AIDS infections disproportionately affect poor communities and people of color, we must ensure that all citizens, regardless of income or geography, have access to sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services. 3. Full equality – including marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples and a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act – for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons and their families. Following the recent defeats at the polls, this is more important than ever. I loved that you mentioned gay and straight people in your acceptance speech. I also pray that you are more open to marriage equality than your last statements in the campaign indicated. Earlier on you indicated that you believed that religious marriage belonged to religions to decide; but that no one should be denied civil rights. Marriage equality is about equal rights. Living in a time of rapid social change calls us to recognize the diversity of God’s creation and to honor the many ways that people live and love. America is the most religiously diverse nation in the world. No single religious voice can speak for all traditions on issues of marriage and sexuality, nor should government take sides on religious differences. Rather, religious groups must have the freedom to decide for themselves who is eligible for marriage in their own tradition, and clergy should be free to solemnize marriages without state interference. America also is a nation of diverse families. Civil rights protections and the legal benefits of marriage strengthen families, enabling them to build stable, empowering and respectful relationships. Yet current law excludes married same-sex couples from 1,138 federal benefits, including Social Security benefits, veterans’ benefits and tax benefits. Civil rights protections and marriage benefits are particularly vital to the well-being of millions of American children being raised by same-sex couples. I hope that you and the Democratic Congress will move to revoke the DOMA legislation. Our positions on these issues are grounded not only in social and scientific research, but also in the experience of individuals and communities who are frequently overlooked or marginalized in our society. Our positions uphold a consistent Biblical mandate, expressed in other sacred texts as well, to love, do justice, seek equality, and act with compassion. Most important, they reflect a faithful affirmation of sexuality as a divine blessing, an embodied capacity for expressing love and generating life, for building relationships of mutual respect, and for promoting the well-being of people and society. We stand ready to be of help. We look forward to working with you to achieve the dreams of equality for all. Yes, we can. Rev. Debra W. Haffner Wednesday, November 05, 2008 I left for the aiport this morning, after only a few hours of sleep, with an overwhelming sense of optimism, gratitude and joy. America changed at 11 p.m. last night, and I couldn't be happier. I was also happy to have emails from a number of pro-choice organizations that anti-choice amendments had been resoundingly defeated, including the rejection by a three to one margin of the Colorado amendment that would have given full legal rights to embryos. But, when I landed here today, I found this report: The gay-rights movement had a rough election elsewhere as well Tuesday. Amendments to ban gay marriage were approved in Arizona and Florida, and Arkansas voters approved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. Supporters made clear that gays and lesbians were their main target. And it broke my heart for my lesbian and gay friends in those states, and the many friends and colleagues who were married in California this summer. I don't think I can imagine how Harry, Susan, Joel, Bear, Randall, B.J., Mike, and so many others are feeling today. I pledge to them that my organization will continue to do all we can do to support marriage equality for all. I know that they know that they are truly married in God's eyes and in their hearts. I also want them to know that I'd be happy to marry them in my home state in Connecticut any time, because its legal here. So, yes, today I still want to celebrate this historical election with every ounce of my being -- but tomorrow, I'll get back to work. Because until we all have sexual rights, none of us can be secure in our's. GOD BLESS THE PRESIDENT ELECT. GOD BLESS US ALL. Tuesday, November 04, 2008 I'm finding that I have to remind myself to breathe. You too -- breathe. At 8, we're having close to 50 people over to watch the results. Company will be good. I just heard that on exit polls 73% of white evangelical voters voted McCain. That's only 5% less than voted for Bush. That means, despite all the efforts to ahem diversify these voters, most of them still voted Republican. More on that over the next few days. Time to go back to the TV. So, if you are checking in, here's an adorable one minute to distract yourself with: Listen to the young man. You have, right? My husband* and I walked to the elementary school that both of our children attended. The line stretched around the building. It made me teary to walk all the way to the back. Really, I was happy to see a long line. They said on the news that they project that 90% of Connecticut's eligible voters will vote today. I loved seeing neighbors and people from church in line. I loved the woman holding the newborn in the blanket. I loved the people who had brought their small children with them. I loved the woman behind me in line who makes and sells fudge. I didn't mind standing in line for 40 minutes. I loved the lady who handed me the "I voted today" sticker when we finally entered the building. I don't particularly like the new scan electronic cards. I miss pulling the lever. But, watching my card be pulled into the scanner still felt thrilling this morning. I loved the lady selling baked goods for the PTA, and I even loved the somewhat stale brownie I bought there. I am SO HAPPY today is finally here. I am grateful to be part of it. May God bless America. **My long term readers know that I have generally named my spouse as my partner, to not assert any heterosexual privilege. But I realized this a.m. as I wrote this, that because of the Connecticut Supreme Court decision granting marriage equality, gay and lesbian people in Connecticut can now use the terms husband and wife. So honey, at least in Connecticut, I can now once again call you my husband. I've been up since 5:30. It feels like I'm seven and it's Christmas morning. I don't think I've ever felt an election so keenly. The polls open in Connecticut at 6:00 a.m. I'm planning on blogging a la Andrew Sullivan throughout the day. A quick prayer, and I'm out of here. I'll report back when I get back. Monday, November 03, 2008 1. Don't check the polls on the web today. People are voting tomorrow. Those little up and down arrows won't tell you much. Just skip them. Don't click on them. 2. Call your local office of your party and ask how you can make a difference today or on election day. Offer to spend an hour or two. 3. Email all your friends in swing states and remind them how important it is to vote. 4. Check out your polling place on line, its hours, and what kind of ID you are going to need tomorrow. Plan to vote early. Talk to your boss about taking an hour off if the lines turn out to be long. Call a friend to go with you. 5. If you have done steps 2, 3, and 4 -- thank yourself for participating in our great democratic process. If you are anxious and you haven't done what you can do to participate, think of your own. 6. Remember to breathe. Use this simple mantra, "Breathing in, I calm my body; breathing out I smile." 7. Do not watch any more TV about the election today. You can watch tomorrow. Oh, Saturday Night Live's special election count down and the Daily Show don't count as TV. Laughter is good stress relief. 8. Exercise. Go to the gym; take a walk; take the clothes off the treadmill or the exercise bike, and do something for 20 minutes. 9. Plan who you will spend election night with. You don't want to be eating a can of peanuts or a bag of pretzels on your own. Buy a bottle of inexpensive champagne or sparkling cider and put it in your refrigerator to celebrate if your candidate wins. 10. Pray. Pray for both of the candidates and their families. Pray for your's. Pray for America. Pray for the world. It couldn't hurt. And on Tuesday, VOTE. Blessings on us all.

Sunday, October 18, 2009 Mark 10: 35-45 JRR Tolkien wrote several books about a world of fantasy called Middle Earth, populated by various races, only one of whaich was human. There were talking trees called Ents, there were wizards, who were old men of uncertain race, buit seemed to be human; and there were Dwarves and Elves and a race of small people who loved to eat and were content with comfortable small lives called Hobbits. Tolkien used this world to tell stories about strength, and ambition, and commitment, and integrity, and the power of friendship. The central story of the main set of books, called the Lord of the Rings, is about a young Hobbit named Frodo who is chosen or chooses to destroy a simple gold ring, which turns out to be the most powerful magic ring in the entire world of Middle Earth. It must be destroyed at the fire where it was created, so that an evil being cannot have the power to complete his ambition, which is to conquer the world and rule it all. Frodo takes on the task, and is accompanied every step of the way by a loyal friend named Sam Gamgee, who, back in the area they are from, a place called the Shire, was his gardener. The journey that Frodo takes is unbearably long and dangerous. Many things happen to him and to the people who are around him. He is stabbed by a sword that is poised by dark magic and almost dies; he is attacked and almost eaten by a giant evil spider; he is saved from the ghostly riders that chase him constantly for the ring by the race of elves; and he loses the finger that wears the ring because of someone else's obsessive greed. The trip is made in almost constant fear, in cold and hunger, and it changes him, physically and emotionally. There are times he is under the ring's power, becomes obsessed with it as well, and there are many moments when Sam must help him remember his task, and once even physically carries him when Frodo can't continue. It can surely be said that if he had known all that would happen to him and Sam, he would have refused to go. Anything that is significant in our lives has the potential to change us in the same way. The job we choose to work can change us, can cause change to our bodies and to our minds. Sometimes that's for the good, sometimes it isn't positive at all. Think of people who used to paint the little marks on watches that glowed in the dark. They would touch the paintbrush to their tongues to moisten it and make the paintbrush point sharper. The stuff that they were painting, the material that glowed in the dark, ended up being carcinogenic, and they all became sick. Soldiers will often tell you that the choice they made to join the military was the best thing they ever did, because the experience of basic training and a regulated life in the military taught them the way to live their life in an ordered and controlled way. When people get married, their lives are changed as well. For some, they see the changes as compromises and the loss of freedom in exchange for something dubiously valuable, and perhaps even unnamable. Those types of marriages seldom last. A good marriage helps us understand the value of living for someone else, helps us understand that when we learn to live for others, our lives truly have meaning. This is the beginning of love, and even the beginning of understanding God's love in sending his Son to us. There is a self-sacrifice in commitment to someone else. There is a faith in the other person, and a forgiveness when they do not measure up. There is an openness to pain, and a prayer that that pain may somehow be transformative. It's no accident that we say in our wedding service that the model of marriage is the relationship between Christ and the church. When it works, and each partner lives for the other, it is the closest we can come to understanding the love of Jesus for us. So when James and John ask for the places to the right and the left of Jesus when glory comes, what Jesus means when he says they don't know what they are asking is that they don't get the pain that is coming. They don't know that they are asking to feel the pain of abandonment on the cross, and the pain of the cross itself. All they see are the "starlight and roses" part of the glory. They don't see the glory that comes from having been open to being changed. They don't see the greatness that comes from being a servant to all, and to God, an allowing themselves to live according to God's will. It's a less visible glory, but at the end of the story, at the end of their lives, outside of our record in the gospels, we can assume that James and John, if they did take a drink from the cup that Jesus drank from, the cup of commitment and sacrificial love, they would see truly what glory is. There are no parades. There is no confetti and the ceremonially being seated on a throne. There is instead a quiet moment when you look on the face of the person you have devoted your life to, in God's name, and realize that, deep down in your darkest parts, in the deepest recesses of your heart, that you have loved well, have loved as God would love, and that person knows the depth of God's love because you have been that face for them. You have shown them the love of God, and they believe, and they know. That's true glory. Monday, October 12, 2009 The other day, I was in Valley Seafoods, down in Wilkes Barre. I had been buying shrimp baskets for Donna on the Fridays of her radiation treatments to commemorate the end of each week. I'd gotten to know a particular worker there, enough that we would chat during the cooking process. Somehow, we got onto religion, and I told her that I was a pastor. "Oh," she said, "I was once a Catholic, but now I'm Christian". I've heard this before, and I have never understood it. Catholics are Christian. They can say with anyone else that Jesus Christ is their savior. They can say that there is a Father, son, and Holy Ghost, and all three of them are one person. Their Bible, though slightly larger, is still recognizably the same Bible we use. Catholics are no less Christian than we are. I served a church in Trenton, Texas for two years. It was a town of, if I remember correctly, 692 people, and when Josiah was born and we brought him back to Trenton, I considered petitioning the town to change the number on the sign to 693. There were three churches; Southern Baptist, United Methodist and Church of Christ, or what some would call "Campbellite". One Thanksgiving, we wanted to do a community-wide thanksgiving Service, and the Southern Baptist preacher and I called and invited the Church of Christ pastor. "No, I won't be participating", he said. "You all don't preach a true gospel." Wow. Now, I understand that we as United Methodists are not necessarily the most comfortable place for fundamental preferences, but I was really surprised that he would say that about Southern Baptists! Or maybe he wasn't, I don't know. But it seemed a sweeping generalization to say that because we didn't believe has he believed, we were somehow not Christian. We also believed, as he did, that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and was resurrected again three days later. The essentials are the same, all over. You go up to a person in one of those churches in Ethiopia that are carved thirty feet straight down into soft volcanic rock, who wear turbans and Jewish prayer shawls, and they'll tell you that they have been redeemed by the cross. You go into a highly painted and gold embossed church in Russia, where there are no seats, and you have to stand for two hours listening to the liturgy, and go to an elderly woman wearing a babushka scarf on her head, and she'll tell you that Jesus Christ died for her. In the essentials, we are all the same. In the essentials, we are all for Jesus. We all have different practices or habits that give us different flavors, like fast food burgers. I believe that if you were blindfolded, and had one each of a McDonalds, Burger King, and a Wendy's burger put before you, and you took a taste, you'd be able to tell which one was which. Churches, at their best, are the same way. You can tell what is Catholic by how they talk in church, what the church looks like, how the leader is dressed, and their emphasis on the mother of Jesus. You can tell a Southern Baptist church by the way their church is decorated, what the minister wears to lead worship, and their emphasis on the Bible. Some of you of course re now wondering "well, what makes us distinctive? We emphasize the Bible, but the preacher wears a robe like a Catholic priest". United Methodists have a great set of things that make us unique. We understand salvation to be an ongoing process, a matter of growth and development, rather than a simple "once saved, always saved", declaration. Yes, we are justified in Christ, which means that we are covered, just as every other human being on earth, by the sacrifice Christ made in our name. But our focus is on becoming sanctified, or growing into a person, through education and prayer and living a holy life, which resembles Christ on earth. We're darn near the only Christian group that speaks this way this strongly, about striving constantly to become Christ-like. Our songs are unique, and we have as part of our recipe the strong tradition of music to both teach the faith and bolster the faith of those who sing our songs together. The first UM church I ever joined, Newark UMC in Newark, DE, titled the book of history of that congregation "Those Noisy Methodists on Main Street", because of their habit of singing hymns loudly early on a Sunday morning as many others were sleeping off the night before in the boarding houses around them. We have a specific recipe, one that, at our best, is as easy to pick out of a crowd as a Burger King burger is from a Wendy's. The Church of Christ is just as Christian as we are, we are just as Christian as Catholics are. Christ is still our savior, God is still thought of in three person, but one being, and the Gospels are still the best way to understand Jesus' life. Jesus's disciples saw a guy they didn't know going around using Jesus' name casting out demons. They told Jesus they tried to stop the guy, but Jesus said, "Nah, you don't have to do that. I am one of the essentials, and if he is using my name, he'll soon learn more about me, and will be one of my people". Today is the day (one week late) we are celebrating World Communion Sunday, a day to remember what it is we have in common with the other followers of Christ, the ones who we don't necessarily know, but are working in the name of Christ too. Let's remember that even though they are strange to us, they are not to Jesus, and he has said that we are not to stop them. Everyone has their favorite recipe, and we congregate on Sunday mornings according to the recipe we like best. There are many recipes, but they are all the same burger, in the end. Jesus Christ is still the core. Clergy robes, music instruments, standing or sitting, all of them are just spices and styles of cooking. Jesus is the core, the idea, what we all gather for.

By Daniel Schwammenthal 4 January 2018 Europe’s voice has been strangely missing as tens of thousands of Iranians have been protesting for dignity, freedom, and economic survival. High Representative Federica Mogherini finally issued a statement on behalf of the 28 EU member states, a week into the protests and after security forces had killed at least 21 people and incarcerated over 2,000. Her words, though, were tepid and somewhat ambiguous. While the statement affirmed that peaceful demonstrations and freedom of expression are fundamental rights, it failed to clearly condemn the regime’s killings and arrests. It spoke in general terms of “unacceptable loss of human lives,” but failed to name either the perpetrators or the victims. The assertion that EU member states “expect all concerned to refrain from violence” could be read to suggest an equivalence between protesters rising up against a brutal theocracy and security forces shooting at protesters. The EU statement echoed earlier ambiguous messages from the German and British foreign ministers that similarly called on “all sides” to refrain from violence. A robust defense of Western values this is not. Neither is it in the best interests of Europe. This late and muted reaction contrasts with the strong and quick response by the U.S. president, vice president, secretary of state, and numerous members of Congress from both sides of the aisle. What explains Europe’s hesitation to show a more united transatlantic front in standing up for Western values vis-à-vis Iran? Do Europe’s policymakers fear that a more forceful reaction could jeopardize the nuclear agreement, which the U.S. believes is deeply flawed and the EU wants to preserve? But such considerations would contradict the EU’s own previous reassurances that, irrespective of the deal, it would continue to press for human rights, which the statement says has “always been a core issue in our relationship with Iran.” Whatever disagreements may exist about the deal’s wisdom, it should not restrict the West from confronting the Islamic Republic’s regional aggression and internal oppression. Besides, if the EU is worried that Tehran would use a tougher EU stance as an excuse to cancel the deal, no doubt Iran will eventually find another excuse to do just that. Some European policymakers may fear that Western support of the demonstrators could undermine the so-called moderates in Iran. Some have even suggested that the protests may have been started by “hardliners” eager to undermine President Rouhani. The theory that Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif are agents of change rather than just the more charming faces of the same brutal regime was always rather precarious. The “moderate” Rouhani has been an integral part of the regime from day one, and led the brutal crackdown of the 1999 student protests. Whatever hopes one may have had about his moderation ought to have been buried beneath the legacy of his nearly five-year rule. Under Rouhani, Iran has become the world’s leading executioner per capita and of children and women in absolute terms, while its troops are carrying out ethnic cleansing in Syria, supporting a regime that has used chemical weapons. Even if one insists on clinging to the belief that his intentions may be honorable, Rouhani obviously has no power to implement them. Just like the inconsequential “reformers” of the 1990s, it ultimately doesn’t matter whether he doesn’t want to or simply cannot change the system. “Reformist and hard-liners, you are both done,” is thus one of the popular chants of protesters. The Iranian people have seen through this cynical game of good cop-bad cop. It’s time for the EU as well to abandon the decades-old hope that the regime might be reformed from within. Then there is that old realpolitik concern for “stability.” Having watched the Arab Spring turn into an Islamist Winter, European policymakers may simply be wary of more unrest in the region. But such a consideration overlooks three important differences. First, the Arab countries that saw popular uprisings had secular regimes where the only organized opposition was Islamist. In contrast, Iran is already run by mullahs, which is precisely what the protesters want to change. “We don’t want the Islamic Republic, we don’t want it,” they chant. Second, Iran is in a far better position to replace its regime with a more liberal political system. That’s because Iranians are well educated and rather pro-Western, not least thanks to the many exiled friends and family living in the U.S. and Europe. This successful diaspora community would no doubt be eager to help rebuild the homeland they had to flee. And third, unlike many of the Arab regimes that were largely a menace only to their own people, the Islamic Republic is a revolutionary regime that seeks to export its ideology and influence. It endangers its neighbors as much as its own people. Tehran has propped up the Assad regime in Syria, supports the Houthis in Yemen, and funds terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. So the continuation of the Iranian regime wouldn’t guarantee regional stability, but rather quite the opposite. It is in the interest of regional peace, stability, and nonproliferation to see these demonstrations succeed. The protesters may not be able to topple the regime, but they can certainly weaken it—and may already have done so. “ Leave Syria, think about us,” and “ Leave Gaza, leave Lebanon, my life for Iran,” some protesters are chanting. It will now be much more difficult for the regime to continue funding its wars and terror proxies at the expense of its population’s wellbeing. Another European concern may be that by backing the protesters, they would actually undermine them as “Western stooges” and trigger an even more brutal crackdown. But this fails to recognize that, like all illiberal regimes, the Islamic Republic is ideologically wired to consider any opposition as directed by the West, no matter what. Irrespective of what Americans, Israelis, or Europeans may actually say or do, the regime has already accused demonstrators of operating as agents of some Zionist-American-Western cabal. If the regime goons don't have to fear even rhetorical pushback from the West, let alone sanctions for their crimes, it is far more likely that their response will be even more brutal. In addition to clearly condemning the regime—and ensuring that the condemnations are also broadcast in Farsi—the EU could do more to help shield the protesters from the regime’s wrath. EU embassies could document and publish the names of those killed and arrested, as well as the names of those security forces directly responsible for the crack-down, all of whom should be sanctioned. The EU ought to exert its influence on social media companies to do their best to keep open the lines of communication for the demonstrators, and sanction companies that have assisted the regime with electronic surveillance. They could help document and publish the facts about Iranian corruption, such as the 2013 Reutersinvestigation showing how Supreme Leader Khameini has stashed away close to $100 billion. And surely there shouldn’t be more high-level meetings with Iranian officials so long as protesters are still being held in jail and tortured. Nine years ago, the last time Iranians rose up, the U.S. president at the time exercised unusual caution, but that didn’t soften the regime’s crackdown. To the contrary, the government’s response was brutal. Just like the dissidents in the former communist countries, Iranians actually crave Western support. “Obama, you are either with us or with them,” disappointed protesters chanted in 2009. “I wish we had spoken out more,” former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after leaving the State Department. The time for Europeans to act is now. That way, they won’t have to issue Clinton-like regrets later. Daniel Schwammenthal is director of the AJC (American Jewish Committee) Transatlantic Institute.

When was the last time that you participated in taking the Lord’s Supper? How did you go about preparing yourself to participate? Why is the Lord’s Supper an important part of the believer’s life? Listen to this podcast to find out what the Bible says about the Lord’s Supper. Jesus instituted this ordinance of the church for us to remember what He has done for us. Later, Paul tells us that we are to be serious, and not casual or flippant, in our preparation and participation is this very important ceremony. This is to be a time of remembrance of the love that God has for us, and it is to be a time of self-assessment and repentance. Don’t miss the wonderful message that is to be found in the believer’s heart as they remember the finished work of salvation that Jesus has done for you. Who was in control of the events that led to Jesus dying on the cross? Was it the Jewish religious leadership? Was it the Romans? Was it Judas who betrayed Jesus? Listen to this podcast to discover the answer to this question is that Jesus was in complete control of the events that led to His death on the cross. He deliberately, knowingly, and willingly walked to the cross. God so loved each of us as humans that He sent His only begotten Son to die so that none should perish and each of us should have the opportunity for everlasting life. Jesus tells us that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Jesus went to the cross to make that possible. Join us as we begin a series of lessons that describe the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen as God shows us just how much He loves us. Can you see who Jesus is? The world sees Jesus as prophet, a teacher, but ultimately they see Him as a failure because He was hung on a cross to die the death of a criminal. But the world does not see the purpose of Jesus’ death, or the fact of His bodily resurrection. The disciples saw Jesus as the Promised King of a Promised Kingdom. Bartimaeus was blind, but he saw Jesus as the hope of a lifetime. Once he could see he saw Jesus as his Lord and Master. The Jews of the city of Jerusalem saw Jesus as the prophet of Nazareth of Galillee. The Bible tells us that Jesus came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many Listen to this podcast to learn how Jesus came to this earth to be a minister to others and to give His life as a ransom for many. Who do you see Jesus as? I hope you see Him as the one and only path to eternal life. Jesus wants you to see Him as your Savior and Master. When man looks at Jesus dying on the Cross at Calvary he sees a failure. This is man's wisdom. When God looks at His own Son dying on the Cross at Calvary He sees the redemption of man as it was planned at the time of creation. This is God's wisdom. The wisdom of the Cross contains the gospel message of the Cross. Man's wisdom says that we must earn our salvation through some deed or effort. The wisdom of the Cross says that no man can come to the Father except through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Man's wisdom boasts proudly of the good motives and the righteous behavior of man. The scales of justice determine man's destination and reward in the afterlife, if there is an afterlife. The wisdom of the Cross says that man's righteousness is as filthy rags before the holiness of God. The wisdom of man leads to an eternity in Hell. The wisdom of the Cross leads to an eternity with Jesus in Heaven. Listen to this podcast and learn how Paul describes the wisdom of the Cross.

By Marcy Oster (JTA) — At least 29 people and one shooter are dead in the wake of two mass shootings that took place over 13 hours in the United States. Twenty people were killed and at least two dozen injured in a shooting on Saturday afternoon at a Walmart shopping center in El Paso Texas. In Dayton, Ohio, 9 people and the shooter were killed and 26 injured in a mass shooting attack shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday morning. The shooting took place on the outskirts of downtown Dayton’s Oregon District, a popular entertainment area. “The Jewish Community of Greater El Paso is shocked and heartbroken that the irrational and devastating plague of violence sweeping this country has arrived at the door of our traditionally peaceful and congenial homes,” The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater El Paso said in a statement. “Our hearts and our profound condolences go out to the families of those who have lost their lives and we pray for a quick recovery of those injured. We are alarmed by the increasing gun violence in the US and around the world. We commend our local, state and federal law enforcement for their reported quick and decisive response,” the statement also said. Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton in a statement called the news of the shooting in the city’s downtown “heartbreaking.” The statement also said: “As the investigation continues, we will keep you informed regarding what we as a community can do to help the families, friends, and loved ones of those killed and injured, and to help the city heal. Our hearts go out to everyone who has been affected by this morning’s events.” Rabbi Rick Jacobs. president of the Union for Reform Judaism, was in El Paso last week with hundreds of faith leaders to protest the treatment of asylum seekers on the border with Mexico. “Now our hearts turn again to El Paso, in the face of this slaughter of innocents by a gunman who authorities say was inspired by anti-immigrant rhetoric,” he said in a statement. “It is not enough for elected officials to muster their ‘thoughts and prayers.’ Like millions of Americans I’m sick of the pathetic excuses offered by too many lawmakers for not passing strong and effective common sense gun laws.” Jacobs concluded: “And if we are to call on the leaders of our nation to address this epidemic of hate, a goal that, hopefully, almost all Americans cherish, we must ask: When will this president stop demonizing asylum seekers and immigrants, which serves to embolden those like today’s shooter?” “We need common sense gun control NOW,” the American Jewish Committee tweeted. In a separate tweet, AJC CEO David Harris wrote: “As a nation, we need far more than “heartfelt thoughts & prayers” after #ElPasoTerrorAttack. The US faces an epidemic of mass shootings. We need concrete action, not a template reply. This is a nat’l emergency. It can’t go on like this. Oh no, it just has. #Dayton” The alleged El Paso shooter is in police custody and has been identified Patrick Crusius. He reportedly posted a manifesto on 8Chan, a conspiracy theory message board, in which he wrote disparagingly about Hispanic immigration to the United States and in support of the manifesto and actions of Chirstchurch mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant. Law enforcement officials reportedly were working to confirm that the manifesto was written by Crusius. Later on Sunday, Crusius was charegd with capital murder, El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza said. Under Texas law, he could face the death penalty. The shooting is being investigated as domestic terrorism and a hate crime, CNN reported. If the manifesto is proved to have been authored by Crusius, the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement, “this latest act of domestic terrorism will be, according to the ADL’s Center on Extremism’s records, the third deadliest act of violence by a domestic extremist in over 50 years and the second deadliest act of violence by a right-wing extremist in the same span, second only to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.” The Dayton shooter, who was killed by police during the shooting, was identified late on Sunday morning by law enforcement as Connor Betts, 24, of Bellbrook, Ohio. He used a .223-caliber high-capacity magazine rifle in the attack. In addition, he was wearing body armor and mask covering his face, and had extra magazines for the rifle. One of the victims of his shooting attack included his sister, Megan Betts, 22. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted his condolences. “In the past 24 hours, we have witnessed two murderous attacks in Texas and Ohio. On behalf of all government ministers and all citizens of Israel, I send condolences to the bereaved families, best wishes for recovery to the injured, and solidarity with the American people,” he said in the tweet. Please comment with any thoughts/prayers, or let us know if you know any of the victims/people directly impacted.

M’hamed Oualdi, "A Slave between Empires: A Transimperial History of North Africa" (Columbia UP, 2020) Manage episode 262778032 series 2421522 In light of the profound physical and mental traumas of colonization endured by North Africans, historians of recent decades have primarily concentrated their studies of North Africa on colonial violence, domination, and shock. The choice is an understandable one. But in his new monograph, A Slave between Empires: A Transimperial History of North Africa (Columbia University Press, 2020), M’hamed Oualdi asks how a history of the modern Maghreb might look if we did not perceive it solely through the prism of European colonization, and argues that widening our gaze might force us to redefine our understanding of colonialism — and its limits. As a sequel of sorts to his first book, Oualdi explores the life and afterlife of one figure, the manumitted slave and Tunisian dignitary Husayn Ibn ‘Abdallah, as an aperture through which to understand the financial, intellectual, and kinship networks that mingled with processes of colonialism and Ottoman governance in unexpected ways to produce the modern Maghreb. A master class in how historians might untangle the relationship between the personal and the political, A Slave between Empires centers Husayn — and North Africa — at the crossroads of competing ambitions, imperial and intimate. Engaging with sources in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, and European languages, and corralling French, Tunisian, and Anglophone historiographies into one conversation, Oualdi’s newest book is not to be missed. M'hamed Oualdi is full professor at Sciences Po in Paris. Nancy Ko is a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow and a PhD student in History at Columbia University, where she examines the relationship between Jewish difference and (concepts of) philanthropy and property in the late- and post-Ottoman and Qajar Middle East. She can be reached at [email@example.com]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Jewish Anarchists" traces the history of a Yiddish anarchist newspaper publishing its final issue. The story is mostly told by the newspaper's now elderly, but decidedly unbowed staff. This is the story of one of the largest radical movements among Jewish immigrant workers in the 19th and 20th centuries and the conditions that led them to band together. These elderly anarchists reflect on their lives spent fighting for a less centralized government, workers’ rights and above all, justice for all. In doing so, strong social bonds were formed while authorities, including managers, police and the government, put psychological and physical pressure on them.

List of YouTube Poop Memes - Date Discovered: 2006 - Discovered On: YouTube As the trend on YouTube of mashing up various videos and splicing audio which would deconstruct and jumble them in awkward places creating a disastrous remix of humor and exploitation of innocent children's cartoons known as YouTube Poop began to advance, they introduced their own set of memes. YouTube Poop Memes are commonly forced like many other forced memes, though many of the classics tend to be rare finds of exploitable clips from old Saturday morning cartoons or widely panned video games, with nostalgia playing as a key role for those choosing what should be their next YTP. It's common knowledge that YouTube Poopers are teenagers or young college students, which explains why so many of them tend to use shows from the They then become victims of a YTP video and become a meme once they reached enough popularity and used in other YTPs. Below is a list of YouTube Poop memes/mini-memes. The 10 Minute Challenge, sometimes referred to as X for 10 Minutes is a series of YouTube trend that takes a particular scene from a show or game, usually one that is quite memorable, and loops it for the entirety of the video. Although not entirely a YouTube Poop, it is a common trend and many of the videos include YTP memes. Because YouTube originally had a limit of how long videos could be, the 10 minute loops didn't exist until June 2008, which was when YouTube extended the video limit to 10 minutes. A full two years later in 2010, YouTube again extended the video length limit to 15 minutes, thus creating the X for 15 minutes trend. In early 2011, the clip loopers found a way to extend their video length to a whole 10 hours with many of them reaching millions of views. The whole trend started off from the infamous looped .gif from the 1998 comedy A Night at the Roxbury where the main characters bob their heads in unison to "What is Love" by Haddaway. These videos would have the looped .gif, quite often with variations by replacing the trio's heads with other characters, and play the entire song or have the chorus looped for as long as possible. DEUUEAUGH is a popular onomatopoeia as well as a reaction image from Spongebob that has been made popular due to YouTube poops. The scene originates from an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, the episode "Something Smells". In the episode, SpongeBob acquires rancid breath from a homemade Sundae he made, though unbeknownst to him he is convinced that people are avoiding him like the plague because he is ugly. At a movie theater, SpongeBob warns the others to enjoy the movie and not be distracted by his "horrible ugliness", with the blue fish background character replying that it wouldn't bother him, only to repulsed by SpongeBob's breath and making a humorous face and sound. Diabeetus is an exploitable meme that came forth from the lips of Wilfred Brimley, and as many other exploitable memes, found its way in the confines of YouTube. Brimley, who is an actor, did several commercial adverts for the company Liberty Mutual, which specialized in home delivery of medical products such as diabetes testing supplies. Brimley himself was diagnosed with diabetes and in 2008 was honored by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) honored Brimley in 2008, which made sense to cast him in the commercials. During almost every commercial, he mispronounces diabetes as "diabeetus" due to his southern accent. There also exists the Diabeetus cat, which bears similar resemblance to Brimley. There are two types of Falcon Punch memes that are found in YouTube Poops. - The first, being the original Falcon Punch meme, isn't a YouTube Poop meme but is a common sound bite that can be found on many YouTube Poops. The sound bite comes from the original Super Smash Bros. game for the Nintendo 64, which is Captain Falcon's signature move and is typically played whenever a devastating punch occurs in a video. This includes clips of punching a pregnant woman. - The second one, being one of the most commonly used YouTube Poops, is a clip from the 2003-2004 anime adaptation of F-Zero, F-Zero: Falcon Densetsu or F-Zero: GP Legend in the English dub, where Captain Falcon executes his signature attack to defeat the villain Black Shadow, finishing him once and for all. Like the former, this clip is also used for punch scenes in YTPs, this one however is more likely to be used as it is more dramatic. Guile's Theme Goes With Everything Guile's Theme Goes With Everything is a YouTube Poop meme that uses Guile's theme from the arcade version of Super Street Fighter 2 and plays the song to just about anything, hence the name "Guile's Theme Goes With Everything". The first video that started this trend was uploaded on April 24, 2010 by YouTuber guilethemefitsall, who posted a music video with Guile's theme using scenes from the horrible 1993 movie, Super Mario Bros. The video started off with the scene where Bob Haskins who stars as Mario falls into the inter-dimensional portal. As Mario falls and spins around, Guile's theme begins to play until the videos end. From this, it was proven that Guile's theme did indeed go with everything, from videos of pooping kittens to loops of an old lady getting ran over by a truck. Hotel Mario is a CD-i puzzle game developed by Fantasy Factory in 1994 and is notable for being the worst Mario game ever. The game play mainly consisted of closing doors with its horribly unresponsive controls, had full motion cut scenes that looked like they were quickly made in a very old version of Microsoft Paintbrush and the voice acting was also a subject of criticism and mockery. The badly written plot consists of Bowser and his children kidnapping Princess Peach, as usual, hiding her in one of his Koopalings' hotels. Mario and Luigi team up to save the princess by going through the hotels.... and closing doors. Despite its much needed death after it did horribly with critics, it became immortalized when the cutscenes found their way being uploaded to YouTube. While the game itself isn't a meme in the way that Battletoads is, the game's cutscenes and its abnormal quotes are responsible for making their way to be exploited. Many of those memorable quotes include: I hope she made lotsa spaghetti! Looks are deceiving when Koopas are involved! "A-ha! Here's the problem; too many toasters! You know what they say: All toasters toast toast! (Mario): Remember, where there's smoke... (Luigi): ...There's fire! Mama Luigi is a YouTube Poop meme, being one of the more popular subjects of YouTube Poop videos. It is mostly popular for its infamous quote of Luigi addressing himself as "Mama Luigi" and more importantly, the wheeze onomatopoeia at the end of his sentence. Since its rise to popularity, it has spawned mini-memes such as "Or was it the bagel?" Morbid Krabs, aka MOAR KRABS, is a hideous picture of Mr. Krabs from SpongeBob SquarePants, demanding "MORE" jellyfish, which is a series of Spengbab, the hideous and over-detailed artwork of SpongeBob. The scene originates from the episode Jellyfish Hunter which was first aired in September 28, 2001. Along with Morbid Krabs are Spengbab'd images of Squidward and SpongeBob, which of course are used in YTPs. Commonly, these are used in short, static image videos with the Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 OST "Gentle Breeze" playing in the background. My Life in X Words My Life in X Words is a small trend among the YTP community that takes a clip, usually a viral clip, which is supposed to a subject of humor. An example of this would be taking the "It's Over 9000" clip, which would be titled "My Life in 3 Words". A YouTube user named Stegblob posted a YouTube Poop of various clips from the show and at one point in the video, Dr. Robotnik says "SnooPING AS usual, I see". Considering that a large proportion of YouTube Poop makers are teenagers, they inevitably latched on to the scene due to the fact that "PINGAS" was heavily emphasized, which obviously sounds like "Penis". From this small scene, YouTube Poopers began torrenting the cartoon Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog to find anything as exploitable as "PINGAS". Basically, everything Dr. Robotnik said was exploited by them, creating many memorable mini-memes as Pingas wasn't the only thing that sounded inappropriate for a children's show. From this, it was acknowledged by many that Dr. Robotnik was the mascot and icon of YouTube Poop. Sonic Says or Sonic Sez, is another exploitable object from the Saturday morning cartoon, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. In the cartoon, they would always end the show with a special segment with advice from Sonic on topics such as avoiding drug use, being a better person, being honest, and of course how to avoid people "touching you in a place or spot that makes you feel uncomfortable". And like anything else from the show, YouTubers would ransack it, trying to find anything they could get to put in their YouTube Poops. Although not as popular as PINGAS or any of the other things Dr. Robotnik says, Sonic Sez will be mostly remembered for its message on sexual harassment. Stu Makes Chocolate Pudding At 4 AM is an exploitable clip based on the namesake scene from the Nickelodeon cartoon Rugrats. Although the meme originated from YouTube, it also found new life on /v/ as many of the /v/irgins could relate to Stu losing control of his life. The scene originates from episode 46b of the Rugrats, "Angelica Breaks a Leg". Angelica, Stu's spoiled and bratty niece, fakes a leg injury and has her uncle Stu cater to her every need including making chocolate pudding at 4 AM, all to his dismay. While making the pudding, Stu's Jewish wife, DiDi, comes in the kitchen and asks why Stu is making pudding so early in the morning. After the pudding is made, Stu reluctantly delivers it to Angelica with Angelica stating that she no longer wants the pudding, causing Stu to scream at the top of his lungs. Sparta Remix (THIS IS X) is a set of videos based on the original "Sparta Remix", which is song remixed using the trailer for the 2007 film, 300. The original Sparta Remix was uploaded to AlbinoBlackSheep in February 2007 and uses the scene where King Leonidas is confronted by a Persian messenger who demands the submission of Sparta to King Xerxes. After refusing to take the messenger's advice, the messenger responds saying, "This blasphemy! This is madness!". The king replies "Madness....?" and shouts "THIS. IS. SPARTAAAA!", followed by kicking the messenger down the well and the scene has been spoofed in various media. After the quote became a meme and the original Sparta Remix found its success and began to be used on various YTMND pages, many other remixes followed in suit on YouTube. THIS VIDEO CONTAINS X THIS VIDEO CONTAINS is a series of YTPMVs that remixes a random sound bite remixed in tune to the song Gourmet Race from the game Kirby Super Star, though other versions of the song have been used such as Kirby's theme from Super Smash Brothers. The very first of these were “THIS VIDEO CONTAINS WIN”, which contained an image of Dr. Robotnik, with the his "PINGAS" sound bite remixed in tune. Although the video started off mainly with Dr. Robotnik with his other memorable and exploited quotes, other YouTube Memes began to follow, mashing the two to create a separate YTPMV. Expect the majority of these videos to overuse the words "pwn", "epic", "win" or any synonym of the three respectively. WTFBOOM!' is a 2008 meme that consists of a random video clip in which an unexpected beep is executed and a shout of "WHAT THE FU-" is heard, which gets interrupted by a very loud explosion thus followed by maniacal laughter. The meme was very popular on YouTube where hundreds variations were made by the YouTube Poop community, people on YouTube who upload random videos with bits and cuts edited to create something extremely obscure and random. X Drops by Squidward's House X Drops by Squidward’s House, being one of the more recent fads, is a viral clip of Squidward Tentacles screaming due to a random intruder (originally SpongeBob and his friend Patrick), violating his privacy, invaded while he's taking his bubble bath. In YouTube Poops, this fad, which started in October 29,2010, typically begins with Squidward, in the middle of his bubble bath, annoyed by SpongeBob pestering him and interrupting him from "spoiling himself", there a visitor enters in the bathroom uninvited and Squidward, shocked by this intrusion, screams hysterically. Once the original scream sound bite finishes, it is then reversed. The clip comes from a SpongeBob SquarePants special, episode 63, Have You Seen This Snail?, first airing in November 11, 2005, where SpongeBob looks for his pet snail, Gary, who ran away due to being neglected. With the help of his tubby and dimwitted friend, Patrick, the two look all over for Gary and run into Squidward hoping he knows where the pet has slithered away to. The two enter Squidward's house during his bubble bath, frightened, Squid screams at the top of his lungs by their intrusion. X in G-Major To the rest of the world, G Major is just a musical note, but within YouTube, it's a manipulation of audio, making the audio sound rather demonic and evil. In a nutshell, it's a good way of making something more annoying and too loud, which is intended, and becomes ear rape. The videos are also inverted so they can seem more corrupted. Songs that are viral within YouTube or general YTPMVs are commonly remixed in G-Major, though using the G-Major effect is not limited to only songs. These videos are generally made from Sony Vegas (pirated, of course) by duplicating an audio/video clip into multiple copies and changing the pitch of each respective clip exponentially. It's believed that this fad was started in November 24th, 2007 from a video called “Hotel Mario in G Major”. X While I Play Unfitting Music Among the many YTP memes, there also exist YTPMV memes. X While I Play Unfitting Music is a YTPMV meme that takes a random clip and, like the name, plays unfitting music to the scene. Examples of this would include playing dramatic music to a clip of someone slowly eating some cereal or playing a comical song to a serious and depressing scene such as a death or a funeral. The meme began in 2007 to a video of Luigi from the cartoon Super Mario World where Luigi is winds a toy to the song "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen. There also exists "X While I Play Fitting Music", which like the former, is self-explanatory. YES! YES! is a Youtube Poop meme that originates from the 1995 cartoon Street Fighter where the main antagonist M. Bison watching a video of one of the protagonists, Guile, getting beaten by mutants and gleefully says "This is delicious!" and “YES! YES!”. The scene originates from the episode "The Medium is the Message", the eighth episode of the first season, first aired in December 16, 1995. You dare not agree with X?! You dare not agree with X?! is one of the lesser known memes from YouTube and originated from the video fad, Ren Snaps, which is a clip from Ren & Stimpy where Ren imagines life as a real president, once after being promoted as the president of The Stimpy Club due to jealousy. In the dream, Ren is found outraged on the phone that someone disagrees with him, infuriated by this he presses a red button which destroys a part of planet and laughs. The episode that the clip is ripped from, Stimpy's Fan Club, aired on March 24, 1993 while the meme found its way to popularity in 2008. As for the meme, Ren is replaced with another YTP sensation, and quite often the word "me" in the sentence is replaced with the exploited catchphrase (i.e. Robotnik; "You dare not agree with PINGAS!?") The Legend of Zelda CD-i games (Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure) are a series of spin-off LoZ games, and much like the Super Mario CD-i games use the ugly full motion cutscenes, are the worst games in their respective series and are a common object of exploitation on YouTube. Link: The Faces of Evil is the most used for YouTube poops. The latter game has spawned many memes and mini-memes, such as Mah Boi, Morshu who is used for many YTPMVs, or "YOU MUST DIE!", with the dialogue in the game being heavily quoted by YouTube poopers due to how badly scripted they are.

... this is a fact. The Palestinian leadership, with a couple of happy new exceptions like Fayyad, is just pathetic or worse. The Palestinians are among the world's most scorned and dispossessed people, but they've been saddled with the worst liberation movement in the history of liberation movements. First and foremost, if they'd been a nonviolent movement, they'd have had their state 20 years ago. No understanding at all of either the Jewish or the American conscience, which resists "resistance" at all costs but melts at the first sight of a person standing before a tank holding a rose. Second, the PA was until recently just hideously corrupt. Arafat and his cronies got away with stealing so much money from those poor people. Completely unconscionable. Third, they appear to have no understanding of why they're really losing. They're losing because American public opinion will never be on their side. Americans will always back the Jews. To Americans, Jews are nice, successful people. They're funny. Jerry Seinfeld. Who's gonna be against Jerry Seinfeld's people?... ... Palestinians? Yes, as Bill Clinton said, the only Palestinians he knows are college professors and doctors. In Clinton's experience and in my more limited one, Palestinian Americans are a high-achieving and very warm people. But all most Americans know is, they're a bunch of terrorists. Palestinian leadership needs to take that seriously and change it. None of this is meant as a defense of Israeli leadership. They're schmucks, too, or worse. So I don't really like either side very much, in terms of their leaders I mean, which is why I don't write about this very often. But I do know that if Palestinians moved to nonviolence and undertook a smart campaign to improve their image here, they'd turn things around on a dime. That was from the keyboard of Michael Tomaksy.

Hidden In Plain Sight When east and west Jerusalem were reunited in 1967, Israelis — who had been denied access to the eastern part of the city, including the Western Wall, from 1948 to 1967 — flocked to the Kotel, to the Old City’s decimated Jewish Quarter, and to the colorful stores, restaurants and cultural sites that dotted the eastern half of the city. The Jewish love affair with overwhelmingly Arab East Jerusalem ended abruptly when the first Palestinian uprising began in 1987. For years even many religious Jews were too fearful to visit the Kotel and other East Jerusalem holy places, and non-Orthodox Israelis and tourists stopped visiting altogether. Even now, when the Old City is packed with local and foreign tourists, few venture across the street to the Rockefeller Museum, which houses some of the most impressive archeological finds in the Middle East. Given the museum’s extraordinary collection, which is housed in a venerable Mandate-era building complex surrounded by wildflowers and olive trees, it is a shame that so few people know of its existence. The majestic inner courtyard, with a serene reflecting pool flanked by priceless millennia-old artifacts, is worth a visit in and of itself. On a pleasant March afternoon only about 20 visitors could be seen strolling through the halls filled with wonderful finds from the first Land of Israel archeological excavations. The numbers swell on Mondays and Wednesdays, when the Israel Museum runs a shuttle service to the Rockefeller, which is part of its network. In fact the first exhibition visitors encounter (“Beliefs and Believers: Ancient Art from the Israel Museum”) is comprised of 30 stunning pieces from the Israel Museum, which is largely closed to visitors while it undergoes a massive renovation. In a personally guided tour of the Rockefeller, Fawzi Ibrahim, the 37-year-old curator, noted that the Rockefeller is housed in the oldest (and arguably most beautiful) museum building in the country. It was built in the 1930s with funds from the New York Rockefellers. “Most of the objects were excavated in the first excavations in the country, at the end of the late 19th century, the 20s, the 30s, the 40s. Most come from important excavations in Jerusalem, Megiddo and Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Israel during the First Temple Period.” Back then, Ibrahim said, most of the British and American archaeologists were trying to link what they unearthed to the Bible. One of the museum’s most important pieces is a large stone inscription referring to the oldest synagogue in Jerusalem from the First Temple Period. “Most people think that when the Temple stood in Jerusalem there were no synagogues. The inscription tells us that there was another synagogue at the time,” Ibrahim said. These early archaeologists uncovered household items, tools, pottery and sometimes exquisite gold jewelry from the many civilizations that settled here. Original display cases from the 1930s contain finds dating from the Stone Age and the Iron Age to the Roman and Byzantine eras. Each had its own culture and left its mark on history. Even the Egyptians left their mark on ancient Israel. An imposing Egyptian statue of Ramses III that was made here, and not in Egypt, attests to the fact that “during some of the Canaanite period, the country was ruled by Egyptian kings,” Ibrahim noted. Upon entering the museum, visitors encounter “Beliefs and Believers,” which contains early shrines, altars, an Islamic prayer niche, amulets and statues of worshippers dating back as many as 10,000 years. While many visitors come especially to see the “Beliefs and Believers” exhibition, they would be short-changed if they stopped there. The permanent collection contains many eye-popping items, like an indigenous elephant tusk and several ancient human skeletons. “A million and a half years ago it was like a savannah in Africa here,” Ibrahim said, pointing to the tusk displayed near the arrowheads. Walking through the halls you see 4,000- to 5,000-year-old board games with their original playing pieces; exquisite Roman glass vessels and pottery that somehow survived perfectly intact for thousands of years; similarly preserved coins with delicate etchings; ancient bones and sarcophagi. Ibrahim is particularly proud of the 250,000-year-old skull from the “Galilee Man,” the oldest remains of a human ever discovered in the Middle East, which he cradles in hand. “We don’t actually know if it belonged to a man or a woman,” the curator admitted with a smile. Other favorites: 12th-century beams from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and perfectly preserved wooden panels from the original Al Aqsa mosque dating from the eighth century. “It is highly unusual for organic material to survive,” Ibrahim said, pointing to intricately carved reliefs in wood. “You see influences from Persian, Byzantine, Coptic art. There is a fusion.” For those fond of gorgeous ancient palaces, nothing beats the hall housing discoveries from Hisham’s Palace in Khirbet el-Majr, located just north of Jericho, which is now under Palestinian control. Built in the eighth century, the winter palace was mostly destroyed in an earthquake, but much of its interior survived because it was buried in rubble. The stucco used to build the magnificent palace was easier to craft than marble, and artisans reveled in their ability to craft sophisticated designs with floral and geometric motifs for walls, arches and windows. The museum hosts many of these finds as well as frescoes with the paint still vibrant, and whimsical statues of people, gazelles and birds. Although the palace’s magnificent mosaic floors remain at Khirbet el-Majr, most visitors will consider a mosaic from the ancient Ein Gedi synagogue more than ample compensation. Ibrahim said the number of visitors is inching up, he hopes the summer will bring an influx of tourists. Pausing at the entrance, where three artifacts, one representing Judaism, a second Islam and the third Christianity were very intentionally placed within close proximity to each other, Ibrahim said, “Everyone is welcome here.” n The museum’s Web site is www.english.imjnet.org.il/htmls/Rockefeller_Museum3.aspx?c0=13395&bsp=12940 The museum can be visited individually, or through a group GROUP tour. To register for tours call 011 972 2 670-8811.

MR. ADNAN OKTAR: ... Yes. Mr. Abrahamson may speak too. RABBI BEN ABRAHAMSON: It is very important that we see all the people here, who have come from Israel, who care so much for the Turkish people, who so much want to see peace, who want to see a future for our people and your people together, and there is such a deep relationship. I as a historian, have studied the many many centuries of history where the Jewish people and the Turkish people have worked together, have cooperated together to build a good life and I believe and I pray that we see the beginnings of a very good future that is possibly before us now. I can only say from the people that I know here, their hearts are tremendously inclined towards finding a way that we can work together and overcome our problems and see a future of peace for our children and for our children's children. It is an honor for me to know everyone at this table.2011-06-02 00:09:59

With all the beauties springing up everywhere, I have been thinking about the variety of options which all fall into the category of beautiful. The lawn daisy, the pink buds of the cherry trees, and wild lady’s slippers, each made to bloom in different climates. The same is true of people. Although we have the habit of judging each of our own beauty by those around us, God sees it differently. He created each of us for specific events, special talents, differing abilities, unique gifts, orchestrated appointments, and even in the challenges of life an opportunity to bloom. Each and every individual was created by God. Each with a purpose and opportunities to know Him and His plan for them. A wonderful example of God’s amazing abilities is the story of Ruth. Ruth was married to a Jewish man and they didn’t have even one child. We don’t know how long they were married, nor any other details as to why they never had a child. However, Ruth ‘ s challenges didn’t end there. She then experienced the pain of deep loss. Her husband died. Her brother-in-law died and from what we can extract from the story her father-in-law had already died. She was left alone with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Her mother-in-law was determined to move back to her home country and pleaded with both daughters to go back to their parents. Ruth made the decision of a lifetime. She said, “Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; Wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.” In our western mindset this is crazy. But in her time Ruth understood that her mother-in-law was unable to provide for herself or to earn an income. If Ruth left her there was a high chance Naomi would starve. Ruth wasn’t willing to allow that, and she was willing to pay for it with her own future. They return to Bethlehem. Yet there is still a major problem. They have no way to earn an income. So Ruth does what she is able to do. I call it the task at hand. She gleaned in the field. Back breaking, difficult, tedious work. Nothing fancy or even to be desired, yet she was willing to work and she was faithful day in and day out. We don’t know much else about Ruth. Was she beautiful? Was she brilliant? Was she tall or short? Was she dark or fair? Was she articulate or quiet? What was her upbringing? What kind of family did she come from? What treatment was she used to? We know nothing except that she was faithful. She followed God and was dependable to do whatever was needed to help Naomi. She was definitely a woman of worth. And the story ends with her being married to Boaz and having a son who is a direct ancestor to King David and the line of Jesus. Ruth ‘ s life proves that the Lord is capable of making a life bloom when they have devoted themselves to Him. Even if it costs them everything. So as you look around at the flowers remember God created you just as special as each bud and He has a path laid out for you. Each of us is a beautiful creation. I think Ruth was a wild cherry blossom, blooming where she was planted no matter what storms tore at her heart. What kind of flower are you?

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On April 26, the Wall Street Journal Business section offered a new prophecy: Robot Sex! Sex Therapist Laura Berman predicts that technology will enable cheap but fulfilling robotic sex, conception of children without physical touching, and chemical drugs to allow for the experience of more pleasure. While on the one hand I am surprised the Wall Street Journal would print onanistic meanderings fit only for the trashiest of sci-fi novels, I think this article illustrates the dangerous deception of pornography and its ability to sever us from our own humanity. Pornography could be condemned on many grounds, but I want to consider the possibility that porn poses a subtle danger, causing us to value pleasure over love, solitude over community, and the present over a lifetime. St. Augustine argued in his City of God that the quest for human happiness has everything to do with rightly ordered love. When we situate the love of God in its proper place, followed by love of neighbor and other subordinate categories, we find the best opportunity for human flourishing. When we displace our loves, perhaps elevating lust over relationships, Augustine argues that we will find our lives filled with dissatisfaction. This understanding of life as a constant evaluation, or searching the heart for what it should value to the proper extent, goes against our 21st century eroticized culture. Media—including film, television, and music stars—upholds a certain vision of the good life consisting of ever-more exotic sexual experiences producing happiness. Pornography—by which I mean the print, internet, and video aspects displaying sexuality through a mediated form intended to stimulate lust—falls under a certain teleology of sexuality with devastating consequences. With the advent of the birth control pill, it became possible to sever sexuality from children. Certain strands of Christianity, primarily Catholic, immediately objected to this severing, claiming that the purpose of sexual intercourse was the production of children. Most low-church denominations, such as Baptist and Methodist, either dodged the moral questions raised by birth control or formulated a different argument: the purpose of sex is pleasure between spouses. Married couples can then make the decision about whether or not to have children. American culture at large accepted the pill with excitement, rushing onward to the Sexual Revolution. For many people, concerns about the purpose of sex paled in comparison to the pleasure of consequence-free intercourse. If the purpose of sex is pleasure alone, then pornography is an acceptable route to that goal, as it provides pleasurable mental and physical stimulation. Berman’s sex-bots are merely the next logical extension of this pursuit. If, however, the purpose of sex is something different, then it merits further consideration. Sexual intercourse brings together two human beings—male and female—and permits them to mingle, creating the opportunity for new life. This is a profoundly human moment, where two separate consciousnesses, two souls, mix physically and, in their unity, could produce another human soul. If this is the purpose of sexuality, then pornography becomes far more dangerous. The ancient Greeks had a concept of sin drawn from an archery metaphor. Hamartia, translated as sin, originally described an archer who missed the target. He aimed at a bird, and hit the tree. If the goal of sexual intercourse is the mingling of two persons, then pornography causes one individual to miss the mark. In gazing at the sex act through a mediated lens, whether paper, ink, or a screen, the impulse that should move an isolated individual to form a micro-community causes him to dwell in solitude. The dangerous part, however, is that the deeper into a pornographic habit one goes, the further he is from the target of human community. Pornography exacts a price; it changes the way a viewer sees the other sex, and it ingrains a habit of self-gratification within the heart. Where sexual intercourse calls for serving the partner in love, pornography produces the illusion that selfish viewing gives greater joy than actual intercourse. To maintain the illusion, the viewer continues in search of ever deeper, more depraved depictions of sexuality. Perhaps the saddest result comes when one who has spent years viewing pornography comes to the bed with a lover and expects sex to be what he has seen and imagined. Sex can be fantastic, but a real sexual relationship takes time, effort, love, commitment, and service. These capacities have been stripped from the pornography viewer’s expectations of sexuality. Here then is the subtle lie of pornography. It promises satisfaction, but strips one’s ability to appreciate the real thing. It upholds a cheap pleasure as the highest good, removing one’s ability to recognize that children and a loving marriage are infinitely more valuable than orgasm alone. It reminds me of the Prodigal Son. In Luke 15, Jesus tells a parable of a son who has it all, but takes his inheritance and parties it away in the city. After experiencing his epiphany in a pigsty, the most morally reprehensible place for a good Jewish boy, he poignantly recognizes his need for repentance. The danger of pornography is that it trains the one in the pigsty to mistake it for a grand mansion with capacious and ever expanding rooms. Uncovering the deception involves retraining the heart and the eyes to appreciate real love, and place that love in the proper order. Stories of men and women who have reached the other side of a pornography addiction abound. One of the most well-written of these accounts comes from Erica Garza who tells her story in “Tales of a Female Sex Addict.” By the end of her article, Garza finds hope. Her story reveals the depths of pornographic depravity, but also the existence of the human soul. As humans, we exist as body and soul. Sexuality is a point where our dual-nature combines in a mixture of desire and expression. The desire for intimacy and relationship reveals humans as more than just physical creatures. If we were only bodily creatures, then physical satisfaction of our physical longings would be sufficient. Pornography feeds this desire. Without the spiritual component of human relationship, however, we create a raging monster of lust within ourselves. Rooting sexuality within marriage, aimed at the teleology of children, satisfies our creational design as body-soul, mortal-eternal beings. Sexual expression has always been an area of problematization, worthy of contemplation; this is an important question to get right. At stake is our ability to love other human beings, to see in them an image of the Creator worthy of love, sacrifice, respect, and honor. The hope of joy in this life rides on recognizing pornography not as a harmless habit, something all guys will do, but as a deadly deception which retrains the heart to be nothing but an engine of lust. We are more than bodies with pleasure centers. We are embodied creatures with eternal souls, “designed to live in community,” to quote Aristotle. We live in a deceptive age, in which pornography is held out with the promise of joy but leaves us holding the ashes of our hope. Image: "Unmasked" by JD Hancock. CC License.

SUMMERFEST CONCERTS 2 9 T H S E A S O N | J U LY 2 019 S H O R T S TO R I E S A N D N OV E L E T T E S TABLE OF CONTENTS WELCOME WEEK ONE: JULY 06 & 07 WEEK TWO: JULY 13 & 14 WEEK THREE: JULY 20 & 21 WEEK FOUR: JULY 27 & 28 WELCOME On behalf of the Summerfest Board of Directors and musicians, we welcome you to our 29th season of wonderful chamber music. Our theme this year is “Short Stories and Novele9es”. Our ar;s;c directors have put together a most interes;ng set of programs, and each piece represents a story. We may not always realize it but EVERY piece of music we hear tells us a story. An unfamiliar piece tells us a new story. A familiar piece triggers a memory of the past, and we become a part of the story. We sincerely hope you can find new stories and familiar memories during this season. We hope you can come every week! Bring your friends! We appreciate your presence because our audience is what makes us successful. We ask for your financial support and for you to be advocates for us. The Missouri Arts Council is one of our major supporters. There are many voices asking for government dollars and the arts are oDen the first to be cut. Missourians, please contact your state senators and representa;ves, and thank them for designa;ng money for arts organiza;ons. Thank you for a9ending. We trust you will enjoy every concert and that each piece will add to your personal story. Warm regards, Mary L. Redmon President, Summerfest Board of Directors ABOUT US MISSION: Summerfest, a professional chamber music ensemble, enriches the cultural life of Kansas City through the performance of a variety of music in a seFng that fosters interac;on between musicians and audience members. PROGRAMS: Our chamber music fes;val, presented on weekends in July, features excep;onally talented professional musicians, an eclec;c mix of tradi;onal and non-tradi;onal repertoire, and consistent concert experiences where audiences can expect the unexpected in chamber music. OUR HISTORY: In 1990, contempla;ng the year ahead, Lamar Hunt Jr. no;ced that art enthusiasts and musicians had limited or no op;ons for live classical music during the summer. The following year, aDer much planning and prepara;on, Lamar and four of his colleagues set forth the tradi;on of the Summerfest concert series. Equipped with their superior talent, excitement for chamber music, and energy to create, this group did a casual series of concerts in suburban Kansas City area churches. And the rest, as they say, is history. Over the last 28 years, though leadership and personnel have changed, Summerfest has never lost sight of its original inten;ons; providing a rare and unique opportunity for high quality, ďŹ ne arts experiences in Kansas City during July. We con;nue to program innova;ve and unique concerts in which our patrons can be both challenged and entertained. We remain focused on making music accessible to all through our outreach eorts with youth and seniors. And we remain commi9ed to enriching this great Kansas City arts community. To our loyal patrons, thank you for your con;nued support and enthusiasm for what we do. To those of you new to our concerts, we welcome you enthusias;cally and look forward to sharing our classical chamber music experience with you. PO Box 22697 | Kansas City MO 64113 816.895.2920 firstname.lastname@example.org www.summerfestkc.org Facebook and Twi9er (@summerfestkc), Instagram (@summerfestconcerts) 4 J U LY 6 & 7 Short Stories and Novelettes: Week One SATURDAY, JULY 6 | 7:30PM | WHITE RECITAL HALL SUNDAY, JULY 7 | 3:00PM | ST. MARY’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH Diver;mento in C Major, (Perger 98), (ca. 1758-1770) I. Allegro (molto) II. Menuet & Trio III. Aria. Adagio IV. Menue9o & Trio V. Andante- Theme & Varia;ons VI. Presto Michael Haydn (1737-1806) Celeste Johnson, oboe; Mahew Sinno, viola; Richard Ryan, bass; Charles Metz, harpsichord Short Stories (version 2015) I. Leonardo Rebus II. Biamon; 738 III. Allegro Troppo IV. Leonardo Rebus V. ScarlaF Cut Giovanni Sollima (b. 1962) Michael Gordon, flute; Maria Crosby, cello; Nina Ferrigno, piano Trio Sonata, in D minor Wq. 145 (1731) I. Allegre9o II. Largo III. Allegro C.P.E. Bach (1714-1788) Michael Gordon, flute; Celeste Johnson, oboe; Maria Crosby, cello; Charles Metz, harpsichord Quintet, Op. 39 (1924) I. Tema con variazioni II. Andante energico III. Allegro sostenuto, ma con brio IV. Adagio pesante V. Allegro precipitato, ma non troppo presto VI. Andan;no Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) Celeste Johnson, oboe; Jane Carl, clarinet; Anne-Marie Brown, violin; Mahew Sinno, viola; Richard Ryan, bass 5 Michael Haydn, Divermento in C Major Let’s be honest with each other: when you glanced over this program, your mind subs;tuted the name “Michael” with the name “Joseph.” It’s nothing to be ashamed of – in graduate school a colleague was working on Michael Haydn’s symphonies, and for a year I believed he was wri;ng about Haydn’s famous older brother. But during his life;me, Michael Haydn was well known and respected as a sacred music composer thanks to his prominent posi;on at the Archbishop’s court in Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg was also home to Mozart, who was seven years old when Michael Haydn arrived, and young Mozart recognized Haydn’s abili;es, assiduously copying down the elder composer’s works to study them, much to his father’s chagrin. In fact, there was somewhat of a rivalry between Mozart’s father and Haydn, with Papa Mozart sending le9ers to court authori;es that “aDer every Litany he swills a quart of wine and sends Lipp, who is also a ;ppler, to do the other services.” The reason for this animosity? Both men were aDer the posi;on of Kapellmeister, though neither earned it. In addi;on to his sacred music, Haydn composed instrumental music for all occasions in Salzburg, adroitly adjus;ng his style to match the changing tastes of the archbishops under whom he served. Archbishop Hieronymous Colloredo, who ruled at the ;me of Haydn’s Diver;mento you’ll hear today, desired works that matched the simple, direct, and elegant music fashionable in Vienna. Haydn responded with a composi;on that was designed for entertainment, not for the musical development found in sonatas, and that could func;on as background music at the court. He used the oboe as the main melodic instrument because of its growing popularity, par;cularly in combina;on with strings. Cast in six movements, this Diver;mento in C Major shows elements of the older, Baroque style in which Haydn composed when he first went to Salzburg in its con;nuo-like use of the string bass to establish the work’s harmonic founda;on. But listen to the interplay between the oboe and viola, which trade the melody and execute virtuosic runs that threaten to overshadow the balanced, perfectly phrased melodies. Haydn’s exquisite control of ;mbre is specifically evident in the fiDh and longest movement, the theme and varia;ons. Here the oboe and viola at ;mes seem of one accord as they effortlessly blend, especially in the first varia;on, showing us that perhaps Michael should not always be thought of as the lesser Haydn brother. Giovanni Sollima, “Short Stories” Giovanni Sollima is one of a new breed of Classical music performers who appeared on the scene around twenty years ago: he defies the stuffy image the music once cul;vated by posing provoca;vely in casual clothes and releasing press no;ces that claim he is the “Jimi Hendrix of the cello.” Even Yo-Yo Ma has go9en in on the mythmaking for Sollima, sta;ng in an interview ahead of performing a double concerto Sollima wrote for the two of them, “He’s a supervirtuoso of the cello. He studied with Antonio Janigro but plays like a jazz musician and is part performance ar;st. He has no fear, and that’s unusual in the classical world – we’re all terrified of wrong notes.” Yet, as Ma hints, Sollima has an impeccable background and training, having been born into a family of musicians and having worked with ar;sts from Claudio Abbado to Martha Argerich, Riccardo Mu;, Philip Glass, and Peter Greenaway. Short Stories demonstrates the postminimalist approach most of his music takes. Minimalism is a style that features endless repe;;ons with small changes that gradually take you into a new place. Sollima takes that paradigm and reinvents it by building off of repe;;ve structures but never foregrounding repe;;on for repe;;on’s sake. This suite is constructed as a series of connected, but stylis;cally disparate, small movements with barely a pause between each sec;on. Sollima loves modal melodies that circle without ever landing in a key and uneven meters like 5/8 and 2+3 construc;ons that will remind you of Philip Glass’s music. Yet he also digs deep into his Italian heritage to find folk music pa9erns and gestures for his cellist to play, some;mes even asking the player to saw away like Hendrix thrashing his electric guitar. But the best part of this energe;c and fascina;ng music is that if you don’t like the story you’re hearing, you haven’t commi9ed to a novel, and the next story is just around the corner. C.P.E. Bach, Trio Sonata in D minor, Wq. 145 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was Johann Sebas;an Bach’s second son and as a result bore the weight of his father’s enormous expecta;ons. J.S. sent C.P.E. to the Thomasschule in Leipzig for his schooling where the elder Bach took charge of his son’s educa;on. When ;me came for university, he sent his son to the local University of Leipzig to study law, providing C.P.E. with a liberal arts educa;on and a higher social standing than musicians typically enjoyed. As a result of these choices, C.P.E. lived at home un;l he was 24 and studied music with his father, always claiming that the elder Bach was his most important musical mentor. You can see the close musical rela;onship father and son enjoyed in Carl Philipp Emanuel’s early composi;ons, especially in today’s Trio Sonata in D minor, Wq 145. Scholars believe that the original composi;on in 1731 was a joint venture composed by both men because it is uncommonly accomplished for a 17-year-old to have composed it and it contains unmistakable features of J.S. Bach’s mature Baroque style. Another clue to the work’s origins come in a version of the sonata that exists in J.S. Bach’s catalog as the Sonata in D minor for Two Violins and Basso con;nuo, BWV 1036. But aDer leaving the University of Leipzig, the younger Bach began working for the crown prince Frederick of Prussia, and became court harpsichordist for the prince when he ascended to the throne in 1740. In this posi;on, C.P.E. Bach began to see his father’s style as hopelessly old fashioned, and in 1747, he returned to his earlier works, revising his trio sonatas and bringing them in line with the new, simpler, and more elegant Galant style. As a result, the Trio Sonata in D minor contains elements of both styles, J.S. Bach’s and C.P.E. Bach’s. The overall structure of the sonata is in three movements in a fast-slow-fast pa9ern, a formula;on decidedly Baroque as is the imita;ve opening movement. But listen to some of the suspensions that seem to sigh in the second movement, a clear indica;on of C.P.E Bach’s more classically minded “sensi;ve style,” and the delighVul interplay of the lines in the final movement with their clear, periodic phrasing. Throughout this marvelous trio sonata, you can hear the changing of historical periods as the baton is passed to a new style, but echoes of the older one s;ll linger. Sergei Prokofiev, Quintet, Op. 39 Today when we think about Sergei Prokofiev, the beau;ful tunefulness of his Romeo and Juliet or Peter and the Wolf comes to mind or perhaps the percussive and propulsive sound found in his 3rd Piano Concerto. But before finding his mature style, Prokofiev longed to be an enfant terrible and regularly tried to shock his listeners with his musical an;cs. It is this side of Prokofiev that we’ll hear in the op. 39 Quintet, which is perhaps the most experimental work of his career. The Quintet began life in 1924 when Boris Romanov, a Russian choreographer living in European exile from his Russian homeland like Prokofiev, asked the composer for a new ballet. The catch? Romanov’s company was a small one and could not travel with a full orchestra. Undaunted, Prokofiev remembered the new combina;ons of chamber groupings that were appearing in the wake of Schoenberg’s epochal Pierrot Lunaire and se9led on an oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, and double bass for the work. He finished the ballet the following year, and Romanov’s troupe danced it under the name Trapeze. The story might have ended there, but Prokofiev wasn’t finished with this music. He quickly began rearranging the music for the concert hall and published today’s version in 1927. Cast in six movements, the Quintet begins with an off-kilter melody that, were it not for its dissonant wanderings, would be at home in a contemporaneous Bartok work. Prokofiev takes this Eastern European folk-like theme through two varia;ons, first a lil;ng lullaby and then a fast jig. The second movement opens with a startling double bass solo before developing into a dance that cannot decide if it is stately or mocking. A rhythmically adventurous movement follows, featuring Prokofiev’s love of repeated rhythmic cells. The fourth movement slows the Quintet’s energy down by presen;ng a mournful oboe melody over a wheezing drone in the lower voices that is as steady and regular as the previous movement is flighty and sca9ered. The fiDh movement is one of the shortest of the set and puts the plucking bass line against the flowing upper strings and oboe in a riot of musical layers. Toward the end of movement, the forward momentum stops before the clarinet jumps in to create a dazzling run that serves as a sa;sfying ending to the work. Here is where you can best see Prokofiev’s desire to push boundaries – instead of ending the work where you expect, he adds one final movement. This Andan,no helps bring the Quintet full circle by recalling the opening movement and its juxtaposi;on of frene;c dances and slow, somber melodies. S;ll, Prokofiev didn’t want to go too far, and so brings the double bass back one last ;me to join the viola in a quick rush to the end, a tradi;onally Roman;c kind of conclusion. 7 J U LY 13 & 14 Short Stories and Novelettes: Week Two SATURDAY, JULY 13 | 7:30PM | WHITE RECITAL HALL SUNDAY, JULY 14 | 3:00PM | ST. MARY’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH Quartet for Winds (1941) I. Allegro moderato II. Andante III. Allegro vivace e leggermente Arthur Berger (1912-2003) Michael Gordon, flute; Melissa Peña, oboe; Jane Carl, clarinet; Joshua Hood, bassoon Stories from My Grandmother (2009) I. It was like a, like a lightning II. Slow memory Lembit Beecher (b. 1980) Michael Gordon, flute; Jane Carl, clarinet; Anne-Marie Brown, violin; Alexander East, cello; Melissa Rose, piano Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60 (1875) I. Allegro non troppo II. Scherzo. Allegro III. Andante IV. Finale Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Anne-Marie Brown, violin; Jesse Yukimura, viola; Alexander East, cello; Melissa Rose, piano Arthur Berger, Quartet for Winds Music for winds alone oDen gets short shriD when it comes to classical music. In the large ensemble world, wri;ng music for strings is viewed as more pres;gious, and wind instruments are thought of as adding spice and color to a string founda;on. Even in chamber music, winds are usually paired with strings (or at the least a piano) so they can provide something extra to the venerable string sound. In fact, if you look through our programs this summer you’ll note that in addi;on to today’s Quartet for Winds there is only one other work on the series for winds alone. However, some of the most beau;ful and powerful pieces of the past one hundred years have been wri9en for a grouping of wind instruments, especially Berger’s work which the great American composer and cri;c Virgil Thomson called “one of the most sa;sfactory pieces for winds in the whole modern repertory.” There is a hint of sarcasm in Thomson’s statement, most likely because Arthur Berger was an en;rely sa;sfactory composer producing well-craDed works for most of the 20th century, but he never achieved the breakout success of another Nadia Boulanger student, Aaron Copland. Instead, Berger focused on the academic side of music through his teaching at Brandeis and then the New England Conservatory of Music as well as his published cri;cism and academic books. His Quartet for Winds, wri9en in 1941 and dedicated to Aaron Copland, upends the view of Berger as a “sa;sfactory” composer in its delighVul affect and irresis;ble allure. Cast in three movements of almost equal length, the work opens with an almost Baroque-like Allegro moderato that never stops moving forward. Listen for the openness of the movement with its wide spaces between the instruments that provides an expansive feeling. The Andante second movement features a lovely interplay between the oboe and flute, and about a minute in shows that Berger had been listening to the growth of American jazz, par;cularly in the almost boogie-woogie lines given to the bassoon. The final movement is the fastest and is full of Coplandesque gestures that hint at an American musical style based on folk music and looking Westward. I know you’ll be as charmed as Virgil Thomson by this music and perhaps might even upgrade his ra;ng to “one of the most charming and successful pieces for wind in the whole modern repertory.” Lembit Beecher, “Stories from My Grandmother” Lembit Beecher is probably not a familiar name to you, but he is one of a new genera;on of composers who survey the contemporary world and then pull in a diverse set of experiences and sounds to resemble our diverse and fast moving world. Growing up in California to an American and Estonian family, Beecher soaked in their stories, the Pacific coastline’s beauty, and the music of East and West to create a singular musical style. That style is inherently theatrical, and Beecher regularly writes operas and oratorios, finding ways to tell stories that embrace instruments from around the world and throughout ;me, technology and anima;on, and even actors. Today’s work is a two-movement suite that comes from one of those oratorios, And Then I Remember. The composer describes the work: “The piece follows the story of my grandmother, Taimi Lepasaar, who was born in Estonia in 1922 and survived both the Russian and German occupa;ons of Estonia during World War II before escaping the country near the end of the war, eventually making it to the United States. The two movements of Stories From My Grandmother are instrumental reflec;ons on my grandmother’s stories. The first movement, ‘It was Like a, Like a Lightning,’ tries to capture the visceral energy, fear and mournful sadness of one par;cular story, a por;on of which I am including below: And then, was the summer 1940 and I was in Alatskivi with my grandparents. In the evening, there was a dance. About 6’o’clock we le< the farm and we went to the castle to dance together. It was about 9:30… the music stopped.. and the announcement came that the Russian troops have come over Lake Peipsi; the Russian army is coming towards this castle, towards us. We ask you all to take your bicycles and go home. And then was Estonia was conquered. 1940, that summer. It was like a, like a lightning, like somebody had hit you on the back. And then we all rode quietly, it was a… June night. The moon was ligh,ng the road, but the hearts were heavy. And we drove home and went to the farm, but the farm was far away from the highway up on the hill. Next morning we were all standing there on the fence under the big linden trees, watching how the Russian army, marched along that highway towards Tartu, towards our city, and this moment we shared together. You know, it seemed that all the dreams were broken. The second movement, ‘Slow Memory,’ was not inspired by a specific story but is instead a medita,on on memory and my grandmother’s way of storytelling. It tries to capture the mix of emo,on and maer-of-factness within her voice; the moments of gentle lilt and the moments of struggle, in which a feeling of sadness seems to break through the veil of her words. Johannes Brahms, Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60 When Brahms sent his third piano quartet to his publisher Simrock in 1875, he included a cheeky proposi;on for the first prin;ng: “You might display a picture on the ;tle page. Namely a head – with a pistol poin;ng at it. Now you can form an idea of the music! I will send you my photograph for this purpose! You could also give it a blue frockcoat, yellow trousers, and riding boots, since you appear to like color prin;ng.” What in the world was Brahms going on about? In Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, the protagonist wears a blue coat and yellow pants when he first meets Charlo9e, the object of his doomed affec;ons. The novel’s popularity certainly created a fad for blue coats (in Pride and Prejudice, the swooning roman;c Mr. Bingley sports one), but Brahms was aDer a deeper connec;on with Werther, one that informs the emo;onal arc of today’s piano quartet. Twenty years before the quartet’s premiere, a young Brahms ran to Düsseldorf aDer hearing that his mentor, Robert Schumann, had a9empted suicide. When Schumann was subsequently ins;tu;onalized, Brahms moved into the composer’s house to help Robert’s wife Clara and her six children, ul;mately overseeing their finances, covering Clara’s teaching when she toured, and falling in love with his hostess. Brahms ul;mately wrote Clara a le9er in which he poured out his feelings; Clara noted in her diary that “it is the fresh mind, the gloriously giDed nature, the noble heart, that I love in him,” but never physically reciprocated. No;ng the connec;on between his situa;on of loving the wife of his respected mentor and young Werther’s, Brahms began work on a piano quartet cast in three movements in C# minor that would depict Werther’s turbulent emo;ons. ADer hearing the work performed, Brahms decided it wasn’t quite right, and set the quartet aside for almost twenty years. In 1873, he returned to it, dropped the key a half-step to C minor, reworked the exis;ng movements, added a scherzo, and had it premiered and published. In this form, the opening movement depicts Werther’s tempestuous emo;ons but relates those feelings clearly to Clara Schumann. According to Brahms’s biographer Malcom MacDonald, the opening two-note falling mo;ve “speaks the name ‘Clara’” and is quickly followed by a version of the five-note “Clara mo;ve” that Schumann used in his music. This dark movement gives no resolu;on – even the ending fails to resolve any of the movement’s tension, instead collapsing in exhaus;on. The tumultuous second movement scherzo con;nues the quartet’s obsessive nature with its driving rhythms that even a middle sec;on in a major key cannot dispel. It is not un;l the lovely third movement Andante that we get to experience the hopeful side of love. Although perhaps originally wri9en to proclaim his love for Clara, Brahms was most likely thinking of Elisabeth von Herzogenberg, a former student who was similarly married to a composer Brahms admired, when he revised it. He gives the cello a beau;ful, lyric melody in its upper register that soon begins to intertwine with the violin to create a passionate and musically ecsta;c climax. Some commentators have wished that Brahms stopped with the third movement (In 1933 Daniel Gregory Mason said that the third movement “would make us supremely happy only for a moment, before the Finale came to complete our mys;fica;on”), but the fourth movement’s somber mood is needed to bring the work’s emo;onal arc full circle. From its long-winded opening violin melody to the central sec;on’s harmonic instability, this final movement returns to the quartet’s emo;onal center with a hint of distance and, much like Brahms probably felt when he returned to the work aDer a long hiatus, provides the catharsis needed to move on from a lost love. J U LY 2 0 & 21 Short Stories and Novelettes: Week Three SATURDAY, JULY 20 | 7:30PM | WHITE RECITAL HALL SUNDAY, JULY 21 | 3:00PM | ST. MARY’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH Six Short Stories for Woodwind Quintet (1996) I. The Mee;ng II. Na;ve Dance III. Air IV. Fire Dance V. Longing VI. 1 + 1 = 11 Lior Navok (b. 1971) Shannon Finney, flute; Melissa Peña, oboe; Jane Carl, clarinet; Joshua Hood, bassoon; Tod Bowermaster, horn Novelle9en for String Quartet (1904) I. Andante moderato II. Presto-Allegre9o III. Allegro vivo Frank Bridge (1870-1941) Anne-Marie Brown, violin; Kris,n Velicer, violin; Jesse Yukimura, viola; Alexander East, cello Three Short Stories (2000) I. Uncle Bebop II. Rays of Light III. La;n Dance Gernot Wolfgang (b. 1957) Joshua Hood, bassoon; Jesse Yukimura, viola Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1, “Ghost” (1809) I. Allegro vivace e con brio II. Largo assai ed espressivo III. Presto Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Kris,n Velicer, violin; Alexander East, cello; Daniel Velicer, piano Lior Navok, “Six Short Stories” for Woodwind Quintet One of the fascina;ng things about music is that it oDen appears to tell a story, but that story can be heard differently by someone siFng right next to you in the audience. That narra;ve ambiguity is why many composers choose to focus their crea;vity on drama;c works for stage and screen where the stories are clearly provided to the audience by text and movement. Israeli composer Lior Navok is one composer in this vein, having achieved great acclaim for his two operas, The Bet and An unserem Fluss (By Our River); for his oratorio remembering the holocaust, And The Trains Kept Coming...; and for his stage works for children, The Lile Mermaid and The Adventures of Pinocchio. But even while wri;ng these stage works, Navok has shown his passion for music that tells stories without words through his work playing piano and many other instruments for the Bu9erflyEffect Ensemble, a group he helped establish to create new scores for silent films released before 1929. Six Short Stories for Woodwind Quintet seems indebted to his work with silent film in that it tries to tell a story; however, it admits to the possibility of mul;ple interpreta;ons of the music, even with the clear and evoca;ve movement ;tles he provided. As the composer relates: “The woodwind quintet is one of my favorite mediums: the individual personality of each musical instrument on one hand, and the homogeneity that can skillfully be achieved on the other hand, s;mulated my imagina;on for a long ;me. The ;tles of the movements represent my own plot thoughts and associa;ons behind each story: The First is a mee;ng of five friends willing to play together while one of them is being considerably late. The second is my associa;on to a na;ve ceremonial dance. The third, reminds me of a light breeze on a lazy summer night, while siFng on front of the porch. The fourth describes a person gazing at the fire flames, controlled like a marione9e by the wind. The fiDh is a sinking / floa;ng memory, and last, a discussion about ‘how a fugue should sound.’ Nevertheless, this is only my view of the music. I would like to invite the listeners to find their own associa;on, and create their individual stories.” Frank Bridge, “Novelle:en” for String Quartet When we hear Frank Bridge’s name in concerts today, it is oDen in connec;on with his famous pupil Benjamin Bri9en and that composer’s marvelous Varia,ons on a Theme of Frank Bridge. Yet during his early life, Bridge was an integral part of the establishment of the English pastoral sound. His influence was felt as a performer (he was well regarded as a violist, playing with the English String Quartet), as a conductor (Sir Thomas Beecham picked Bridge as his assistant conductor when he established the New Symphony Orchestra), and as a composer (his chamber music and songs were especially popular). What changed, and why don’t we remember him be9er today? A commi9ed pacifist, Bridge was horrified by the reports coming out of World War I and responded by echoing that horror in his music. The English public seems to have turned against his new, more modern style, and quickly forgo9en him. Today’s Novelleen for String Quartet comes from Bridge’s early, post-Roman;c style as he wrote it the year he graduated from the Royal College of Music. With the ;tle “Novelle9en,” we might think that Bridge was wri;ng short stories for string quartet, much like we just heard in Lior Navok’s work. But Bridge was more likely thinking of Robert Schumann’s op. 21 Novelleen, a group of eight character pieces for piano. The first movement, Andante moderato, opens in a beau;ful, undula;ng manner, but listen closely for the twists and turns Bridge takes in his harmonies, premoni;ons of the direc;on of his later, more dissonant music. In the middle of this opening movement, Bridge builds a passionate crescendo, an unexpected moment that quickly fades back into the tranquil sound of the opening. Where the first movement is consistent, the second movement is a study in sudden contrasts: Presto, Allegreo and Moderato. Each of these sec;ons features a single theme with musical tension derived from Bridge’s interplay among them. Listen especially for the largely plucked sec;ons that bear the influence of the rhythmic swing from popular music of the ;me. The last novele9e opens with a hymnlike statement of the main theme before Bridge proceeds to transform it through various contrapuntal and harmonic means, almost as if he intended the work as a gradua;on piece to demonstrate all that he had learned and show the poten;al in a burgeoning composi;onal career. Gernot Wolfgang, “Three Short Stories” Since the turn of the 21st century, the hard and fast dividing lines among genres have dissolved. This dissolu;on is perhaps most obvious for audience members in the music they hear – rock rhythms show up in modern symphonic works in Helzberg Hall as oDen as classical string quartet sounds appear in the latest HBO appointment television shows. But behind those interminglings of genres is a transforma;on in composers’ training and experience. Composers like Gernot Wolfgang, an Austrian composer living and working in Los Angeles, learn jazz composi;on alongside classical before gradua;ng from the “Scoring for Mo;on Pictures and TV” program at the University of Southern California. Gernot, who is associate ar;s;c director of the HEAR NOW new music fes;val as well as an orchestrator for mo;on pictures, eagerly embraces this blenderizing of genres, and today’s “Three Short Stories” brings in jazz rhythms to bear on contemporary composi;onal harmonic prac;ces on top of Baroque-era contrapuntal techniques. Gernot describes the work by wri;ng: “Although the ;tle - Three Short Stories - suggests programma;c content, the ‘stories’ are mostly musical ones. The first movement – ‘Uncle Bebop’ - is an uptempo romp which starts in octave unisons, leading from there to more counterpoint oriented fast passages, including sec;ons in which the viola, while employing tradi;onal arco and pizzicato playing techniques, prac;cally assumes the part of a percussion instrument. The movement se9les down briefly in a short quiet sec;on interrupted by moments of silence before picking up speed again at the reprise, which leads to an energe;c finish.” “‘Rays of Light’ is lyrical in character, and is almost more a composi;on for two solo instruments than a duet. Bassoon and viola shape the piece trading solo passages, with only a few connec;ng measures in between in which the instruments interact. Only in the last couple of measures do the two parts unite to create a true ensemble sound.” “The ;tle of the third movement – ‘La;n Dance’ - already gives away its character. This again is a fast, lively piece of music, which explores rhythms found in La;n American music while using an unusually dissonant melodic and harmonic language.” Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Trio in D Major, Op.70 No.1, “Ghost” It must have been hard to be Beethoven, especially in 1808. By that point in his life, he had accepted his encroaching deafness and was deep into one of his most prolific composi;onal periods, but on the professional front he was in a major dry spell. The premiere of his opera Fidelio had been a disaster, and the city of Vienna had refused his request to stage a concert to raise money. He began to speak seriously of leaving Vienna altogether and found a way out when King Jêrome Bonaparte of Westphalia offered him a job as Kapellmeister, providing housing and a substan;al salary. Beethoven might have leD had it not been for the machina;ons of Countess Anna Maria von Erdödy, a patron with whom Beethoven lived for a short period of ;me and whom Beethoven called his Beichtvater, or “Father Confessor.” Erdödy, a wealthy Hungarian separated from her husband, was a wonderful pianist who hosted a sparkling salon and could not imagine Vienna without Beethoven. She collaborated with some of Beethoven’s regular patrons, including Prince Lobkowitz and the Archduke Rudolph, to establish an annual allowance for Beethoven if he would consent to remain in Vienna. Fla9ered and grateful, Beethoven agreed to the support, wrote the op. 70 piano trios for Erdödy that fall, and even performed them for her in her salon in December of 1808. The first trio finds Beethoven working in an older model of only three movements, but within that model he updates the musical lines by making the violin and cello equal partners with his piano in an elegant conversa;on. The first Allegro movement opens with a loud, unison declara;on of the melody that builds to a shocking F natural, a note out of the justestablished key and so completely unexpected that the cello holds it a bit before launching into a beau;ful, lyrical melody. This alterna;on between the shocking and the sublime holds true throughout the movement as the instruments each take turn with the melody while Beethoven gives intricate counter melodies to the other instruments. The second movement is perhaps the most celebrated, certainly the longest, and provided the trio with its nickname – “The Ghost.” For this Largo, Beethoven delved into his sketches for an opera on Shakespeare’s Macbeth he began with the libreFst Heinrich Joachim von Collin but later abandoned. (Almost twenty years ago, composer Albert Willem Holsbergen constructed the opera’s overture from these same sketches.) Part of the reason for the movement’s length is its incredible slowness – every gesture is stretched out, crea;ng a suspended atmosphere for its more than ten-minute length. Into this suspension, Beethoven poured harmonies that seem to exist for their tone color alone, and he asks the musicians to delicately hand the melodies from one instrument to the next as though they were one. Pay special a9en;on to the tremolos in the piano that seem to recreate an orchestral string sec;on suppor;ng this ethereal music. With its cascading runs and arpeggios, the finale is a study in absolute contrast to the central movement. While the second movement is introspec;ve, the final movement is outgoing, constantly surprising the audience with sudden starts and stops. It is as though Beethoven knew that an audience would need an exuberant release aDer the hushed tension that precedes it and so provided a high-spirit finale, one that will end your experience of this concert on a definite high note. 13 J U LY 2 7 & 2 8 Short Stories and Novelettes: Week Four SATURDAY, JULY 27 | 7:30PM | WHITE RECITAL HALL SUNDAY, JULY 28 | 3:00PM | ST. MARY’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH String Quartet in D Major, Op. 71, No. 2 (1793) I. Adagio - Allegro II. Andante cantabile III. Menue9o: Allegre9o IV. Finale: Allegre9o – Vivace Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Anthony DeMarco, violin; Kris,n Velicer, violin; Jesse Yukimura, viola; Maria Crosby, cello Elegiac Trio (1916) Arnold Bax (1883-1953) Shannon Finney, flute; Jesse Yukimura, viola; Tabitha Reist Steiner, harp Pastorales de Noël (1943) I. L'étoile II. Les mages III. La vierge et l'enfant IV. Entrée et danse des bergers Andre Jolivet (1905-1974) Shannon Finney, flute; Joshua Hood, bassoon; Tabitha Reist Steiner, harp Murder Ballades (2013) I. Omie Wise II. Young Emily III. Dark Holler IV. Wave the Sea V. Brushy Fork VI. Pre9y Polly VII. Tears for Sister Polly Bryce Dessner (b. 1976) Shannon Finney, flutes; Jane Carl, clarinets; Kris,n Velicer, violin; Maria Crosby, cello; Daniel Velicer, piano; Chihiro Shibayama; percussion Franz Joseph Haydn, String Quartet in D Major, Op. 71, No. 2 In the 21st century, we have a singular view of Franz Joseph Haydn, the older brother of Michael Haydn whom you heard on Summerfest’s first week. We tend to hear stories of Haydn playing quartets with Mozart or teaching a young Beethoven, and we imagine him in the Viennese concert world being feted as the great composer we now consider him to be. But Haydn started his career as a craDsman, a hired hand working for the Esterházy family who wrote music when they demanded it and for their enjoyment. It was an insular life, a formal life, and a life where speed and facility of composi;on were as important as crea;vity. As Haydn grew in fame (and the new Esterházy prince cut his salary), he began to travel outside Esterháza and discovered a change had occurred, namely the growth of public concerts with sophis;cated audiences who wanted original music by virtuosic performers and were willing to pay for it. You can imagine that Haydn was shocked when he traveled to London for the first ;me in 1791 and found a people so in love with his music that King George III even offered him rooms in Windsor Castle if he would only stay in England. Fla9ered and basking in the adula;on, Haydn agreed to return to the island na;on in 1794 and bring new works with him. Among those works were six string quartets, his op. 71 and op. 74. He wrote them for the impresario who originally invited him to England, Johann Peter Salomon, who was also first violinist of a string quartet. Evidently Salomon was an outstanding performer, regularly playing under Haydn’s baton in London, and Haydn even wrote the cadenza in his 96th symphony for the violinist. Although Haydn dedicated the quartets to Count Anton Apponyi (which is why they are oDen called the Apponyi quartets), it is clear from the op. 71, no. 2 quartet you’ll hear today that Haydn was thinking about a public concert hall instead of the in;mate Esterháza rooms or Viennese salons where Apponyi would have heard them. The quartet opens like one of Haydn’s London symphonies with a slow introduc;on to set the stage before a series of octave leaps in all the instruments opens the faster main part of the movement. It is as though Haydn wanted to grab the a9en;on of a large group of people and then hold them with one of his most delighVul and charming movements. The second movement Adagio is among the most lyrical of Haydn’s quartet slow movements and surely shows his faith in Salomon’s violin playing. The movement is essen;ally an aria for violin, so listen as you would to a great vocalist, focusing on the emo;onal shiDs of harmony in the lower strings that pulse under the floa;ng violin part, adding a breathless quality to the music. Haydn follows the second movement’s beauty with the shortest, lightest, and most humorous of the movements, a dancing minuet. Here Haydn returns to the octave leaps of the opening movement, but they have a mischievous cast to them as they reach their giddy heights only to fall off, as though they cannot quite maintain the heights to which Haydn takes them. The quartet’s finale abandons Haydn’s symphonic formula, which usually relies on an exuberant character in rondo or sonata-allegro form to provide a weighty end to a monumental work. Here Haydn writes in a simple, song-like ternary form that almost func;ons like a series of varia;ons on the opening melody. In the final minute, almost as if remembering he owes the audience a clear signal that the quartet is ending, Haydn speeds up the musical lines with a series of runs that begin in the violin and quickly pick up all the instruments for a unison run to the end. It is a spectacular ending for one of Haydn’s most open-hearted and accessible quartets. Arnold Bax, “Elegaic” Trio Perhaps, like me, you remember The Troubles, that decades-long conflict between Northern Ireland (which is part of the United Kingdom) and the Republic of Ireland. Reading about The Troubles in 1980s newspapers was my first exposure to modern Irish history and where I first learned about the event Arnold Bax memorialized in his Elegaic Trio. Arnold Bax was a Londoner by birth but an Hibernophile by inclina;on. In 1902, Bax, a student at the Royal Academy of Music, read William Butler Yeats’s The Wanderings of Oisín and, as he related in his autobiography, “in a moment the Celt within me stood revealed.” He began learning Gaelic, befriended many of the Irish ar;s;c and literary luminaries of his day, and even moved to Ireland permanently upon his re;rement. So, when a group of Irish revolu;onaries seized Dublin and declared an Irish Republic on Easter Monday in 1916, Bax’s sympathies were with them. Unfortunately, the Bri;sh government did not feel the same and sent thousands of soldiers along with ar;llery to Dublin to put down the rebellion, which they did in just six days. Over 2,600 people were wounded during the figh;ng, over 1,800 jailed, and all the leaders executed. Among the casual;es were several of Bax’s friends, including Patrick Pearse, one of the Irish leaders executed by the Bri;sh government. In response, Bax poured out his grief in this Elegaic Trio. In composing the Elegaic Trio, Bax followed the lead of the memorial works then appearing during WWI that represented shared grief but also consoled the living. In order to give his piece an Irish flavor, Bax decided to use the harp. He adored the Irish harp and so a9empted to mimic its sound in this work. He then wrote the trio in one movement with two sec;ons. The first, faster sec;on features the harp in arpeggiated accompaniment to the long, ethereal melodic lines in the flute and viola. Some of the harmonies in this first sec;on are reminiscent of Debussy’s harmonic colors in that they seem to float and move 15 according to beauty rather than prescribed harmonic func;on. The second sec;on is slower, and the harp takes a much more ac;ve role. The flute moves into the background and decorates the melody while the harp and viola present an intertwined duet. At the end, Bax gives the harp the final word as the flute and viola hold high notes that seem to hover above the harp’s ascending melody. By that point, you can not only hear Bax’s sorrow but also his hope for an Irish Republic, one ul;mately realized in 1921. Andre Jolivet, “Pastorales de Noël” Andre Jolivet is an intriguing character in the history of early 20th century France. An early reviewer of his music from 1949 called him the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of contemporary music, producing at one moment atonal music that was spiker than almost anything else produced in that day and in the next moment, producing sweet melodies and harmonies that were embraced by musicians the world over. Perhaps the only logical comparison to make in regards to Jolivet is with his friend and fellow compatriot in the so-called “La Jeune France,” Olivier Messiaen. These two, along with Yves Baudrier and DanielLesur, proclaimed their inten;ons for music by wri;ng that “As life becomes increasingly strenuous, mechanis;c and impersonal, music must seek always to give spiritual excitement to those who love it … La Jeune France intends to promote the performance of works which are youthful and free, standing apart from academic or revolu;onary clichés. The tendencies of the group are diverse; their common aim is simply to encourage the values of sincerity, generosity and ar;s;c awareness; its goal is to create and foster a living music.” This desire to create a living music based in spiritual values can easily be heard in the Pastorales de Noël of 1943. This set of Pastorales looks before the current troubles of World War II to a younger ;me, to the Baroque tradi;on. In this delighVul set, you’ll hear the Dr. Jekyll side of Jolivet, easy on the ears with os;natos and flowing contrapuntal lines among the harp, flute, and viola. This is a music that is youthful and free in many ways, a music without pretense or ar;fice. Bryce Dessner, “Murder Ballades” As noted last week with Gernot Wolfgang, the genera;on of composers who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s are conspicuously unimpressed by genre boundaries. They freely mix and mingle musical styles in their composi;ons and are oDen equally at home in the classical and the popular world. Consider Bryce Dessner. In his teens, he picked up classical guitar while also star;ng a rock band with his twin brother, Aaron. He’s related that people on both sides of the genre divide told him he couldn’t work in both the classical and rock worlds. “My intui;on told me they were wrong,” he said. “Someday that diversity of experience would be more enriching or rewarding than just going down one path.” It certainly has been. In the rock world, Dessner is known as songwriter and guitarist for The Na;onal, a band founded by his brother and inspired by acts from Leonard Cohen to Depeche Mode to Wilco. In the classical world, Dessner has collaborated with Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Caroline Shaw and directs MusicNOW, a new music fes;val based in Cincinna;, Ohio. And he regularly mingles the two areas in his mul;media work, such as the collabora;ve score he wrote for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto. Murder Ballades is the perfect work to end our four-week explora;on of short stories and novele9es as it explicitly grows out of a story-telling tradi;on. Murder ballads began in 17th century Scandinavia and the Bri;sh Isles both in the oral tradi;on and as printed broadsides and purported to tell the story of grisly crimes and the swiD jus;ce that oDen accompanied them. Some;mes told from the point of view of the murderer, these tales came to the United States with the waves of emigrants from Northern Europe and se9led into the folk culture here. Ballads like “Tom Dooley” or “Two Sisters” are regularly sung and recorded by contemporary musicians, and new ballads are s;ll wri9en, such as “The Hanging Tree,” which appeared in The Hunger Games series of young adult novels and was set to music for the film versions. Dessner mixed older and newer murder ballads in his seven-song collec;on Murder Ballades. Several of the melodies might be known to you – “Omie Wise” is an American ballad Bob Dylan regularly performed in concert in the 1960s, “Young Emily” is a Bri;sh ballad also known as “Young Edwin” and “Diver Boy,” and Woody Guthrie used the melody of “Pre9y Polly” for his song “Pastures of Plenty.” In these movements, Dessner uses the original tune and even some of the sounds familiar to it in other incarna;ons, such as the banjo picking pa9erns in the piano and percussion for “Omie Wise.” “Brushy Fork” sits halfway between the pure recrea;on of these tunes and the new melodies Dessner composed. “Brushy Fork” is a Civil-War era fiddle tune and as such exists in so many versions that declaring one defini;ve is difficult. Instead, Dessner recreates the shiDing meters and driving rhythms that make up all recorded versions of the tune and has the instruments even play as though they were an old-;me string band. The remaining songs are new melodies based on the stories of the old murder ballads. “Wave the Sea” is perhaps inspired by “Wave the Ocean,” a folk recording Alan Lomax made during his 1960 16 “Southern Journey.” It is the most fran;c of the set, featuring stu9ering instruments under a pulsing flute line that seem aghast at the violence around them even while contribu;ng to its culture. “Tears for Sister Polly” closes the set with a minimalis;c motor rhythm that owes much to Philip Glass’s addi;ve style. It churns along, taking apart the melody from “Pre9y Polly” to build to a raucous ending that, like the ballads that inspired it, leaves the audience with as many ques;ons as answers. MUSICIAN BIOS Tod Bowermaster, horn Tod Bowermaster, a na;ve of O9awa, Illinois, is Third Horn of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, a posi;on he has held since 1995. Noted for his “gorgeous solo playing” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) and his “golden-honey tone” (Kansas City Star), he released “The Horn in Song,” a collec;on of lyrical music for horn and piano, in 2012. He served as Ac;ng Principal Horn of the St. Louis Symphony for the 2002-2003 season and has appeared as a soloist with the orchestra on numerous occasions. He has also performed as a soloist with the Honolulu Symphony, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, and numerous orchestras throughout the Midwest. Prior to his appointment with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, he was a member of the Honolulu Symphony and the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra. He has also performed and toured with the orchestras of Chicago, Houston, Pi9sburgh, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Winner of the 1999 American Horn Compe;;on and the 1982 Coleman Chamber Ensemble Compe;;on, he con;nues to enjoy performing in both solo and chamber music seFngs. Dr. Jane Carl, clarinet Jane Carl, Professor of Clarinet at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, received her degrees from the University of Michigan. She has been a member of the South Bend Symphony, the Flint Symphony, and the Michigan Opera Theater Orchestra in Detroit, and performed with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. She performs regularly with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, as ac;ng assistant principal clarinet from 19992003. She can oDen be heard performing with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra and the Kansas City Symphony. She was the ar;s;c chair of ClarinetFest 2008, the annual conference of the Interna;onal Clarinet Associa;on, held in Kansas City. Dr. Carl performed at the 2007 China Interna;onal Clarinet and Saxophone Fes;val in Beijing, and the 2009 ClarinetFest in Porto Portugal. In the fall of 2009, she became the Chair of UMKC’s Instrumental Studies Division. She has performed with Summerfest for over two decades and is a member of the Ar;s;c Commi9ee which selects music heard at Summerfest concerts. Mr. Bowermaster has been a regular par;cipant in numerous chamber music fes;vals na;onwide, including the Kapalua Music Fes;val on Maui, the Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine, Summerfest in Kansas City, the Innsbruck Fes;val outside of St. Louis, Strings in the Mountains in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and the Landmarks Society Chamber Concerts on the island of St. Croix. He is also in great demand as a teacher, having been invited to give recitals and masterclasses at many of the top American music schools. Recent teaching engagements have included being a guest professor with the horn class at Northwestern University and with the horn students at the Indiana University Summer Music Fes;val, as well as the FEMUSC fes;val in Brazil. When not playing the horn, he enjoys playing tennis, singing, and spending ;me with his two teenage children. Maria Crosby, cello Maria Crosby received her undergraduate degree in cello performance from Depaul University in Chicago where she studied with Stephen Balderston and Tanya Carey. She went on to earn a master's degree from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, under the tutelage of Peter Stumpf. Maria joined the Kansas City Symphony in 2012. In addi;on to full-;me orchestral playing, she is also an ac;ve chamber musician. She has performed on stages across the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Lithuania, Armenia, Greece, Russia, Japan, and Brazil, and has par;cipated in a variety of orchestral and chamber music fes;vals, including the Aegean Verdi Fes;val, the Schleswig Holstein Musik Fes;val, the Pacific Music Fes;val, the Banff Chamber Music Residency, the Recontres francoaméricaines de Musique de Chambre and the Pine Mountain Music Fes;val. Maria first performed with Summerfest in 2014. Anne-Marie Brown, violin Anne-Marie Brown, a member of the Kansas City Symphony since 2001, performs extensively as soloist and chamber musician throughout the Kansas City area. The Kansas City Star has described her performances as displaying "splendid virtuosity, with a rich impressive tone" and KCMetropolis has said her "playing was stellar, with lyricism and technique to spare." The Miami Herald has noted her work's "silky, suave tone and unaffected beauty." In recent seasons, she has been a frequent soloist with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, a guest musician with Summerfest, and a member of the newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, recording a work for piano trio on the Navona label in 2012. In addi;on, she serves on the faculty of the Heartland Chamber Music Fes;val. Previously, she was a member of the New World Symphony, where she appeared as both concertmaster and soloist. She holds degrees from Northwestern University and Manha9an School of Music. Tony DeMarco, violin Tony DeMarco has been a member of the Kansas City Symphony for 14 seasons. His previous professional experience includes Assistant Concertmaster of both the Virginia and North Carolina Symphonies, subs;tute for the Pi9sburgh Symphony, and a member of the Pi9sburgh Opera and Ballet Orchestra. He was raised in the South Hills of Pi9sburgh then enrolled at Carnegie- Mellon University at age 16, then transferred to Oberlin Conservatory where he earned an ar;st’s diploma. Having chosen his career path at age 9, Tony credits the violin, his mother Bonnie, and his teacher Albert Hirtz of the Pi9sburgh Symphony for the opportunity to travel to Asia, Europe, and all around the United States, making las;ng friends and playing great music. Best among those friends is his wonderful wife, Jeannine Elashewich. Together with sons Albert and Roman, they now reside in a “Li9le House in Prairie Village.” Alexander (Alex) East, cello Alexander East is the Assistant Principal Cellist of the Kansas City Symphony. In addi;on to du;es with the Symphony, which oDen include leading the sec;on as principal for opera, ballet, and chamber orchestra performances, he is also heard frequently in recitals and chamber music concerts throughout the Kansas City region and with the Sun Valley (ID) Summer Symphony every year since 1992. Before se9ling in Kansas City, East spent two seasons as a member of the New World Symphony under the direc;on of conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. He received his training at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of music. His teachers have included Tsuyushi, Tsutsumi, Janos Sarker, Laurence Lesser, and Colin Carr. He has performed with Summerfest since 2001 and serves on the Ar;s;c Commi9ee which selects the music heard in Summerfest Concerts. Nina Ferrigno, piano Nina Ferrigno, described by the St. Louis Post Dispatch as "a magnificent pianist," is a collabora;ve ar;st at home in a mul;tude of diverse musical seFngs. Her playing is said to be, “...always precise with superb accentua;on and warmth of feeling...”. Nina is a founding member of the Boston-based Calyx Piano Trio which excites audiences throughout the United States with expressive ensemble playing and brilliant virtuosity. She has been a featured soloist with with such ensembles as the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP). Recent orchestral keyboard appearances include those with the Chicago Symphony and St. Louis Symphony. Her fes;val appearances include, most recently, those at Tanglewood with members of the Boston Symphony, Banff, Norfolk, and the Skaneateles Fes;val. She also appears regular at the Carolina Chamber Music Fes;val and Missouri Chamber Music Fes;val where the Calyx Piano Trio holds residencies. Ms. Ferrigno is a graduate of New England Conservatory of Music, where she received degrees with dis;nc;on. She is especially commi9ed to bringing classical music to new audiences and expanding the repertoire by working with organiza;ons including Chamber Music America and the Barlow Founda;on to commission and perform new works in a variety of seFngs. The New Music Connoisseur has said of her, “pianist Nina Ferrigno [brings] out the inherent horizontal logic...all the while impar;ng sonic beauty from end to end.” Nina is a Founder and Director of the Missouri Chamber Music Fes;val, now in its 9th Season, in St. Louis. She is on the teaching faculty of Washington University and Webster University in St. Louis. Shannon Finney, flute Shannon Finney is Associate Principal Flu;st for the Kansas City Symphony. She has performed with Summerfest since 1996 and is a former Ar;s;c Advisor. Her summer work extends to Door County, WI, where performs with and is on the faculty at Birch Creek Music Center. She was a past winner of the Na;onal Flute Associa;on Piccolo Ar;st Compe;;on and has been a fellow at Tanglewood. Finney has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and the Chicago Sinfonie9a. Her teachers include Walfrid Kujala, Mary Stolper, and Karla Flygare, and her degrees are from Northwestern University. Finney enjoys the culinary arts, traveling, and many outdoor ac;vi;es. An adventurer at heart, Finney spent a month in Nepal in 2014, including two weeks trekking in the Himalayas and reaching Annapurna Base Camp. In 2017 she enjoyed whitewater raDing with her dad down the en;re length of the Grand Canyon. Michael Gordon, flute Michael Gordon serves as the Principal Flu;st of the Kansas City Symphony. Prior to joining the Kansas City Symphony, he was a member of the New World Symphony, where he performed as a soloist in 2007. Gordon has performed with several orchestras across the United States, including the St. Louis Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra. In 2004, he earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees from Rice University. His teachers include Leone Buyse and Marianne Gedigian. Gordon serves on the Ar;s;c Commi9ee which selects the music heard in Summerfest Concerts. Joshua (Josh) Hood, bassoon Joshua Hood, bassoonist, received his bachelor of music degree from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Lewis Hugh Cooper. He completed his master's degree at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University with Benjamin Kamins, former Principal Bassoonist of the Houston Symphony. Hood has performed with a number of orchestras including the Kansas City Symphony, Houston Symphony, and the North Carolina Symphony. He joined the Charlo9e Repertory Symphony to outstanding reviews. He has also performed with several fes;vals including the Pacific Music Fes;val in Japan, May Music Fes;val in Charlo9e, NC, Gateways Music Fes;val in Rochester, NY, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA, and with the Ritz Chamber Players on the Amelia Island Music Fes;val in Florida. He has performed with Summerfest since 1998. Celeste Johnson, oboe Celeste Johnson joined the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance faculty in August of 2016 as Associate Professor of oboe. Celeste held the same ;tle at Oklahoma State University where she taught from 2004- 2016. A current member of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Celeste con;nues to enjoy a varied teaching and performing career. As a performer, Celeste has appeared with numerous orchestras, music fes;vals and compe;;ons around the globe. She has performed in Switzerland, Colombia, the Isle of Man, Canada and as guest principal oboist with the Russian String Orchestra. Ms. Johnson has performed as principal oboe of the New York String Orchestra, and has received fellowships to a9end the Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Fes;val, Kent-Blossom Music Fes;val, Banff Centre, Sarasota Music Fes;val and the Lucerne Fes;val Academy. She has held addi;onal orchestral posi;ons with the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra and Champaign Urbana Symphony. Celeste has also won prizes in the Gillet-Fox Interna;onal Oboe Compe;;on, Barbirolli Interna;onal Oboe Compe;;on and Barne9 Founda;on Compe;;on. Ms. Johnson has held addi;onal teaching posi;ons at the Bay View Music Fes;val, OperaMaya, Filarmonica Joven de Colombia, Roberts Wesleyan College and the University of Kansas. She was awarded the First Lady of OSU Outstanding Music Faculty award in 2011, and the OSU Junior Faculty Award in 2007. A past-president of the Midwest Double Reed Society, Celeste remains ac;ve within a number of double reed organiza;ons, including the Interna;onal Double Reed Society and Texas Double Reed Society. Celeste Johnson holds a Master of Music in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music as a student of Richard Killmer, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Oboe Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a student of Nancy Ambrose King and Dan Stolper. Charles Metz, harpsichord Charles Metz studied piano at Penn State University, beginning his harpsichord studies through private lessons with the legendary Igor Kipnis. In the process of earning a Ph.D. in Historical Performance Prac;ce at Washington University in Saint Louis Missouri, he studied with Trevor Pinnock. More recently, Charles has worked with Webb Wiggins and Lisa Crawford at the Oberlin Conservatory. Charles has performed across the country with concerts in Chicago IL, Saratoga NY, Bennington VT, Louisville, KY and Liberty Mo in their Baroque music JEMS Fest. He has performed solo recitals at the Smithsonian Ins;tu;on in Washington D.C., Oberlin Conservatory and appeared as guest ar;st in Kansas City for the KC Symphony’s summer program “Summerfest”. With the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, he was the featured keyboard soloist in Bach’s FiDh Brandenburg Concerto under conductor Nicholas McGegan. He has appeared with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Ars An;gua Chicago and the Newberry Consort of Chicago. Recently he has played with the Desert Baroque in Palm Desert California and did performances including master classes at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Penn State University in State College PA. As an early keyboard specialist he is currently performing on his historic Italian virginal, harpsichords and fortepianos. Dr. Metz’s list of performance credits includes interna;onal appearances in the Netherlands, Germany and Costa Rica. Dr. Metz also obtained a doctorate in Optometry and worked for twenty years in his own private prac;ce and Clarkson Eyecare in St. Louis before re;ring. In addi;on to his performing ac;vity, he serves on the Board of Directors of Chamber Music Society of St. Louis and The Newberry Consort. Melissa Peña, oboe Melissa Peña currently serves as Associate Professor of Oboe at the University of Oregon. Prior to joining the Oregon faculty, Peña held the posi;ons of Associate Principal Oboe/English Horn with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra (2002-2011), 2nd Oboe with the Sarasota Orchestra (2001-2002), and Assistant Professor of Oboe at the University of Northern Colorado (2010-2012). An ac;ve orchestral musician, Peña has recently performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Astoria Music Fes;val, and con;nues to hold the posi;on of Associate Principal Oboe/Engish Horn with the New Mexico Philharmonic. Addi;onally, Peña has appeared with the Sea9le Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, Oregon Bach Fes;val, Kansas City Symphony, Opera Colorado, Jacksonville Symphony, and the Florida Orchestra among others. As a chamber musician, Peña is a member of the Oregon Wind Quintet and is a core member/performer of Chaer - an innova;ve, weekly chamber music and spoken word series in Albuquerque, NM. Peña has performed with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Fes;val, Music from Angel Fire with Ida Kavafian, and Kansas City’s Summerfest. She has appeared as a concerto soloist with the New Mexico Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, and the Southwest Florida Symphony. An enthusias;c performer of contemporary music, Peña can be heard performing with Molly Barth and Jeffrey Ziegler on David Lang’s thorn (Cantaloupe Music 2017) and contributed performances to the albums: David Crumb: Red Desert (Bridge Records 2015), and New Millennium Music for Horn (Quadre Records 2014). Peña holds degrees from the University of Missouri – Kansas City and the University of Illinois studying with Barbara Bishop and Nancy Ambrose King. Melissa Rose, piano Pianist Melissa Rose has a 30-year career partnering with instrumentalists and singers in concerts throughout the United States and at venues in Argen;na, Malta, Santorini, and Russia. She regularly collaborates with ALIAS Chamber Ensemble, the Nashville Ballet, in chamber music and song recitals, and as an official pianist for na;onal and interna;onal music compe;;ons and conferences. Melissa’s chamber music recordings are on the Naxos, Centaur, Blue Griffin, Good Child Music, and Delos labels. She is Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Piano at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, where she teaches collabora;ve piano and coaches chamber music. Melissa enjoys living in Nashville, TN, with her husband, Dan Schafer, and their adopted miniature schnauzers, Oscar and Ranger. She is delighted to return to Kansas City for her 24th season with Summerfest. Richard Ryan, bass Richard Ryan, an Arizona na;ve, has been a Kansas City Symphony member for four seasons. Before his tenure in Kansas City, he was Assistant Principal bass of the Louisville Orchestra. A graduate of Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Richard has par;cipated in music fes;vals such as Aspen and Artosphere, and has conducted the Louisville Youth Orchestra and Kling Chamber Orchestra. Chihiro Shibayama, percussion A Na;ve of Yokohama City, Japan, Chihiro Shibayama is a New York City-based freelance percussionist. She has played percussion on a successful run of a Broadway musical, Miss Saigon and her Broadway debut was as one of three on-stage musicians for a new adapta;on of The Cherry Orchard starring Diane Lane. She has also performed for the renowned Radio City Christmas Spectacular, ABC's Good Morning America with John Legend and Common, The Metropolitan Opera, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Kansas City Symphony. She has been on the percussion faculty of the DillerQuaile School of Music since 2013. ADer gradua;ng from Interlochen Arts Academy with a performance award, Ms. Shibayama earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School. She is a Pearl/ Adams concert ar;st. Ms. Shibayama’s hobbies include rock climbing and cooking. Ma:hew Sinno, viola Massachuse9s na;ve Ma9hew Sinno was appointed Associate Principal Viola of the Kansas City Symphony in 2018. He has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Winner of the 2014 Juilliard Concerto Compe;;on, Ma9hew performed Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher in Alice Tully Hall with the Juilliard Orchestra. In 2019, He appeared as soloist with the Kansas City Symphony, playing an arrangement of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” featuring solo viola as the voice of Freddy Mercury. Ma9hew has a9ended several summer fes;vals such as Perlman Music Program and Music Academy of the West. He also performs at Chestnut Hill Concerts in Connec;cut. Ma9hew holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Cur;s Ins;tute of Music. His primary teachers include Cynthia Phelps, Heidi Castleman, Roberto Diaz, Toby Appel, Ed Gazouleas and David Rubinstein. Tabitha Reist Steiner, harp Tabitha Reist Steiner began her musical studies at age four in piano and at age eight in harp. An ac;ve freelancer throughout the Midwest, her playing was lauded as “…some of the most precise and beau;fully inflected harp playing….” by the Kansas City Star. Steiner is principal harpist with the Topeka Symphony Orchestra and a regular extra with the Kansas City Symphony and the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra. In the past, she has held principal harp posi;ons with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Tulsa Opera Orchestra and the Washington, D.C. Summer Opera Orchestra. During the summer, she is found on stage with the Summerfest Chamber Music Fes;val. Steiner earned a master of music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor of music degree from Washburn University. She lives in Overland Park, KS with her husband, Michael, and their two small children. Jesse Yukimura, viola Violist Jesse Keone Yukimura joined the Kansas City Symphony in 2018. Originally from Washington State, Jesse discovered the joys of ensemble music at a young age, in both large and small ensembles. Jesse received a Bachelor of Music degree in Viola Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Peter Slowik, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Oberlin College. He then studied with Ralph Fielding at the Lynn Conservatory of Music, where he earned a Master of Music degree and a Professional Performance Cer;ficate. Before moving to Kansas City, Jesse was a viola fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, an orchestral academy founded by ar;s;c director Michael Tilson Thomas. Outside of music, Jesse maintains a variety of interests, from birdwatching to chess. Daniel (Dan) Velicer, piano An ac;ve performer and teacher, Dan Velicer appears regularly with the Kansas City Symphony, Trio Fedele, and the Lyric Arts Trio. He is a frequent collaborator with members of the Kansas City Symphony and the UMKC Conservatory faculty. Velicer also helps university and high school students prepare for recitals and compe;;ons. Summerfest Annotator Andrew Granade: Andrew Granade is an Assistant Professor and Area Coordinator for Musicology at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. His research and teaching focus on the recep;on and percep;on of modern music in a variety of forms and genres. He is comple;ng a book exploring the impact of the hobo persona on Harry Partch’s life, work, and recep;on, as well as the issues of exo;cism that arise from it. The interest in exo;cism carries over into his other areas of interest, especially the shape-note singing tradi;on of the rural American South and the interplay between Chinese and American music in the 20th century. Prior to arriving in Kansas City, he was an Opera Coach Fellow at the Aspen Music Fes;val and the head staff pianist at the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music. Along with his wife, Kris;, Velicer is on the faculty of the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory where he coaches chamber music, leads master classes, and performs with faculty. He received his bachelor of arts degree from Cornell University, majoring in both anthropology and music. He received his master of music degree from Rice University. Krisn (Kris) Velicer, violin Kris;n Velicer is the Assistant Principal Second Violinist with the Kansas City Symphony. Velicer has performed and toured interna;onally with numerous major orchestras including the Houston Symphony, the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, and the Minnesota Orchestra. She has appeared on Na;onal Public Radio as a featured soloist and chamber musician on Performance Today and Houston in Concerts.Velicer was an invited performer in the Carnegie Hall tribute to Alexander Schneider, founder of the New York String Orchestra Seminar. Velicer holds a bachelor's degree in violin performance at Overlin College Conservatory of Music where she studied with Kathleen Winkler. While at Overlin, she received the pres;gious Conservatory Dean’s Talent Award. Velicer later received a master’s degree from Rice University-Shepherd School of Music studying with Raphael Fliegel and Kathleen Winkler. Velicer serves, along with her husband Dan, on the faculty of the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory in Steamboat Springs, CO. DONORS Summerfest’s 29th season was made possible with generous support from the following: Foundaon Support: $5,000-9,999 Missouri Arts Council Muriel McBrien Kauffman Founda,on Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund Richard J. Stern Founda,on for the Arts William T. Kemper Founda,on $1,000 –4,999 Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City Francis Family Founda,on Martha Lee Cain Tranby Music Enrichment Fund Individual Contributors: Benefactors ($2,500-4,999) Charles and Virginia Clark Stephen J. Clegg, Jr. & Karen Kohler Clegg Don and Patricia Dagenais Barbara and Burt Smoliar Patrons ($1,000-2,499) Leonard & Irene BeMnger Philanthropic Fund for the Jewish Community Founda,on of Greater KC Dr. Linda Fleet Chapman Robert and Charloe Herman Yvonne Jameson Terry Pritche and Don Shanks Dr. Mary Redmon Sponsors ($500-999) Jason Bryles Dr. and Mrs. Robert Coleman Una Creditor William and Barbara Gaeddert Joan Horan Sharon Lundy Evan Luskin and Andrea Kempf Elizabeth Schellhorn Dr. Mary Zimmerman Donors ($250-499) Joe Archias Deborah A. Borek and David Wiseman Bill and Rebecca Crain Mareta Smith Brogan Sullivan Greg Thurman and Don White Friends ($25-249) Eugene Beck Mary Beveridge Bruce and Linda Bradley Robert Brownrigg James Calvert Carolyn Cameron Jane Carl Cereal Ingredients, Inc.: In Memory of Glenn Spillman Carol Chatelain Patricia Cleary Miller William Cutler and Elisabeth Suter Randy Duty James East Julie Elfving Sara Engber Carol Fields and Charles Downing Martha Field Gould and Nancy Garcia Mary Grant Klaus and Claudia Grunewald Roger and Susan Hawk Debbie Hunsberger Beth Ingram Margaret Jackson Paul Jordan John Kinsey and Mar, Moore Karen Kistner Jon Kowing William Krusemark Larry & Pat Kuhlman Nancy Larner James Ludlow Miller Family Richard Mathis Stephanie Miller Daisy and Walter Muff George and Suzy Pagels Nancy Panzer-Howell Kathy Peters Dan E. Prindle Kathryn B. Pruessner Dale E. Ramsey Mort and Zelda Reeber Patricia Regan Elaine Rhodes Drs. William and Chris,ne Rinck Alvin Schneider Nancy Schurle George and Terry Smith Sue Strickler Darrel and Linda Thomssen Cory Unrein Barbara Weary Ted and Rose Wilch John Wilkinson Anita Wright Dona,ons reflect giving from June 1, 2018—June 15, 2019. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Board of Directors Dr. Mary Redmon, President Charlo9e Herman, Vice President Stephanie Miller, Treasurer Don Dagenais, Secretary A Sincere Thank You The Summerfest board and staff would like to recognize the following for their generous and invaluable contribu,ons: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Deacon Gerry Shaon Jason Bryles Una Creditor Robert Herman Brogan Sullivan Program Notes Andrew Granade Arsc Advisors Jane Carl Alexander East Michael Gordon Central Ticket Office Amanda Schuster Ex-Officio Cory Unrein, Administra;ve Coordinator Stage Manager Brandon Crawford Librarian Elena Lence Talley Housing Una Creditor Don and Pat Dagenais Shannon Finney Mike Sigler Rita Spillman Tom Sullivan and Helen Lindquist Recepons Duwan Hardge, Sauce Op;onal Photography Andrew Schwartz, Veritography St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Keyboards John Yeradi UMKC Keyboards Kent Swafford Harpsichord Father Paul Turner Summerfest Concerts 29th Season Concert Program July 2019 www.summerfestkc.org

It will take a long time-probably decades-to repair the damage, which the mendacious machinations used to ensconce the current coalition, have wrought, not only on the fabric of Israel’s body-politic, but on the very essence of the Zionist endeavor itself…if such repair is at all feasible. Ever! Whoever commits a fraud is guilty not only of the injury to him who he deceives, but of the diminution of that confidence which constitutes…the existence of society – Samuel Johnson, renowned English poet, playwright, essayist, (1709-1784). Bennett knows that if he goes to a military conflict, the coalition will fall apart because Meretz and Ra’am won’t agree to it. The presence of Meretz and Ra’am limits the sharpness of any military decision…The moment the government makes a decision about something military, there will be a danger to the coalition – Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie-Zoabi, cited in The Jerusalem Post, August 8, 2021. The political process taking place in Israel is eerily similar to what took place in Lebanon following the foundation of Hezbollah – Mordechai Kedar, The Lebanonization of Israel, March 31, 2021. In it, he warned that the petty, vindictive personal and partisan agendas of Israeli politicians have brought the Jewish state to the brink of disaster. He writes: “The political struggle in Israel has reached a deadlock because the actors are focused not on issues and ideology but on personal, sectorial, factional, and party-based considerations. National interests have been relegated to the margins of political discourse…” Kedar, an acknowledged expert in the study of Islam, with years of experience in both academia and military intelligence, made a cogent case for his caveat that by letting the Muslim Brotherhood affiliate, the Islamist Ra’am faction, into its mainstream body-politic, Israel was setting out along the same perilous path that Lebanon took when it allowed the Iranian-affiliated Hezbollah into its mainstream politics. He ascribes the roots of the Lebanese tragedy to “…the choice by politicians…to subordinate the national interest to personal and sectorial interests. They sacrificed the country on the altar of their own careers by delegitimizing opponents… “ Sadly, I find myself compelled to concur in large measure with Kedar’s ominous prognosis. For, similar patterns of behavior are emerging in Israel. Indeed, as time passes, the abysmal truth in coming into ever sharper focus. The entity that governs Israel today is nothing more than a toxic brew of unbridled personal ambition and ideological nihilism; puerile pique and devious duplicity. Nothing more. It is by its very nature, wracked by impossible internal contradictions—incapable of generating any common vision, towards which it can guide the nation. Shattering all credence in campaign promises The newly formed, hodgepodge, Bibi-phobic governing coalition, ostensibly led by Naftali Bennett, has been in power for a little more than five months. Yet, it will take a long time—probably decades—to repair the appalling damage it has already wrought on the fabric of the body-politic of the country, and on the essence of the Zionist endeavor itself—if such repair is even feasible. Ever! Regrettably, it would be no exaggeration to state that the current coalition has shattered any credence that the Israeli public can place in campaign promises of candidates during elections. Significantly, this goes way beyond any healthy skepticism with which voters should treat the usual gamut of pre-election pledges, routinely peddled by candidates, to implement various aspects of their respective party platforms, and on which —due to political constraints—they eventually proved unable to fulfill. For in the case of Naftali Bennett’s accession to the post of prime minister, the deceit and the duplicity far exceed the regular shenanigans that have come to characterize the conduct of politics in recent decades. After all, it was not that Bennett, once ensconced in a post-election government, ultimately failed to advance his platform as he pledged to do during the 2021-election campaign. Rather, it was that he reneged on explicit commitments that he repeatedly and resolutely undertook, joining up with his ideological adversaries, whom he vowed to shun, in order to establish—indeed, spearhead—a government he vowed to foil. Thus, it was not that he failed to fulfill promises ex-post (i.e. once in government). Rather, it was that he discarded promises ex-ante – i.e. in order to facilitate a government, in which the overwhelming majority of the component factions had very different (some, even antithetical) ideo-political positions to those, on which he ran during the elections. Fake, fabricated & fraudulent Indeed, so fundamental was this deception that it involved Bennet jettisoning—or at least, suspending—virtually his entire ideological frame of reference, and whose advancement was the very thing for which he elicited voter-support in the election, so that he could participate in precisely the government he vowed not to. Thus, in a pre-election press release (March 6, 2021), Bennett’s Yamina faction pledged: Yamina will not be complicit in forming a government dependent on Ra’am- not with its support; not with its abstention, and not in any way.” Elsewhere, Bennett himself vowed: “ I won’t let Lapid become prime minister, with or without a rotation, because I’m a man of the right and for me values are important.” Just to eliminate any possible doubt, he reiterated: “Never, and under no circumstances, will I ever lend a hand to the establishment of a government led by Yair Lapid, not in a rotation or any other way”. Likewise, mere days before the March 23 elections, during a prime-time television interview, Bennett, expressing his alleged sensitivity for the democratic process, proclaimed, unequivocally: “I won’t be a prime minister with 10 mandates. That’s not democratic”. Of course, Bennett showed little compunction or conscience in extorting the post of prime minister with barely half that number—unless of course he is so arithmetically challenged that he genuinely believes that 6 is significantly more than 10… Unsurprisingly then, a poll conducted shortly after the elections, found that over half of Yamina voters would not have voted for the party if they knew that Bennett would act in the way he acted—which would have left it below the minimum threshold for Knesset admission! Moreover, the poll found that a majority of Yamina voters felt that the deal Bennett spun, together with Lapid, constitutes a violation of the trust given him at the ballot box. Nor has Bennett’s performance since then—or that of his coalition—instilled greater public confidence in either. According to a November 2021 poll, the combined right-wing elements in the present government (Bennett’s Yamina and Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope) comprise a mere 6 seats—less than half the number they won in the March elections—and barely 5% of the total number of seats in the Knesset. Even if we add the 4 seats, which the poll assigns Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beitenu, the overall number of seats won by coalition factions, usually considered to be “right-of-center”, amounts to 10—roughly half the Knesset seats they have at present. Significantly, very similar findings emerged from an earlier poll conducted in October, in which a Netanyahu-led Likud mustered mandates in the mid-30s, while the Bennett-Sa’ar-Liberman trio’s tally was once again a paltry total of 10. This shows a dramatic cratering of public support for the allegedly “right-of-center” parties, who preferred to shun their own long-standing pledges and throw their lot in with parties, whose political credos are antithetical to those they profess to hold—indeed, largely negate them. “There can be no allegiance to Israel…” Arguably, one of the most disconcerting elements of the Bennett-led coalition is that, it in effect, left the fate of a purportedly Zionist coalition totally dependent on the whims of a blatantly anti-Zionist party, openly committed to a doctrine of stripping Israel of its status as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Indeed, the 80-page Ra’am charter quickly dispels any doubt that may linger on this matter and how utterly discordant it is with the professed belief system of Yamina, and of the constituency it purports to represent. It asserts: “The State of Israel was born of the racist, occupying Zionist project; iniquitous Western and British imperialism; and the debasement and feebleness of the Arab and Islamic [nations]. We do not absolve ourselves, the Palestinian people, of our responsibility and our failure to confront this project.” In similar vein, it proclaims: “There can be no allegiance to [Israel], nor any identification with its Zionist, racist, occupier thought, nor any acceptance of any of the various forms of ‘Israelification,’ which would shed us of our identity and particularity and rights.” The Left-leaning Israel Democracy Institute gives the following synopsis of Ra’am’s political credo: “Ra’am supports the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, with an end of the occupation and dismantling of the settlements. It also seeks the release of Palestinian prisoners and the right of return of Palestinian refugees. The party advocates the recognition of Israeli Arabs as a national minority and seeks to ensure their rights in a constitution“. Mortgaging Zionism to anti-Zionists This, then, is a snapshot of the political faction to which Bennett has mortgaged the fate of the current government, charged with safeguarding and developing the Jewish state and the Zionist endeavor—which Abbas and his anti-Zionist cronies are committed to impeding and eliminating! Of course, in order to cobble together this bizarre—almost Kafkaesque—political potpourri, Bennett (and his co-conspirator, Yair Lapid) was compelled to confer far-reaching benefits on the anti-Zionist, Islamist co-participants to ensure their continued maintenance of a bizarre kaleidoscopic coalition. Accordingly, Ra’am secured an agreement for the allocation of more than 53 billion shekels ($16 billion) for development and to curb the soaring violent crime in the Arab sector—including a half a billion shekel slush fund for “discretionary” spending over five years. One can only imagine the uproar had it been a Jewish Ultra-Orthodox party that managed to extort such an inordinate sum to advance the needs of its constituents and to further its political objectives, in exchange for support of/participation in a coalition. But financial bonanzas were not the only benefits that Bennett’s newly found anti-Zionist BFFs were awarded. Indeed, the non-financial concessions to Ra’am are more directly detrimental to Zionist endeavor than the lavish funding of the anti-Zionists in the coalition. For, these clearly contribute to cementing the pervasive illegal Bedouin presence in the expanses of the Negev in southern Israel, a stronghold for Islamist support. Thus, the agreement provides for Israel (a) immediately recognizing three unauthorized Bedouin villages in the southern Negev desert; (b) extending the freeze already placed by the outgoing government on the demolition of illegal housing in the Arab community by three years (Clause 18), and (c) presenting within nine months a proposal to legalize all[!!] unlawful Bedouin villages (Clause 19). Devastating & durable damage The crucial point to grasp about the devastating damage wrought by Bennett and his fickle Bibiphobic cronies is that it will not be remedied by any later feats of governance. For not only have they empowered political adversaries, who they assured their voters they would not, they gravely—hopefully, not irreparably—impaired at least two seminal pillars of Israeli democracy. Firstly, they have sent an unambiguously clear signal that voters cannot give any credence to pre-election pledges, no matter how apparently passionate and resolute they appear, even when they involve the allegedly core ideology of a candidate. By perpetrating this, they have effectively emptied elections—and the entire democratic process—of any significance, have given the stamp of approval to unadulterated deceit and endorsed fraudulent duplicity. Secondly, they have legitimized political parties, which repudiate the founding principle upon which Israel was founded as the nation-state of the Jewish people and normalized their political agenda of de-Judaizing Israel. History has given the Jewish people the rare—arguably, unique—opportunity of re-establishing its national sovereignty after being stripped of it for two millennia. Bennett, and his crony cohorts, Sa’ar and Liberman, are on the cusp of squandering it. After all the effort and sacrifice invested in the re-emergence of a Jewish nation-state, it is difficult to conceive a greater tragedy.

Here’s a short little story about J Street – the supposedly “pro-Israel” advocacy group that supposedly supports Israel, even if their student group can’t bring itself to use the label “pro-Israel” in their self-description.Yesterday, the Russian Prime Minister was visiting with Mahmoud Abbas and declared that his country – which is a member of the Quartet, by the way – continues to adhere to their acceptance of the Palestinian state declared by Yasser Arafat in 1988. In case anybody hadn’t noticed, there is no Palestinian state despite that declaration and the fact that approximately 100 nations accepted the declaration of that state. In fact, just 5 years later the Palestinians would enter into negotiations with Israel for the Oslo Accords, in which they were to negotiate a deal with Israel, outcome unknown other than peace between the two sides on the basis of UNSC resolutions 242 and 338. Ha’aretz and Jerusalem Post both reported that while Medvedev, Russia’s PM, announced the re-support of the Palestinian statehood declaration, he did not specify whether he included eastern Jerusalem in the area under discussion. Today, meeting in Jordan with King Abdullah, Medvedev allayed any such confusion by specifying that “East Jerusalem” was to be the Palestinian capital. This is an important issue because the Temple Mount, the Western Wall and the Jewish Quarter are all inside eastern Jerusalem. In other words, the holiest sites for Jews as well as the heart of Jewish settlement in the ancient land of Israel, is in this area which he has announced shall belong to the Palestinians. To remind everybody who has forgotten, the Palestinian leadership at the PA just last month denied any Jewish connection to the Western Wall or Temple Mount, announced that not a single Israeli would remain in any Palestinian state and they have spoken of returning to the status quo of pre-1929 in Jerusalem at the Western Wall when Jews were restricted from praying at the wall while sitting, blowing their shofars or coming in large numbers. Russia wasn’t the first to announce support for this state. In the past several weeks, a number of Latin American countries including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile have also all announced recognition of a Palestinian state on “1967 Borders including East Jerusalem.” There were no borders in 1967, because the Arabs refused to accept borders in their armistice agreements with Israel back in 1949, but no matter, this is the language used by the international community today. Then, yesterday, the Palestinian delegation in Washington, DC, which is not an embassy because there is no state of Palestine, hoisted a Palestinian flag into the skies of the US capital. This, of course, to announce their intentions as other countries begin to recognize their non-existent state. The Palestinians are predicting that they will announce a state in August or September of this year and are busy convincing the international diplomatic community to support this announcement. Of course, the language they use is that of “1967 Borders including East Jerusalem.” Is so happens that US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is a strong supporter of Israel and when the Palestinian flag was placed outside their mission’s roof yesterday, she came out against it stating the the move was, “part of the Palestinian leadership’s scheme to manipulate international acceptance and diplomatic recognition” of their future state. The lawmaker charged that U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration was rewarding the Palestinians, whom she accused of refusing to negotiate with Israel while seeking “shortcuts to statehood.” “Governments worldwide will interpret such actions as tacit U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state. These actions send precisely the wrong message to foreign governments…” Of course, she is absolutely right. So what did J Street do today to support Israel as the Palestinians seek to steal away Judaism’s holiest sites from the state of the Jewish people? No, no, no, they didn’t blast the Obama administration or the Russian administration, just in case you were wondering. No. What J Street did was put out a press release attacking Ros-Lehtinen, The new Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen seems to see nothing wrong with taking large campaign contributions from Irving Moskowitz, a notorious funder of settlements in East Jerusalem’s Palestinian neighborhoods. Moskowitz actively works to derail the chances for a two-state solution by funding Jewish settler housing in the middle of Palestinian neighborhoods – and has been condemned by both Republican and Democratic US Administrations for undermining the prospects of peace. With the two-state solution hanging by a thread, what a terrible signal it sends for an American political leader to be so cozy with a far-right political funder whose actions undermine the foreign policy of the United States and makes a two-state solution harder to achieve. Let’s review that for a minute. They call it “East Jerusalem,” not eastern Jerusalem, as Israel and Israel’s High Court refer to the area. They call Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem “settlements” even though they supposedly support Israel which annexed the city. They attack Moskowitz, and by extension Ros-Lehtinen, for “derailing” the chance for a two-state solution even though it is the Palestinians who refused Olmert’s offer two years ago and have refused to negotiate since. And then they complain that somehow her actions undermine the “two-state solution hanging by a thread” even though it is the Palestinians with their attempt to circumvent the Oslo Accords and 17 years of negotiations who are undermining the two-state solution. Looking at J Street’s website, there isn’t a peep about what the Palestinians are doing right now, or a criticism of the Obama administration for permitting them to walk away from negotiations and permitting them to hoist the flag of the state they were supposed to negotiate for. There isn’t a peep on their site about unilateral Palestinian efforts to circumvent Oslo Accords or to gain a state that includes Judaism’s holiest sites without coming to any compromise with Israel as per 242 and 338. There isn’t a word of criticism for the countries that have accepted this state. J Street is only concerned about one thing: attacking a politician who said that raising the Palestinian flag over their mission in DC is emblematic of the Palestinian efforts to evade peace talks and recognition of Israel while gaining a state. J Street is not Israel’s friend. J Street may as well sign on as the Palestinian lobby in DC. UPDATE: The day following publication of this post, J Street announced that it supports the Palestinian draft of a UN Security Council resolution condemning any Israeli settlement activity. Of course, the draft refers to “1967 Borders” and therefore includes Jerusalem.

A 24 days tour visiting Madrid, Zaragoza, Poblet, Montserrat, Barcelona, Girona, Arles, Carrieres de Lumiere, La Garde, Chambery, Geneva, Chillon, Gruyere, Gstaad, Grindelwald, Lucerne, Zurich, Burglen, Morcote, Como, Milan, Pisa, Rome, Florence, Venice, Innsbruck, Kitzbuhel, Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, Lauf, Wurzburg, Frankfurt, Cruise on the Rhine, Cologne, Amsterdam, Zaanse, Schans, Volendam, Marken, Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, Paris. DAY 01 SAT. Madrid – Arrival.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Transfer to the hotel. Evening transport to the GranVía district. Welcome to Madrid! Upon arriving at the airport, we will be waiting to transfer you to your hotel. Check the information boards in the hotel reception area for details of the welcome meeting with your guide and fellow travellers. Towards the end of the day, we provide transfers to the Egyptian Debod Temple, Plaza de España and Gran Via; a vibrant district where you can dine at your preferred restaurant, Indian, Chinese, Spanish and Middle Eastern are some of the options available. DAY 02 SUN. Madrid.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Madrid city tour. Stroll through the Retiro Park. Visit to the Plaza de Toros de las Ventas bullring. Evening transfer. The morning starts with a comprehensive tour through the centre of Madrid including Paseo del Prado, Cibeles, Neptuno, the Gate of Alcalá, Plaza de Colón and Plaza Mayor. We then visit to Retiro Park, an oasis in the city centre, where we will see the lake and the Glass Palace. A visit to Las Ventas Bullring (admission included) is next, this is one of the most famous bullrings in the world where we will learn about the tradition of “corridas” in the Bullfighting Museum. Enjoy the rest of the afternoon at leisure. At sunset we provide a transfer to Plaza de Ori- ente, opposite the Royal Palace, an elegant and bustling area with many restaurants serving different cuisines such as local Spanish food, international, and Chinese. Enjoy a pleasant dinner of your choice, then return to hotel together. DAY 03 MON. Madrid – Zaragoza – Poblet – Montserrat – Barcelona.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Monastery of Poblet, rack train to Montserrat. In the morning we leave for Aragón over the lands of Castile. In ZARAGOZA we stop briefly to see the Pilar Basilica. We continue to the Monastery of Poblet, surrounded by its walls in a beautiful site that is one of the best-preserved medieval monasteries in the world (en- trance and guided tour included). We then proceed to the Monastery of Montserrat where you will go up the mountain on a rack train to see its fantastic scenery. Following this we will continue to BARCELONA, arriving in the late afternoon. Note: In the winter months, from November to March, due to the shorter days, we will not visit the Monastery of Poblet in order to reach Montserrat in the daylight. DAY 04 TUE. Barcelona- Girona.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: City tour of Barelona. Overnight in Girona. In the morning we enjoy a city tour, its Ramblas, the works of Gaudí, and memories of the Olympic Games. Time at leisure. At the end of the afternoon we will go to the north of Catalonia. A stroll in GIRONA and its very beautiful historical centre. Its colourful houses stand out, as well as the old Jewish quarter and Cathedral. DAY 05 WED. Girona- Arles- Carrieres de Lumiere La Garde- Chambery.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT: Provenzal region in France. We leave for France, crossing Provence. We stop in AR- LES, a small world heritage city where we will remem- ber Van Gogh; and can see its Roman theatre and small Romanesque churches. Time for a stroll and lunch. We carry on and include admission to CARRIERES DE LUMIERE, an impressive show of art, image and sound underground, in former quarries. And at the end of the afternoon, a stop in LA GARDE ADHEMAR, a typical, mag- nificently conserved village of Provence, with great views of the Rhone valley. CHAMBERY, arrival and accommo- dation in the charming capital of Savoie, a medieval city with a beautiful old town and great castle. DAY 06 THU. Chambery- Geneva- Chillon- Gruyere- Gstaad.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Switzerland with Lakes and Mountains. Chocolate factory. Today we travel to GENEVA, Switzerland. Our guide will take you to visit the Palace of Nations (the headquar- ters of the United Nations in Europe), the pretty English Garden with its clock made of flowers, and the Jet d’Eau, the tallest fountain in Europe. After this we continue to CHILLON CASTLE (entrance included), this medieval castle built in the waters of a lake. Moving on to the pic- turesque walled village of GRUYERE, famous worldwide for its cheese. Nearby are a few of the main chocolate factories in Switzerland (NESTLE amongst them), we will visit the Cailler Chocolate Factory, with tasting included! Travelling along small roads surrounded by moun- tainous countryside and picturesque wooden villages, we will reach the pretty little village of GSTAAD. DAY 07 FRI. Gstaad- Grindelwald- Lucerne- Zu- rich.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Swiss Alpine scenery with glaciers and mountains. Grindelwald, cable car and lunch included. Lucerne. Today’s journey takes us through beautiful high mountain scenery. We pass Interlaken and go around its beautiful lake. We arrive in GRINDELWALD, time for a coffee be- fore taking the cable car up the mountain, Grindelwald. Walk around freely enjoying the stunning views, experience the bridge into the void, an ideal place to be seduced by the Swiss Alpine scenery surrounded by its glaciers and mountains. After lunch (included) we continue to LUCERNE, one of the most beautiful cities in Switzerland. Continuing to ZURICH, where there is time for a stroll in the centre before going to the hotel. DAY 08 SAT. Zurich – Burglen- Morcote – Como – Milan.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: We will know the town of William Tell. Picturesque villages as Morcote. Shores of Como. In the morning we will travel to BURGLEN, the tiny village where William Tell was born, we will visit the chapel of the XVI century with paintings illustrating his life. Afterwards continue to the enchanting little town of MORCOTE, with its houses made of stone and covered with flowers. Next, we enter Italy and make a stop in Como, on the shores of a lake. The city highlights a Gothic Cathedral. On to MILAN, where our guide will take you to the impressive Duomo Square. Time for dinner at one of the restaurants offering a wide range of international cuisines. After dinner, transfer back to the hotel. DAY 09 SUN. Milan – Pisa – Rome.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Coast of Liguria, Leaning Tower of Pisa. Today we continue our journey towards PISA. On a little tourist train, we will travel to the Piazza Dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), where there will be time to admire one of the most alluring and beautiful art complexes in Italy, including the well-known Leaning Tower of Pisa. Then, we continue to Rome, arriving at the end of the afternoon. DAY 10 MON. Rome.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: City tour of Rome. Roman Coliseum and Vatican City. Evening transfer. In the morning, we will have a tour of the city, which will be a great introduction to “The Eternal city”. We enter the tiny state of the Vatican. The Vatican City is a principal centre of Christianity in the world. You will be able to visit St. Peter’s Basilica. We will also enter the Roman Coliseum (admission price included), the principal symbol of Rome. This impressive construction dates back 2,000 years and will transport us in time so that we can learn about ancient society in the Roman Empire. In the even- ing we will transfer you to the Via Cavour area, where you will find many international restaurants to enjoy your dinner at. After dinner return to the hotel. DAY 11 TUE. Rome – Florence.- TODAY’S HIGLIGHTS: Tour with a local expert from Florence. View from Piazzale Michelangelo. Today we will leave Rome, heading north. This route has beautiful landscapes. Arriving in FLORENCE, we head straight to the impressive Piazzale Michelangelo. In the evening we take a tour with a local expert, walking through the historic centre, taking in places such as the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, and Plaza della Signoria. This city is truly an outdoor museum. Enjoy some leisure time to explore. In the evening you will have time for dinner, as, in this district you can find many restaurants serving international cuisine. DAY 12 WED. Florence – Venice.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Boat on Venice’s Canal. Visit and admission to the St. Mark´s Basilica. Admire the technique of crafting Murano Glass. Today we enjoy stunning mountain landscapes while crossing the Apennine Mountains. We will arrive in VEN- ICE and take the boat and cross the Grand Canal to the Island of Venice. With a local guide, we will visit the marvellous St. Mark´s Square and enter the Basilica (entrance included). Afterwards, we will visit the Murano Glass Factory. It is fascinating to see the technique of how this ancient glass is made. Enjoy some time at leisure to explore. Accommodation in the Mestre district. DAY 13 THU. Venice – Innsbruck- Kitzbuhel.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Breathtaking landscapes. Dinner included. We will depart from Venice, travelling to Austria! Arrival to INNSBRUCK, time to stroll in the historic centre and have lunch. After this, we travel along a very pretty scenic road between the mountains to KITZBÜHEL – Arrival and time to see this picturesque little village, a famous ski resort where we can enjoy the snow for a large part of the year! Free time. Dinner included(vegetarian option possible). Note: In case of few travellers on the trip, the journey from Venice to Innsbruck may be done by a train. DAY 14 FRI. Kitzbuhel- Salzburg – St. Wolfgang- Traunsee Lake- Vienna.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Alpine cable car. Salzburg, the city of Mozart. Fantastic scenery. Cruise on a lake. Departing in the morning, we include a cable car ride up to the high mountains that surround Kitzbuhel, with snow 9 months a year, fantastic scenery; in summer, those who wish may visit the “alpine flower garden”. We will continue to explore Austria, traveling between the mountains, and ar- riving in SALZBURG. Our guide will accompany us through the beautiful streets of this city’s historic centre, declared a World Heritage site. We make our way between lakes and mountains in the next stage. Our next stop is in ST. WOLF- GANG, a famous place of pilgrimage in Austria. We continue to TRAUNKIRCHEN with its beautiful Traunsee Lake, where we take a cruise to see four castles, disembarking in GMUNDEN. After this we continue to VIENNA, arriving in the late afternoon. DAY 15 SAT. Vienna.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Vienna city tour. Gardens of the immense Schönbrunn Palace. Today we take a scenic visit around this impressive city with a local expert. Here we experience its majestic avenues, its palaces and the vibrant city centre. Then we head directly to Schönbrunn Palace, where visitors can stroll around and enjoy its beautiful gardens. After lunch, enjoy an afternoon of leisure in the city centre. In the evening we will go to the City Hall Square to enjoy the nightlife in the neighbouring streets. Here you will get the opportunity to take dinner. DAY 16 SUN. Vienna – Budapest.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Cruise on the Danube, city tour of Budapest, evening transfer. We have an approximately three-hour journey to BUDA- PEST, Hungary. Arriving at around 11:30, we will discover Budapest (known as the “Queen of the Danube”) on a boat tour along the river. Budapest is divided by the Danube River, with historic Buda on one side and cosmopolitan Pest on the opposite side. Time for lunch, followed by a scenic tour of the city. After the tour enjoy some leisure time. At the end of the day we finish in the lively area of Vaci Utca, where there are lots of opportunities to take your dinner. DAY 17 MON. Budapest – Bratislava – Prague.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Time to explore Bratislava. Czech landscapes. Evening transfer in Prague. We will leave Budapest for BRATISLAVA, the capital of Slo- vakia and a city alongside the Danube. With an attractive historic centre, take time to see the city and enjoy lunch. Af- ter lunch we will continue our journey to the Czech Republic, PRAGUE. Arriving in the evening, we will make our way to the Old Town Square. This central location provides a great introduction to Prague, full of energy and touristic activities. You can take your dinner at one of the restaurants offering international cuisines, including Czech, Chinese, Indian and Italian. Return to hotel. DAY 18 TUE. Prague.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: City tour of Prague. Visit to Castle. Boat tour along the river. Today we will visit the capital, Prague, the Baroque jewel of Europe. Our local expert will provide an informative city tour, which will include outstanding monuments. During the visit we walk through Prague Castle (admission included). Subsequently, we shall take a boat tour on the Vltava River. In the afternoon enjoy some free time to explore the city. In the evening, we will enjoy more time in the historic city centre and there will be an opportunity for you to take din- ner. Return to hotel. DAY 19 WED. Prague – Lauf – Wurzburg – Frankfurt.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Bavarian Germany. We leave for Germany. In the region of Bavaria, we will see LAUF AN DER PEGNITZ, a picturesque little village which stands out because of its busy Market Square and Castle. After this we will carry on to WURZBURG, with time for lunch and to see this Bavarian city on the banks of the Maine River, a former bishopric centre and now a very busy university city. Our journey continues to FRANKFURT. Explore the historic city and choose one of the many international restaurants. Go to the hotel. DAY 20 THU. Frankfurt – Cruise on the Rhine – Co- logne – Amsterdam.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Rhine cruise included. Today we will take a small Cruise on the Rhine, between the villages of RUDESHEIM and ST. GOAR, undoubtedly the river’s most picturesque section. After this we will travel to COLOGNE, a city which stands out for its immense gothic cathedral. Then on to the Netherlands. Arriving to AMSTERDAM in the late afternoon. DAY 21 FRI. Amsterdam – Zaanse Schans – Volendam Marken- Amsterdam.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Picturesque typical village of Volendam. Boat on the IJsselmeer lake. City tour of Amsterdam. Today we have a very exciting day in the Netherlands. We will go to Zaanse Schans with its mills, canals and its typical houses. Next VOLENDAM, a very picturesque fishing village. A short boat trip from Volendam, will take us to MARKEN (an island that was joined to the mainland by a fixed dike), where the houses there are built on stilts. After this, we travel to AMSTERDAM where we will enjoy a panoramic visit of the city to see its narrow canals, its official buildings and parks. We will also see the technique of diamond cutting. A large part of the visit will be done on foot, the information will be given through headphones. Time for dinner in Rembrandtplein, an area with many restaurants from all corners of the world and near the red-light district with its liberal values. Go to the hotel. DAY 22 SAT. Amsterdam – Brussels – Bruges – Paris.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Feeling Belgium. Today we will leave for BRUSSELS, taking time in the Grand Place and making a stop to photograph the Atomium. Con- tinuing to BRUGES, the marvellous Flemish city known as the Venice of the North. Time for lunch. Our journey will take us to France. Arriving in PARIS at the end of the day. Note: If you start or end your trip in Paris, we advise you to book an extra day or two in this city. This way you will be able to visit Disneyland, Versailles and other places of interest. DAY 23 SUN. Paris.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: City tour in Paris. Climb to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. Boat ride along the Seine. Evening transfer. Today we take a guided tour to discover the history, main boulevards and the breathtaking monuments of Paris. We end the visit at the Eiffel Tower. You will have the op- portunity to climb up to the second floor of this remarkable metal monument (ticket admission included). End your visit with a boat cruise along the River Seine, which di- vides the north of Paris from the south. Enjoy an afternoon of leisure to explore and relax! At sunset enjoy dinner in the Latin Quarter, a very picturesque historic area where a wide variety of international cuisines await you. We will then return to hotel. Note: Sometimes queues to climb the Eiffel Tower are long. For organizational reasons, if deemed appropriate, the climb can be made at a different time of the day (or Monday). DAY 24 MON. Paris.- TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: Time at leisure. We will start the day by going to the centre of Paris, to the area of the Louvre Museum. Enjoy some leisure time to explore. If you wish, we can accompany you to Benlux, one of the most complete and best-known perfumeries in Paris. Note: For those who are interested, an optional excursion to Disneyland Paris is available. End of our services. Check the time of your flight in case you need an additional night. - Travel by bus with English speaking guide. - Basic travel insurance. - Hotels according to the itinerary. - Breakfast buffet. - Arrival transfer - Boat: to the island of Venice, Traunsee lake in Traunkirchen, Danube River in Budapest, Vltava River in Prague, Cruise on the Rhine, IJsselmeer lake from Volendam to Marken in • City tour in: Madrid, Poblet, Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Venice, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, • Evening Transfer: Debod Temple and Plaza de España and Plaza de Oriente in Madrid, Via Cavour in Rome, City Hall Square in Vienna, Vaci Utca in Budapest, Old Town Square in Prague, Rembrandplein in Amsterdam • Transfer: Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence • Ticket admission: Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Poblet Monastery, Carrieres de Lumiere show, Chillon Castle; Cailler Chocolate Factory, Coliseum of Rome, Saint Mark´s Basilica and Murano Glass Factory in Venice, Prague Castle, Diamond Cutting Workshop in Amsterdam • Train: Montserrat Monastery, Piazza Dei Miracoli in Pisa • Funicular: Grindelwald First, Kitzbuhel • 2 Lunch or Dinner Included in: Grindelwald, (ADDITIONAL SERVICES OPT. 2) • Boat: Boat Trip along River Seine in Paris • City tour in: Paris • Evening Transfer: Latin Quarter of Paris • Ticket admission: 2nd Floor Eiffel Tower in - Nov.20: 07, 14, 21, 28 - Dec.20: 05, 12, 19, 26 - Jan.21: 02, 09, 16, 23, 30 - Feb.21: 06, 13, 20, 27 - Mar.21: 06, 13, 20, 27 - Apr.21: 03, 10, 17, 24 - May.21: 01, 08, 15, 22, 29 - Jun.21: 05, 12, 19, 26 - Jul.21: 03, 10, 17, 24, 31 - Aug.21: 07, 14, 21, 28 - Sep.21: 04, 11, 18, 25 - Oct.21: 02, 09, 16, 23, 30 - Nov.21: 06, 13, 20, 27 - Dec.21: 04, 11, 18, 25 - Jan.22: 01, 08, 15, 22, 29 - Feb.22: 05, 12, 19, 26 - Mar.22: 05, 12, 19, 26 PRICES PER PERSON SEASON DBL SINGL High S. $3.592 $4.756 Mid S. $3.439 $4.602 Low S. $3.371 $4.534 - In the winter months, from November to March, due to the shorter days, we will not visit the Monastery of Poblet in order to reach Montserrat in the daylight. - In case of few travellers on the trip, the journey from Venice to Innsbruck may be done by a train. - If you start or end your trip in Paris, we advise you to book an extra day or two in this city. This way you will be able to visit Disneyland, Versailles and other places of interest - Sometimes queues to climb the Eiffel Tower are long. For organizational reasons, if deemed appropriate, the climb can be made at a different time of the day (or Monday). - For those who are interested, an optional excursion to Disneyland Paris is available. - It is a general policy in the hotels that may request a deposit of money on arrival at each of the hotels where you will be staying. This deposit is charged at the time of check in and is refunded upon departure if you did not make any expenses at the hotel. - The space in the holds of the coaches and in the train wagons is limited and this determines the maximum amount of luggage authorized per passenger on our circuits: one suitcase per person and one handbag. Carrying more luggage than allowed can be checked in at destination.

Flooded With Violence Noah's response to the flood indicates that violence is an ingrained aspect to human nature that must be acknowledged and channeled for good. Provided by CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a multi-denominational think tank and resource center. The story of God's eradication of humanity with the flood is well known. The decision was based on God's deep disappointment with humanity's immersion in chamas, violence. God attempts to rectify the situation by regenerating humanity through a single tzaddik (righteous person)--Noah, and his family. A midrash relates that God had created and destroyed several worlds before this one because all were flawed. Yet after the flood, God decides never to destroy the world (by flood) again. Why? Perhaps the answer lies in Noah's response to the flood. When the waters dry up, Noah leaves the ark. We expect some expression of gratitude to God for having been spared. A song, perhaps, or a dance. Instead, Noah builds an altar and, unbidden, sacrifices some animals to God. God smells the pleasant barbecue smell and then decides never to destroy again "...since the devisings of humans are evil from their youth" (Genesis 8:21). God realizes that even Noah, the finest of his generation, whose intentions are unimpeachably pure, expresses gratitude with a violent act. Violence, apparently, is a built-in part of humanness that cannot be corrected in any new improved model. The hardest part of the realization is that this deep-rooted violence is no less a reflection of God than any other part of being human. God, after all, has tried to solve the problem of violence with violence. In response to these sobering realizations, the mandate of vegetarianism (Genesis 1:29) is rescinded as unrealistic. We are permitted to kill for food, but only in a restricted and controlled manner, and we must never kill each other. God makes a covenant, a promise, never to destroy again, to live, forever, with the imperfections. God seals the covenant with a rainbow, a wonderful symbol of weaponry turned into a commitment for hope and peace.

A Jewish dish made of ground fish, eggs, matza meal, and seasoning, formed into balls or patties and simmered in broth. French word for "flamed", this cooking technique involves adding alcohol to foods in a hot pan which creates a burst of flames. A British term referring to dishes that are traditionally served after dessert to cleanse the palate. Today it can also refer to small dishes served as appetizers. An emulsion sauce of butter, egg yolk and lemon juice, generally prepared over indirect heat and served warm.

This was my first year participating in The Great Food Bloggers Cookie Swap. I was excited to take part in this fun community building activity, and all for a great cause. Who could ask for more?! This activity raised more than $13,700 for Cookies For Kids Cancer! The organization and communication was spotless. Just enough emails, just enough communication to keep it exciting, but not over whelming. I got my 3 matches and went on their blogs to get to know them better. 2 of them I had already been on their blogs, 1 I was following so that was fun. They had great ideas and recipes and I found myself spending quiet a long time on their websites and blogs. Then came the hard part of deciding what to bake. I had a couple of ideas but kept changing my mind as time passed. Finally I went for a new cookie that I had just tried to make, adjusted, and fallen in love with. The Almond Caramel Cookie. I had just received a book from a friend by mail a couple of weeks before Inside The Jewish Bakery, and found it really interesting. In that book I found the Lace Cookies that I played around with and the final cookie was better described as Almond Caramel cookie. I made it a couple of times before making the batch for the swap, but they were eaten too fast and I never had enough. Finally, I decided to bake the cookies late at night when everyone was asleep…. I decided to make a combination of 1 layer cookies, and some filled cookies. I needed a total of 36 cookies (a dozen for each blogger) and decided to send 4 plain and 8 filled. Some with white chocolate, some with milk truffle and some with chocolate mint. This meant that I needed a total of 60 cookies. Busy night was ahead of me. I made a double batch of the cookie dough and started. The recipe for these truly wonderful cookies is: 2.5 cups Almonds (or other nuts you like – Hazelnuts is wonderful as well). 1 cup brown sugar 70 gram (2.5 oz or 3/4 cups) Unsalted butter 3-4 tbsp. honey 1/4 + 1 tbsp. cup water 1/2 cup All purpose flour 2 tsp. cinnamon How to prepare the dough: First turn on the oven to 190C/375F. I like to lightly roast the almonds (or hazelnuts) on a dry pan before I grind them. It adds a depth of flavor to the cookies. Then you need to grind the almonds to a fine texture. In a saucepan combine sugar, butter, honey and water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir continuously. Add the flour, nuts and cinnamon and stir well until you get a thick paste. To get a caramel consistency, you need to let it all boil for more than 60 seconds while constantly stirring. Turn off the heat and let cool but this paste must be pipped or spooned while still hot. Once it cools it is very hard to work with. I tried pipping the cookies but soon found that using 2 spoons is easier and faster. Arrange at least 3-4 trays and place baking paper on them. With 2 spoons spread cookies on the baking paper leaving a lot of room in between as these cookies spread out a lot. Pat the dough down a bit to get thin lace like cookies. Bake for 5-6 minutes only. As soon as they are light brown, take out of the oven. They burn fast. Once out of the oven, take the baking sheets with the cookies on them, off the baking trays and leave to cool on a table or cool surface. Leaving them on the hot baking trays will keep them baking. Once the cookies are cold they harden you can take them off the baking paper, and only then can they be filled with chocolate. I melted white chocolate, milk truffle and chocolate mint and filled 48 cookies (total of 24 double layered cookies). Then the cookies were wrapped, boxed and shipped to the Food Bloggers. All that was left was to enjoy packages and look forward to feedback from the recipients….. For inspiration visit the wonderful bloggers I sent cookies to: I’m already looking forward to next year

Latest update: May 9th, 2013 To emphasize these points, let us state what is not covered under the heading of Tikkun Olam: 1. There is nothing in the Torah concept of Tikkun Olam that can justify government programs that take people’s private wealth and property away from them to help the poor. There is of course a Jewish religious precept requiring charity for the poor — at least 10% of one’s income in two years out of seven, but never to exceed 20% of one’s wealth even if one is feeling ultra-compassionate. This charity, however, is privatized welfare and generosity, never state-run confiscation of property in the name of doing good. There seems to be rabbinic disagreement over whether government taxes that take away more than 10% of one’s income, especially to finance the welfare state, exempt one even from this 10% tithe. The only other biblically-mandated income redistribution involves supporting the Levites. 2. There is nothing in Tikkun Olam that can be considered to be a judgment holding that income and wealth disparities are evil in and of themselves. Wealthy people are expected to give charity to help the poor; the poor are expected to give charity to the poorer. No one is expected to give charity to those too lazy to work or who are poor because they are drunks or addicts. 3. There is nothing in Tikkun Olam that can be regarded as a condemnation of materialist desires and pursuits. Quite to the contrary, Judaism is not embarrassed at all about asking G-d to make us rich, such as in the Havdala prayers where we ask for lots of silver. 4. There is nothing in Tikkun Olam that could be remotely regarded as justifying affirmative action programs that discriminate against Jews. There is nothing that can justify pursuing ethnic “equality” through quotas, through lowered standards and preferences, and certainly not through programs that give other ethnic groups preferences ahead of Jews. 5. There is nothing in Tikkun Olam that can be regarded as sanctioning homosexual relations. Indeed, the Torah makes these a capital offense. 6. There is nothing in Tikkun Olam that can be regarded as supporting the public school monopoly or single-payer health care system. People who want such things should have the intellectual honesty to come out and debate these on their own merits (if they have any), not by hijacking the concept of Tikkun Olam. 7. There is not even the tiniest inkling of a rationalization in Tikkun Olam for granting Palestinians or anyone else territorial rights within the Land of Israel. 8. There is no basis in Tikkun Olam for refraining from retaliating militarily against those who attack Jews. 9. There is no basis in Tikkun Olam for claiming that animals have “rights.” 10. There is no basis in Tikkun Olam for refusing to acknowledge that human environmental goals must be traded off against other social and private goals. 11. There is no basis in Tikkun Olam for abortion on demand. 12. There is no basis in Tikkun Olam for opposing capital punishment for convicted murderers. To the contrary, the Torah explicitly endorses capital punishment for murderers. A first giant step toward real Tikkun Olam would be the renunciation and discrediting of Tikkun Olam Paganism.Steven Plaut About the Author: Steven Plaut is a professor at the University of Haifa. He can be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.org If you don't see your comment after publishing it, refresh the page. Our comments section is intended for meaningful responses and debates in a civilized manner. We ask that you respect the fact that we are a religious Jewish website and avoid inappropriate language at all cost. If you promote any foreign religions, gods or messiahs, lies about Israel, anti-Semitism, or advocate violence (except against terrorists), your permission to comment may be revoked.

Featuring the ever-slick Mahdi Bray to deny the charges. “Muslims attack Jew at U.S. Islamic rally: Man says his life threatened at protest demonstrating support for Hezbollah,” from WND, with thanks to all who sent this in: A Jewish activist was physically assaulted and his life was threatened during a planned “peaceful” rally held by the Muslim American Society in Boston, he told WorldNetDaily today. “I have never been physically attacked before. I’ve had slurs thrown at me, got into heated debates, but what was amazing was that I was actually physically attacked,” Seva Brodsky said. “Since they were the majority, and felt invincible, they threatened to kill me!” Brodsky, who recently returned from nearly six months in Israel, captured some of the confrontation on video, available at the weblog Solomonia.com. The event Friday at Boston’s City Hall Plaza was the Muslim American Society’s “Justice for Palestine and Lebanon Protest.” Participants brought signs, including one calling for “victory” for the terrorist group Hezbollah and the “Palestinian Resistance.” Brodsky reported to Solomonia he was bullied, pushed, shoved, cursed and abused after showing up in Boston where Muslims said they planned to rally to call for an end to the “indiscriminate” loss of life in Lebanon. The event was held by the Boston branch of the Muslim American Society’s Freedom Foundation, where spokesman Mahdi Bray told WorldNetDaily his group’s events always are peaceful. “I’ve been doing rallies since LBJ was president and I came out of the non-violence movement. Every rally we’ve ever had, regardless of the politics, all of our rallies are non-violent and peaceful,” he insisted. Watch the videos over at Solomonia (link above) and judge for yourself.

Robert Frank: An Outsider Looking In In the late 1950s, a Swiss-born photographer named Robert Frank traveled America, documenting its days and nights. With a Guggenheim fellowship, Frank captured Americans in 48 states, on 767 rolls of film and almost 27,000 frames. His images were published in 1958 in “The Americans,” which many call the most important book of photography of the 20th century. Through April 26, all of the photographs in “The Americans” will be on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Frank was born in 1924 to a Jewish family and, through his father, with German citizenship. But as Hitler’s ideology swept across Europe, the family’s citizenship was stripped. Later in life, Frank admitted he often felt like an outsider looking in. Sarah Greenough, curator of photography at the National Gallery, believes this sense contributed to his feeling “separated and removed from society,” but also enabled him to relate to the ostracized. Travelling just before the 1960s, Frank witnessed a country on the precipice: Race relations were on the brink and a counterculture on the rise. He was here, Greenough said, to capture “the kind of civilization born here and spreading elsewhere.” From this civilization, Frank “sucked a sad poem right out of America onto film, taking rank among the tragic poets of the world,” Jack Kerouac wrote in the introduction to “The Americans.” Frank spent months organizing the photos and slipping a little poetic justice into the sequences: America’s plump rich abut its rural poor, glowing jukeboxes follow forlorn funeral-goers. As Kerouac wrote, “[Y]ou end up finally not knowing any more whether a jukebox is sadder than a coffin.” Curator Greenough agrees: “Does it show loneliness and isolation? Absolutely. I think Frank very much felt that as he was driving around the country. Would he say that’s all there is to the American experience? Absolutely not.” Said Frank in 1951: ‘‘When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.” “Looking In: Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’” will be at the National Gallery until April 26. Later it travels to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, May 16 to Aug. 23; and the “Metropolitan Museum of Art”: http://www.metmuseum.org/ in New York, Sept. 22 to Dec. 27.

We live in an unprecedented time where human knowledge is growing at an exponential rate. Some have suggested that knowledge in some sectors is doubling every 12 months. That doesn’t necessarily mean that we are getting more intelligent, but it does mean we have access to knowledge like never before. We have computers in our pockets that puts us within a few keystrokes of limitless amounts of knowledge, and they still make phone calls. Unfortunately, even though knowledge is on the increase, wisdom is not. In our world of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” we can’t stop ourselves from believing that we have entered into a foolish age.While knowledge is on the increase, we can't say the same thing about wisdom. Click To Tweet Knowledge is the possession of information. The pursuit of knowledge is a noble endeavor. Christians have nothing to gain by remaining blissfully ignorant. In fact, learning is a natural aspect of discipleship. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me…” (Matthew 11:28-29 ESV). Wisdom is knowing what to do with the knowledge we have. Wisdom determines the direction of our lives and so much of the outcome of our decisions, which is why Proverbs encourages us to “Get wisdom, and whatever you do get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you” (Proverbs 4:7-8 ESV). If knowledge is knowing the length of the desert, then wisdom is making the decision to carry water with you as you walk through it.Wisdom is knowing what to do with the knowledge we have. Click To Tweet Jesus is the Wisdom of God Christians have a wisdom tradition going all the way back into our Jewish roots. The apostle Paul proclaimed the gospel in a Greek culture dominated by lovers of wisdom and seekers of knowledge. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were the founding fathers of Greek thought. One of my favorite wise saying from Aristotle is, “It is the sign of an educated mind to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it.” In Paul’s epistle to the church of Corinth, he explains that what the Jewish community really wanted their Messiah to be was a person of political power, and the Greeks might have preferred a new philosopher, but the church has found Jesus to be both the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). Jesus is the wisdom of God and Jesus is the wisdom from God. Unlike the Greeks with their philosophical principles, wisdom for Christians is embodied in a person. When we look at Jesus we see what God is like and we see what wisdom looks like. If we are willing, we can escape the fallen world of foolishness by incorporating five pieces of timeless, Christ-centered wisdom into our lives.When we look at Jesus we see what God is like and we see what wisdom looks like. Click To Tweet I. Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. If we assume we have life figured out on our own, we’ll never discover the wisdom of Jesus. Wisdom begins by acknowledging two immutable facts: - There is a God - I am not Him The “fear of the Lord” refers to a healthy respect and reference for the ways of God. We believe God is the Creator and therefore knows how life should work. Wisdom begins with confessing our need for God who has given us access to wisdom and knowledge through Jesus. We cannot save ourselves from our own self-deception. We have to look outside of ourselves and look to Jesus for wisdom instead of looking to be wise in our own estimation (See Proverbs 3:5-6).If we assume we have life figured out on our own, we'll never discover the wisdom of Jesus. Click To Tweet II. Wisdom is curated in the halls of patience. Time is the one thing in the universe we cannot get back, but that doesn’t mean that hastiness is a healthy response to that constraint. Rushing to act, rushing to respond, rushing to make a quick decision is often when we end up in making foolish mistakes. Nearly all wisdom can be summed up in one word: patience. Slowing down is particularly hard for me, because I am a quick decision-maker. I have the tendency to jump way ahead and then look down to see where I have landed. When I look at Jesus I see patience in human skin. Jesus avoided the crowd and retreated when he felt pressured. He took his time. Wisdom takes time. It cannot be downloaded like an app in our phones. There is a saying that says “experience is the greatest teacher.” I disagree. Experience isn’t nearly as good a teacher as reflecting seriously on what you have experienced, or even what you might hypothetically experience if you make decisions one way or another. You can ask for wisdom and God will give it, and often that means that wisdom seeps into our soul through patient reflection.Experience is not the greatest teacher, experience reflected upon is. Click To Tweet III. Wisdom is cultivated in prayer. When Jesus retreated from the crowd, he often retreated into prayer. Recently I have grown more comfortable with contemplative prayer, that is, praying without words, sitting quietly in the presence of Jesus. I do not understand the criticism that some in the body of Christ level against contemplative prayer. I do not share their concern, but some well-meaning Christians fear practicing this kind of prayer will cause people to become “aligned with Eastern religions” or become swept away into “New Age spirituality.” Perhaps some people could depart the faith this way, but I have my doubts about it. Most praying Christians have experienced contemplative prayer and have remained steadfast in the Christian faith. Have you ever prayed about a situation where you asked God for direction? Have you ever paused to sense whether or not God is leading you one way or another? If so, then you have practiced contemplative prayer. Far from drifting into some kind of non-Christian spirituality, praying this way keeps you in the presence of Jesus. Learn to slow down and sit with Jesus with past mistakes and past failures and allow prayer to become the garden where wisdom grows in your heart and life.Prayer can become the garden where wisdom grows in your heart and life. Click To Tweet IV. Wisdom is handed down from the wise ones. Growth in wisdom requires relationships with wise people. So be on the lookout for the wise ones, those who have walked with Jesus for a while and have started to looking like Jesus in authentic ways. We don’t need more clever people in the church. We need more wise ones. We don’t need more successful people in the church. We need more people of prayer-shaped, Christ-centered wisdom. When you find one, hang on to them! When I was a novice pastor in my 30’s, Eugene Peterson became one of the wise ones in my pastoral life. The wisdom of over forty years as a pastor and professor was passed down through his books. It guided me down a pathway of wisdom. Another one of the wise ones for me was my friend Chuck Craig, a retired educator and school administrator who is living out his retirement years in South Georgia. Chuck is in his 80’s now, but he was in his 70’s when I was his pastor. I loved to sit with Chuck and listen to his stories of growing up in Michigan, spending much of his career in Alaska, and the faith in Christ he discovered later in his life in Georgia. I saw in him a mature man who was preparing himself to live well into his 90’s by keeping his mind sharp, his body in shape, and his spirit alive in Christ. I want to be like Chuck when I am 85!We don’t need more clever people in the church. We need more wise ones. Click To Tweet V. The alternative to wisdom is suffering. I am convinced that we will learn either by suffering or wisdom. We will grow in wisdom either by listening to the wise ones or by suffering through our own failure. Some suffering is unavoidable. When we accepted the call to follow Jesus, we put our hands on a cross ready to embrace suffering. But when we fail to heed wisdom from the wise ones, we end up suffering hardship that could have been avoided. Like stubborn teenagers who think they have it all figured out, we scoff at the wisdom of the wise ones and then suffer unnecessarily. Let’s agree today to choose the wisdom of God found in Jesus.We'll grow in wisdom by listening to the wise ones or by suffering through our own failure. Click To Tweet

Beyond Jesus's inner circle of Disciples, relatives and Mary Magdalene, there's barely a single sympathetic character in the entirety of devoted director Mel Gibson's passion project "The Passion of The Christ." Pontius Pilate, the tyrannical Roman governor on whose word the crucifixion went forward, gets a pass as a conflicted guy who was just doing his job -- killing Jesus to prevent a rebellion from a mob of frenzied Jews angry over his perceived as blasphemous preachings. Pilate's wife Claudia is a convert and therefore shown in a good light. There's a Jewish girl who tries to give Jesus water as he carries the cross on which he'll die through the streets of Jerusalem and a peasant father who has a religious epiphany by helping the now beaten bloody Jesus carry said cross. Aside from a few people crying as Jesus is dragged past them, that's about it. Everyone else in this film seems to be a villain -- be they Roman guards who laugh maniacally (like James Bond movie henchmen) while whipping Jesus until his shredded skin looks like bloody, lumpy oatmeal, or be they Jewish hoards whipped into a frenzy by temple leaders, or be they the viciously evangelical rabbis themselves, whose spiteful rhetoric against his "heresy" sounds an awful lot like what still to this day comes from behind some pulpits and political podiums. Continue reading: The Passion Of The Christ Review The actor says he isn't "holding out for more money or doing anything like that". The drama will be making its return to the streaming service in the near future. Charlie Cox explains why his character Daredevil 'doesn't have time' for Jessica Jones.

PRAGUE (Oct. 22) Czech Jewish leaders are upset that the chairman of a support group for Nazi victims was fired for writing a controversial letter. The Czech Association of Liberated Political Prisoners, a support group for Nazi victims, said this week that it had dismissed its chairman, Oldrich Stransky, for writing a letter supporting compensation for ethnic Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia in the aftermath of World War II. Stransky sent the letter to the Sudeten German Association, which campaigns for compensation for many of the 2.5 million ethnic Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia immediately after the war. In his letter, Stransky, 82, congratulated the German group’s head, Bernd Posselt, on the opening of a new office in Prague. The Czech Association said Stransky should not have signed the letter in his capacity as chairman. But while the association said it had lost confidence in Stransky, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who long has advocated reconciliation between Germans and Czechs, Czech Jewish leaders said Stransky’s dismissal was unfair. The dismissal is part of a power struggle involving the Czech Association and an umbrella group, the Czech Union of Freedom Fighters, Jewish leaders said. “Mr. Stransky does not deserve this and he did not cause this,” said Tomas Kraus, executive director of the Federation of Czech Jewish Communities. Kraus said the letter was only an excuse to dismiss Stransky because Stransky had resisted efforts by the Union of Freedom Fighters to take control of his organization. “He has worked for many years to get compensation not only for Czech Jewish victims of Nazism, but all victims,” Kraus said. “Many Jewish members of the freedom fighters’ union have contacted us and asked why Stransky has suddenly become a terrible man. We have told them that he is the same man he always was.” Tomas Jelinek, chairman of the Prague Jewish community, also backed Stransky, saying the issue was a conflict between two organizations and had nothing to do with Stransky’s letter. “Mr. Stransky has been one of the most important people involved in negotiations for compensation of Czech and Jewish victims of Nazism,” Jelinek said. “His treatment by this organization, which is kicking him out, does not recognize his great contribution.” But Rudolf Wittenberg, who was appointed acting chairman of the Czech Association after Stransky’s dismissal, denied that his predecessor was the victim of a power struggle between the groups. He said the controversial letter simply was “the last straw” in a series of grievances against Stransky. “The communication between Mr. Stransky as chairman and our association’s committee was poor, and he failed to inform them about a lot of things,” Wittenberg said. “Mr. Stransky distrusted the committee, and it is not possible to work in this atmosphere. “I am very sorry to see him go in this way,” Wittenberg added. “I personally respect him very much because he has done a lot of good work, but the main point is that over a long period he failed to take notice of the committee.” For his part, Stransky admitted that it was “perhaps not appropriate” to sign the controversial letter as the Czech Association’s chairman. But he said he saw nothing wrong in writing to the Sudeten German Association. Stransky has challenged the board’s decision to remove him, arguing that he can only be removed by a vote of the association’s assembly. He said he will call a meeting of the organization’s membership before the end of the year to discuss the matter. “Perhaps it is true that members have lost their trust in me, because they don’t have all the information about this,” he said.

16 May 1948 perf 10, 11 and compound, no wmk, typographed Printed by Haaretz Printing Press, Sarons |3 mils orange||1||1| |20m bright ultra||5||5| |50m orange brown||6||6| |150m dark slate green||34 1/2x22mm||7||7| |500m red-brown, cream||34 1/2x22mm||8||8| |1000m indigo, pale blue||36 1/2x24mm||9||9| with tab and selvege |1948 Sc1 SG1| Walker (see Syria) writes, " ISRAEL #1, issued in 1948, is plentiful, even on cover, and should be in everyone's collection. " Scott notes that "When the British mandate of Palestine ended in May 1948, the Jewish state of Israel was proclaimed by the Hebrew Jewish National Council in Palestine." Although not an original feature, Israeli stamps are noted for their "tabs" or sheet margins.

"Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank" was a diarist and writer. She was one of the most discussed Judaism/Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Her wartime diary The Diary of a Young Girl has been the basis for several plays and films. Born in the city of Frankfurt in Weimar Republic/Weimar Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Born a German national, Frank lost her citizenship in 1941. She gained international fame posthumously after her diary was published. It documents her experiences hiding during the Netherlands in World War II#German occupation/German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. The Frank family moved from Germany to Amsterdam in 1933, the year the Nazism/Nazis gained control over Germany. By May 1940, they were trapped in Amsterdam by the German occupation of the Netherlands. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in some concealed rooms in the building where Anne's father worked. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to Nazi concentration camps/concentration camps. Anne Frank and her sister, Margot Frank, were eventually transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they died (probably of typhus) in March 1945.If you enjoy these quotes, be sure to check out other famous women! More Anne Frank on Wikipedia.

On the Catholic Priesthood To pray often to God that He will give good priests to His Church, and to Prevent, as Far as lies in our power, those who have no vocation for that divine office from being brought into it. The practice of which we speak is of so much the greater importance, as it has been inspired by Jesus Himself. “Pray,” said the Good Shepherd, “pray the Lord that He send laborers into His vineyard;” as though He would say, “This is of more consequence than you think, and requires much intercession with Heaven in order to obtain the graces necessary for so great an object.” But the soul that has any devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament ought more particularly to pray for this end as it entirely concerns the honor and glory of this Adorable Mystery. Take note that our Master commands prayers to be offered for good laborers, good Priests, whose office it is to work in His vineyard: first, because it is He only Who is to send them; secondly, because it is He only Who can give them the necessary dispositions for it. It belongs only to God to call men to the divine office of the priesthood. This is a truth strongly established in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the great Apostle speaking by the Spirit of God, clearly shows the necessity of vocation in these words: “Neither doth any man take the honor (of the priesthood) to himself.” Heb. V.4 But not content with laying down these truths on this own Apostolic authority, he brings together the Old and New Testaments to render this truth more convincing, and so to leave in men’s minds no doubt on the subject. He points out the example of the High Priest of the Jewish Church, and then that of our Lord Himself: “So Christ also did not glorify Himself that He might be made a High Priest." Heb. V5 After this, I know not what those persons can reply, who have taken the tonsure so hastily, without considering what God requires of them, without deeply considering their vocation, and without obtaining the advice of pious, enlightened persons, who are filled with the Holy Spirit. In like manner some have taken, without consideration, both Minor and Sacred Orders, and at last, the Priesthood itself. If they say, they knew not the importance of it, I answer that this is their greatest condemnation, seeing they OUGHT to have known. For even Jesus did not appoint Himself to this divine office, but waited till His Father called Him, and yet men have the boldness to do otherwise! Is it not carrying presumption to the extreme? Truly such rashness and temerity deserve severe punishment. You who are priest, examine yourselves here, as to whether you have waited for a call from God, before taking Holy Orders; if you have not done so, tremble, weep, and do penance; seek out holy men of God, to know what you ought to do in a path so slippery, for you are running a very evident risk of falling into the precipice of eternal damnation. If you have not already been admitted into Holy Orders, wait patiently and consider well what you are going to do; for on it depends either your eternal happiness or misery. Do not listen to your relations, not to your worldly friends; do not listen to nature, think not of your ease or advantage, think only of God and His glory. Is the reader of these words of the number of those who advise haste in entering the ecclesiastical state? If so, reflect whether you have been the mean of introducing some one into Holy Orders. Have you cooperated in such a thing by your counsel? Have you used your authority, or that of your friends, to get others received into the sublime office, without considering whether God has called them or not? You who advise, who recommend and make your children aspire with such levity to the priesthood, are you wiser than Jesus Christ? For though the person you recommend may have led a good life, be very talented, very pure; do you think that suffices? Are you holier, or more enlightened, more zealous for His Father’s glory? O terrible truth, and which ought to be understood by every man! He calls not Himself, but waits till His Father calls Him. No, unless the Lord build the house, their labor is in vain who build it. It belongs only to the Lord, says the Holy Spirit, to fix the destiny of man. It is for God to appoint the state that he pleases: it is not for us to choose. It is not for father, nor mother, nor relatives, nor for our masters, nor even for ourselves to make the choice; it is God only Who can and does. If I am told that unless a certain young man aspires to the ecclesiastical state, he cannot live according to his position, well, let him be poor; I repeat it, let him be poor; and if people answer that it is very easy to say so, but very difficult to put it in practice, I reply, that is is more dreadful to be eternally ruined. I hear people in the world say, that men can be saved, whatever their position may be, and consequently in the ecclesiastical state, and it is true; but God must call them to it. Will God give His grace to men to enable them to do their duty in a state to which they have not been called by Him, or into which they enter against their will? Tell me, you who say such things, would you give wages to people, who, in spite of your wishes, thrust themselves into your houses, to be your servants? There must, therefore, be a real vocation, a call from God. Secondly, there must be seen in the person called a faithful correspondence, in his habits and manners, to the holy state in which God wishes to place him. For he who aspires to the priesthood must be conformed to Jesus Christ, not only in his vocation, but also in his disposition; he must lead a pure and innocent life, like unto that of the Son of God. This makes the great Apostle say, when speaking of the qualities necessary to the priesthood, that they ought to be without sin, irreproachable. This is what made the holy Fathers say, that is necessary to have led a life free of mortal sin, to be promoted to Holy Orders. But now that the Church is not so rigorous, it is a at least necessary that a man should have true contrition. Then again, men must be learned. Do what you will, says St. Jerome, innocence without doctrine is not sufficient for a priest. Where these three things are wanting, vocation, purity of life, and knowledge, disorder and scandal of all sorts are produced in the Church. Ask then of our Lord, O souls who have devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament, that He will not permit any to take upon themselves the sacred and august office, but men chosen by Himself, such as have sufficient knowledge, and whose saintly and exemplary lives fit them for it, so that by the Holy Sacrifice and daily Communion, they may worthily glorify His Sovereign Majesty. A layman who is leading a bad life would not ordinarily approach the Holy Communion: if he should do so at Easter, to avoid the blame of men, it would be only once a year, so that in fifty years, he would only communicate fifty times. But a Priest, if he be in sin, would make as many bad Communions as there are days in the year: he would profane the Holy Sacrament oftener in two months than a layman would during his life. Judge then, how many sacrilegious Communions would be made during ten, twenty, or thirty years. Think also of a wicked priest celebrating the Divine Mysteries, and then reflect on the profanation of which you have been the cause, without naming scandals and other evils, if such priest have been induced by your advice, and perhaps by your importunity, to enter on the holy ministry. Whoever you are, think of the account you will have to give to God, for having assisted towards this guilt, in case you had reason to expect such deplorable results. The celebrated and apostolical preacher, John d’Avila, remarks in an epistle to a young man, in which he dissuades him from his intention of becoming a priest, that the devil gives great inclination to many towards the priesthood. It is the evil spirit, who, owning to his rage against the Most Holy Sacrament, when he sees a young man whom God does not call to the ecclesiastical state, tries to persuade him to choose that sacred office, and even instills into him an affection for it, so that having entered it only through the promptings of nature, he is guilty of the sins of which we have spoken. I heartily beseech all charitable persons to reflect well on these sentiments of that great servant of God, John d’Avila, and to remember, that if they have the intention of helping, by their means or in any other way, those who wish to enter on the sacred functions of the Priesthood, they ought to have them examined beforehand by men who have the science of the Saints; for it would be much better to have them taught some trade,than make them risk their salvation and expose the Sacred Body of the Son of God to the profanation which is likely to happen to It. In fact, my flesh and blood is pierced with the fear of the Lord when I reflect that I, who write these words, am a Priest. O greatness of God! What a dignity, what an office! If we are not on our guard, what misery is there not prepared for us! By Abbé Henry-Marie Boudon, (1624-1702) doctor in Theology and Archdeacon of Evreux, France translated from the French edited by the Rev. J. Redman DD. Source:The Book of Perpetual Adoration or The Love of Jesus in the Most Holy Sacraments. 1873

I have a confession to make: I get a kick out of Conservative smartass Mat Best. Because the former Army Ranger and his band of kindred souls seem to stand for something. It’s not the same thing we stand for as principled liberals at The Cynical Times, but it’s not that far off. The commonality is rooted in the nature of their deeply held views, which appear to be informed, principled and framed by humor and painful truths. Rather than situational. Just to see someone take a principled stand and laugh at themselves is special at a time like this. With a polarized America awash in political hookers, their ridiculous loyalists, and the poser bullshit being generated by the two big political machines. The painful truth is most people are either human weather vanes, who stand for nothing but themselves, or reflexive rule followers, who stand for nothing but blind obedience to someone else’s dogma. Very few are willing to take a principled stand for what they believe is right, much less a funny one. The weather vanes pretend to be principled but actually just run with the crowd. That’s what makes them so vulnerable to the Donnie Trustfunds and Crooked Hillarys of the world. They were Nazis in Nazi Germany and Communists in the old Soviet Union. They embraced slavery under Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy; free love when Tricky Dick Nixon was in The White House during the Vietnam War; and family values under Ronald Reagan. They were Wall Street cheerleaders and Gold Diggers under Bill Clinton; reveled in forever war and empire under Barack Obama and the Bushes; and are currently hip deep in the Fake Tough Guy Bigotry of the Trump Administration and the Retroactive Victimization of The Me Too Movement. The painful truth is that some of the weather vanes are also gun nuts who embraced gun control after seeing a heartbroken and camera-friendly Emma Gonzalez on TV in the immediate aftermath of the Parkland school shooting, which killed 17 people of our people. Every last one of them American. As much as we applaud those conversions we don’t really roll like that here at The Cynical Times, which has always opposed civilian ownership of automatic and semiautomatic weapons. I have a hunch that Mat Best and his crew feel the same way about these posers, even though they oppose stricter gun control. Bottom line, it’s hard to respect someone whose only commitment to the truth is whatever viewpoint is in vogue. I’d rather associate with people who disagree with me on principle than those with no principles at all. Best did five combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, he’s a lot better known for his funny videos on YouTube, which have been viewed more than 13 million times and are incredibly popular with military veterans and active duty members of our armed forces. Mat’s work has brought much needed talent, originality and energy to the military. So much so that Military.com selected him one of the 25 veterans poised to make a difference in 2015. Homeboy has definitely done that. He made a campy zombie film in 2016 called Range 15, which performed well above its weight class, and did a nice job on a first-person column about post-traumatic stress disorder which appeared on a gun enthusiast website called “Recoil.” Best is no journalist, but if he ever learns paragraphs can have less than 10 sentences in them we could be in big trouble. We’re fond of reminding people at The Cynical Times that we deal in painful truths. One of them is that as the political winds of change swirl leftward again, the human weather vanes are getting whiplash searching for their next landing spots. Because that’s what they do. They stand for nothing and they risk nothing. Ergo, they are nothing. Unlike Mat Best, who is a somebody. Even when he embraces the nonsense that former Army Rangers are just like everybody else and we should all have Browning M2 Heavy Machine Guns mounted on our Town & Country minivans, and soccer moms riding shotgun inside them with M249 Squad Automatic Weapons. Whereas we favor a complete ban on civilian ownership of automatic and semi-automatic weapons, and would prohibit civilians from carrying loaded firearms outside the home and range if we had our druthers. In our America, your primary means of self defense would be your own brutality. Not some form of store-bought manhood. It’s also a great reason to be civil to each other. That said, we can see room for compromise when it comes to establishing different levels of civilian gun rights for combat veterans. As opposed to those who loaded warehouse shelves and listened to other people’s phone calls during their time in uniform. We don’t conflate the two groups. Personally, I’d be happy if the human weather vanes continued to get underfoot on the right. Because the left is already infested with limousine liberals. Meaning the rich Dems who keep trying to tell working Americans how we can voice our frustrations in the way most useful to them politically. As if we give a shit. The old saying “The more the merrier (but) the fewer, the better fare” comes to mind. It basically means that more of something is not always desirable. I’m a “better fare” kind of guy in the sense that I don’t need a lot of fair weather friends, or readers. I just need a few who count for something. I’ve tried to bring that principled attitude to The Cynical Times, by not looking the other way when limousine liberals like The Clintons, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi bury their snouts in the public trough. Just because they claim to live in the same political area code as we do. Eff that noise, eff “Me Too” while we’re at it, and eff anyone who thinks it’s OK to criminalize those of us with external genitalia. Sames goes for anyone who equates all white males with Kountry Klub Kommandos like Donald Trump, Robert Mercer, and the Koch Brothers. Because the limousine liberals of Me Too are not my idea of proper liberals and there are plenty of good men in this country. We don’t need to behave like doormats to emphasize those distinctions at a time when knowing lies congeal into fake truths with startling speed. I’m proud working class and proud liberal. That means I don’t have any use for an elitist movement which only registers exploitation when the alleged victims are rich, famous and glamorous. I’ve been ridden hard and hung up wet by the greedy sonsabitches of The Fortune 500. As have most Americans. However, when I look at Me Too all I see are rich kids, gold diggers and fame groupies – like Monica Lewinsky – hijacking the suffering of the masses. Same goes for those who post nonsense about how all men are rapists and accuse us all of being part of the billionaire “patriarchy.” Last time I looked progressive males just like me had played key roles in the Civil Rights movement, the Sexual Revolution, the Abolitionist Movement, The Civil War and every other movement toward true equality. Men like Freedom Rider James Zwerg (right), who took a brutal beating beside John Lewis in Montgomery in 1961; Thomas Miller who cleared the way for Kathie Switzer to become the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon in 1967; and Marine veteran Scott Olson, who got his skull cracked while participating in an Occupy Wall Street march in 2011. And men like Mat Best, who is pretty goddamn liberal by military standards. He might very well be one of us if not for the repugnant hypocrisy of the limousine liberals who dog the steps of legitimate progressives and legitimate victims at every step by constantly crying “wolf.” Best is fond of criticizing those who equate patriotism with racism. Good on him for that. I’m equally fond of criticizing those who attempt to hold all white men responsible for the sins of the Kountry Klub Kommandos by spraying terms like “patriarchy” and “white privilege” at all and sundry. The truth is that there are plenty of good men in this nation of every size, shape, income, melanin level, sexual orientation, religious belief system and political viewpoint. Many of them are living pretty rough these days. Personally, I don’t have any use for those who think America can combat the scourge of sexism with reverse sexism or the scourge of racism with reverse racism. Because group bias is group bias, plain and simple, and it is the enemy of true liberalism. Regardless of whether the groups are traditional victim groups or not. I judge people by the choices they make in life, rather than the groups they were born into, because equality is a foundational values of liberalism. I know that approach has alienated some readers. We don’t need a bunch of human weather vanes at The Cynical Times. Meanwhile, I look at Mat Best and think “this kid and his smartass pals might be someone worth knowing.” Even though his views on gun control don’t mirror my own, he can’t spell his own first name, and he doesn’t seem to be able to keep a shirt on for more than 10 minutes at a time. I do that right after observing that Best looks and sounds a lot like the Steve Stifler character from America Pie, albeit at his 20th high school reunion. Do I know everything about the kid? Nope. Never talked to him and have only seen a fraction of his stuff, but I like what I’ve seen. Even the stuff I disagree with. Homeboy just put out a satirical video called “Conservative Comes Out.” It shows him telling his allegedly “liberal” family he’s a Conservative. Much like a gay man coming out to his parents. It was both hysterical and chockful of painful truths. The clip is neither anti-gay nor anti-Liberal, in my opinion. What Best was really poking fun at were reflexive rule followers. The money line occurs when Mat’s friend asks him how it went. “It’s amazing how violent people get when you’re just trying to articulate an opposing viewpoint,” Best says. No shit. We get that too in these days of rampant identity politics – from both directions. The sentiment is something everyone has experienced when dealing with reflexive rule followers and their robotic devotion to whatever dogma serves as their intellectual crutch. I don’t care what anyone tells you, the real enemy of a principled liberal is not a principled conservative. It’s the human weather vanes and reflexive rule followers of the world, who reflexively attack or ignore those of us with different viewpoints. The most dangerous of these weather vanes are opportunistic bullshit artists like Trump and Hillary, who hijack populist movements like Occupy Wall Street and Me Too and transform them into vehicles for their own personal aggrandizement. These political hookers don’t want followers, they want worshippers, because they’re all about themselves. They have zero interest in public service. Well, I pass. Because I can do better. This kind of navel gazing always brings to mind the annual junior-senior football game at The Bronx High School of Science – my alma mater. We had 4,200 students, but no varsity football team. So the juniors and seniors would square off for a “friendly” game every year. Only 20 juniors suited up when I was in 11th grade, which is barely enough to field a team. However, more than 90 came out to play as seniors. Where were they all a year earlier, when it was time to play the underdog? Why did they all suddenly discover their love for the game a year later when it was time to play the bully? Because no poser can ever pass up the chance to play the fake tough guy and wear their brand new jersey around school ad nauseum, like they’re something they’re not. Which is why the senior team was awash in future human weather vanes who love to play Dress Up GI Joe now, but never had any interest in military service in their youth. These are the posers the firearms industry is getting fat off. I look at Mat Best and his crew and think: “you know, I bet those kids would have been taking their lumps beside me junior year.” Because why live in fear? Fugg the seniors. And fugg Hillary and Trump while we’re at it and anyone else who needs to demonize those who disagree with them. This is a big country, with room for lots of different viewpoints. The only distinction that really matters is the one between the Americans who live their lives in trembling fear and those of us who refuse to take the bait and hate everyone who doesn’t look, act or think as we do. Case in point, the removal of children from Neo Nazi homes. I’m Jewish and it’s hard for me to find a silver lining in a group which is dedicated to exterminating me and mine, but you know what? It’s still terribly wrong when the state puts their kids in foster care. Especially given how contrary American kids are these days. You never know, these Nazi tykes might grow up to be transgender, Hindu, liberals in committed biracial relationships. Or former Army Rangers who spend an inordinate amount of time polishing their bullets and admiring themselves in the mirror before heading to the shooting range. What difference does any of it make so long as they’re good kids? The Cynical Times is a liberal news and satire organization devoted to the poor and faltering middle class. And no, we don’t lift.

Whārangi 1: Biography Berendsen, Carl August Senior public servant, diplomat I tuhia tēnei haurongo e Ian McGibbon, ā, i tāngia tuatahitia ki Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau i te 1998. Carl August Berendsen was born at Woollahra, New South Wales, on 16 August 1890, the only child of Jurgen Ferdinand Plenge Berendsen, a Swedish immigrant then working as a bank clerk, and his Australian wife, Fannie Asher, the daughter of a Jewish businessman who had been a storekeeper and trader in Wellington in the early 1840s. His mother had, it seems, renounced Judaism, and she raised him as a Christian, though he was never of a religious bent and later confessed to a lifelong 'contempt for the Scriptures'. His father found it difficult to maintain steady employment and was often absent. When Carl was 10 years old he moved with his family to New Zealand. They settled at Waimumu, six miles from Mataura, Southland, where they lived in very straitened circumstances, his father having taken a position as a gold-dredge supervisor. Berendsen later described their house, which was lined with wheat sacks, as a 'monstrosity'. After a slow start, Berendsen excelled at school. He attended primary school in Mataura, and later Gore District High School, where he was dux in 1905. His academic success led to plans for him to be apprenticed to a cabinetmaker being dropped. He passed the junior civil service examination in December 1905, and began a cadetship in the Department of Education in February 1906. He attended Victoria College part time, graduating LLB in 1914; he was deeply disappointed to gain only second-class honours in his master of laws in 1916. A keen sportsman, he played both rugby and cricket competitively, and represented Wellington in the latter in 1911–12. Berendsen was of medium height, with a dark complexion and a pair of 'almost forbidding eyebrows'. Following the outbreak of the First World War Berendsen, who had been a member of the Territorial Force for three years and a reluctant officer in a senior cadet company from 1913, volunteered for the expeditionary force which was hastily raised to capture German Samoa. He left with it as a lance corporal on 14 August 1914. After the force was relieved, he was discharged in Wellington in April 1915, and apparently promised his mother that he would not again volunteer for service. Berendsen went back to the Department of Education, remaining with it until May 1916 when he transferred to the Department of Labour. In November of the following year he was promoted to chief clerk, and later became deputy registrar of industrial unions. By the time of these appointments, Berendsen had been called up for military service, in May 1917. Employed as an instructor at Trentham Military Camp, he was able to continue his courtship of former Education Department colleague Nellie Ellis Brown, whom he married at St John's Church, Wellington, on 15 December 1917; they would have two sons. Berendsen, now a sergeant, did not proceed overseas until October 1918. The war ended before his arrival in Britain in December, at which point he reverted to the rank of corporal. He was at Sling Camp until early in 1919, when he was attached, as a temporary warrant officer, to the high commissioner's office in London for three months to assist with the general election and licensing polls among New Zealand troops. He embarked for home in June 1919. Berendsen resumed his public service career in August 1919, and immediately won an appeal over his salary. His management style was often abrasive, for he was not averse to swearing and shouting at staff. He spent several months each year visiting district offices throughout New Zealand, and, after being admitted to the Bar in 1924, took many of the department's court cases; he later claimed never to have lost one. However, he did not find the department congenial, and the prospect of eventually becoming its permanent head did not prevent him from readily taking an opportunity in 1926 to transfer to the newly created Prime Minister's Department as imperial affairs officer. Berendsen claimed in his application to have 'intelligence[,] industry, integrity and interest in the proposed position'. On 21 June 1926 Berendsen took up his new job, the title of which he 'always loathed', with much uncertainty as to what was required of him. He later recalled that departmental head F. D. Thomson 'just took me into my room, told me it was mine, pointed to [a] heap of papers on the table, and said, ‘‘There they are, Berry: they're all yours,’’ and left me to it without another word'. With a staff of two, Berendsen immediately set about preparing for the 1926 Imperial Conference in London, to which he accompanied the prime minister, Gordon Coates. The imperial affairs officer's role was clarified in March 1927. Berendsen was henceforth responsible for overseeing and co-ordinating all international matters within the purview of the prime minister, and all correspondence with the governor general and the high commissioner in London. He also kept the prime minister in touch with the 'larger aspects' of departmental administration, for which he had regular meetings with permanent heads of the relevant departments. As political controversy developed in 1927 over New Zealand's administration of its mandate of Western Samoa, Berendsen found himself increasingly involved in advising Coates on Samoan matters. When New Zealand's cruisers were dispatched to Apia in February 1928 in a largely futile effort to back the administration, he went along as Coates's liaison officer. In this 'largely comic opera' situation, his first task was to advise the administrator, Sir George Richardson, of his recall. Berendsen returned to Wellington in March. His experience had enhanced his value to Coates, who soon formalised his role by appointing him secretary of the Department of External Affairs, the functions of which were chiefly related to Samoa. Berendsen was a member of a committee of inquiry which visited Samoa in November–December 1928 to examine the administration's finances and staff; its report led to severe and far-reaching retrenchment. In 1933 he visited Samoa again. He was also secretary of the departments responsible for the administration of Niue and the Cook Islands. Berendsen was part of the New Zealand delegation at the 1930 Imperial Conference in London. He then went to Geneva as one of New Zealand's representatives to the League of Nations' Permanent Mandates Commission. On 15 January 1935 he became head of the Prime Minister's Department, a change that 'made no difference whatever' to his duties or functions. In 1936 he was appointed a CMG. Although politically conservative, he sympathised with the Labour government's views on international affairs, especially its emphasis on the League of Nations and the principle of collective security. Berendsen drafted proposals that were submitted, without effect, by New Zealand in 1936 for the reform of the world body. He was also a member of New Zealand's delegation to the league in Geneva that year. He attended the Imperial Conference and the coronation of King George VI in London in 1937, and provided briefing papers for Michael Joseph Savage which criticised appeasement of the fascist dictatorships in Europe. Nevertheless, he was also a realist, and was influential in determining New Zealand strategy after the conference, insisting in 1938 that New Zealand's defence lay in Europe. From September 1937 he was a member of the Council of Defence. Berendsen oversaw the preparations by the Organisation for National Security for a possible transition to war, and then the implementation of those plans when New Zealand declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. He accompanied acting Prime Minister Peter Fraser to London for talks about New Zealand's war effort in November 1939, and was involved in discussions on the command of the second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. With the establishment of the War Cabinet in July 1940, he became its secretary. After the overthrow of the pro-Vichy government of Tahiti by Free French supporters in early September 1940, Berendsen went to the island for discussions with the new authorities. The five-day visit culminated with him dancing at a cabaret with 'the ladies of the administration in a scene of great hilarity and enjoyment'. He travelled with Fraser, now prime minister, to the Middle East in 1941, and advised him during his private investigation of the performance of General Freyberg in Greece and Crete. Berendsen found working with Fraser increasingly uncongenial. Unlike Savage, who had 'treated him with dignity and even deference', Fraser was notoriously insensitive to the feelings of his advisers. Coupled with the heavy workload imposed by the war conditions, and the War Cabinet's unsystematic way of doing business, the clash of personalities had, by early 1943, reduced Berendsen to the verge of a nervous breakdown. The need for a lighter workload led to his appointment in February 1943 as New Zealand's first high commissioner to Australia. The Berendsens were to spend most of the next 10 years outside New Zealand. Berendsen overcame the teething problems of the new post, and adapted readily to the diplomatic life. Nevertheless, he did not find dealing with the Australian leadership easy, mainly because of differences between the two countries on whether the appropriate place for their contributions to the allied war effort was the Pacific or the Mediterranean. The most important development of his tenure was the signing, mainly at Australian instigation, of the Australia–New Zealand (or Canberra) Agreement on 21 January 1944. On 16 March 1944 he was appointed, somewhat to his surprise, as New Zealand minister in Washington. After a brief visit to Wellington he took up his post in July. In 1948 the legation was raised to an embassy and Berendsen became ambassador. Although appointed initially for three years, he had his term extended by a year in 1947; this became a yearly ritual until 31 January 1952. In 1949 the incoming National government unanimously agreed to his continuing in office. In Washington Berendsen, who was made a KCMG in 1946, represented New Zealand at numerous conferences. He sat on the Far Eastern Commission, which somewhat ineffectually oversaw the occupation of Japan, visiting Japan with the commission in 1945 and serving as chairman of the steering committee until 1949. He and Fraser were New Zealand's delegates to the San Francisco Conference in April–June 1945; both signed the United Nations Charter on behalf of New Zealand on 26 June. Disappointed with the outcome, Berendsen was henceforth an implacable opponent of the great-power veto in the Security Council. Between 1946 and 1951 he led the New Zealand delegation at meetings of the General Assembly in New York. Mainly on his own advice, he was appointed New Zealand's permanent delegate at the United Nations on 20 May 1949. From 1947 Berendsen also represented New Zealand on the United Nations Trusteeship Council; he was elected its vice president that year. These duties required him to spend at least eight months each year in New York, and seriously interfered with his ambassadorial duties in Washington. Although not a natural orator, Berendsen willed himself on to the public stage, always performing flamboyantly and speaking forcefully. A British observer in 1945 noted him making 'the regular sort of demagogic speech which he delights in'. The following year a journalist reported: 'Sir Carl Berendsen, who must play himself when Hollywood gets to filming these debates, breathed fire into the microphone in shouting ‘‘I object and I object with indignation’’ at any aspersion on the good name of New Zealand’. Berendsen had a good relationship with Alister McIntosh, secretary for external affairs from 1943, and they engaged in a lively correspondence. Younger officials were conscious that he had 'a fearsome reputation for a volcanic temper'. They found him quick to judge, but just as quick to acknowledge error, and he could be intensely loyal to them. McIntosh later described him as 'clear-minded and emphatic – usually dogmatic in his views', with a drafting style that 'reflected this clarity of mind in a style polished and pungent, if not always concise’. Members of his Washington staff later recalled him as 'an extremely decisive man who could not bear shilly-shallying'. He was reputed to have said: 'If you look at a thing and it's 51% black and 49% white then for Christ's sake, it's black’. As the Cold War developed, Berendsen was quicker than most New Zealand officials to be convinced that the Soviet Union was bent on aggression. He commended the United States’ firm opposition but was upset by questioning of his assumptions by younger officers in the Department of External Affairs when, in early 1948, he made his only visit to Wellington during his Washington service. When Soviet-backed North Korean forces invaded South Korea in June 1950, he applauded the American-inspired United Nations response. After China's intervention in the war, he feared that attempts to negotiate a settlement would lead to the same appeasement that had brought disaster in the late 1930s. Always mindful of the failure of Commonwealth of Nations defence arrangements in South-east Asia in 1941–42, Berendsen regarded a security commitment by the United States to New Zealand as vitally important. He described the ANZUS treaty, which he signed for New Zealand at San Francisco on 1 September 1951, as 'the greatest gift' that the world's most powerful country could offer to 'a small and comparatively helpless group of people'. One week later, in the same city, he also signed the Japanese Peace Treaty. During the peace conference he gained considerable prominence by moving the tactically important adoption of the rules of procedure – but only after beating the Soviet delegate, Andrei Gromyko, in a dramatic race to the rostrum. Gratified by the warmth of his reception, he described the conference as 'successful beyond my wildest dreams'. Berendsen became increasingly disillusioned with the government's treatment of him. In 1948 he claimed to have more than 50 grievances 'old and new, dead and alive'. Over-sensitive to slights, he reacted bitterly to what he saw as his mistreatment over appointments to UN delegations, over delays in the upgrading of New Zealand representation in Washington, and, above all, over salary and superannuation. Shortly before his retirement, in January 1952, Berendsen confessed to sadness at closing his service 'with a sense of bitter resentment and indignation at obvious and demonstrable injustices'. He refused to dine with the prime minister on one occasion so angry was he about his treatment. After Berendsen retired, he and Nellie returned to Wellington, where he characteristically found much to grumble about: too much horse-racing and gambling, overindulgence in alcohol, and 'a menacing dependence of the individual upon the State'. He also resented the fact that he was not asked for advice or comment by the Department of External Affairs, though he occasionally gave it anyway. In September 1952 he set off for North America for the first of a series of annual lecture tours. Typically, for the Berendsens enjoyed travelling to out of the way places, they went by sea via Curaçao. A burst duodenal ulcer nearly killed him on a voyage in 1953. During his retirement he also wrote a voluminous account of his life, which was never published. He died at Dunedin on 12 September 1973, some weeks after suffering a stroke. He was survived by both sons and his wife, who died in 1983.

In 2013, David Elcott and his wife Rabbi Shira Milgram flew to Ethiopia to witness the final aliyah of Ethiopian Jews. What they found instead was that not all of the Jews were able to leave. About 9,000 were left behind — they are believed to be the last Jews in the world awaiting aliyah. The new documentary “The Passengers” depicts their struggle to immigrate to Israel. As one member of the community says, “Always, I dream of Israel.” The film focuses on the efforts of two young men in their 20s, best friends who are like brothers — who have never been out of Ethiopia. On a tour organized by Elcott, they travel around America to meet with Jewish communal leaders to bring attention to and advance the cause of their people — “and bring them home.” Before they leave, the community elders tell them, “Please be our voice,” a command they don’t take lightly. According to the film, there are now more than 140,000 Ethiopians living in Israel. Those who remain in Ethiopia are mostly part of the Falash Mura community, a group that largely converted to Christianity a few generations ago, and has since returned to Judaism. Among the Ethiopians in Israel now, some 50,000, according to activists, are Falash Mura. As is pointed out in the film, the Israeli government has been reaching out to Spanish citizens who are descendants of Marranos, or forced converts, to make aliyah, so there is precedent. All of the Ethiopian Jews have had to undergo a formal conversion in Israel. In 2015, the Israeli government approved their admission to Israel, but reneged four months later, citing budgetary constraints. Since then, only a few have been allowed to make aliyah. The visually stunning film opens in the compound in Gondar, where Jews live. They are first encountered in prayer, with men wearing prayer shawls, some in white robes, their prayer books in facing pages of Amharic and Hebrew. One of the young men, Gezahegn Derebe, known as Gezi, says about living in Ethiopia, “The place is temporary for us. We are just living as guests or as a passenger.” His response inspires the title, as filmmaker Ryan Porush points out. “It’s a layered metaphor of Jews being in exodus, journeying, with a destination that’s hard to reach.” Porush, who served as the film’s director, producer and the main cinematographer, went to Ethiopia in 2016 and flew to the U.S. with Derebe and Demoz Deboch. He says that the film raises issues about what it means to be Jewish. A professor at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service and longtime activist who formerly held leadership roles at Clal, the AJC and the Israel Policy, Elcott called on his contacts throughout the Jewish community. In the film, they meet with heads of Jewish organizations, federations, Hillel groups and others. When asked if he was disappointed that although the boys found sympathetic ears, no one stepped up to move their cause ahead in a significant way, he says, “I’m perplexed. Because the mantra of the Jewish community is ‘Never again.’” Some in the film, including Knesset member Avraham Neguise, the Israeli parliament’s only Ethiopian member, accuse the Israeli government of racism. Elcott says that the problem is more a matter of “bureaucratic indolence” and points out that Israel has a progressive history of immigration, and that it has gone to great lengths to bring large numbers of Ethiopians to Israel. He says that he wants to hold Israel to commitments it has made. At a time when there are protests in this country about families seeking asylum being separated at the border, the images of Ethiopians now in Israel holding up photos of family members left behind are striking. Gezi says, “We have different skin color, but we have the same blood.” By film’s end, Deboch is able to leave for Israel, and Porush films his homecoming with much emotion. Heartbreakingly, Derebe is left behind. Elcott and Porush arranged a private screening of “The Passengers” for communal leaders this week at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan and plan to show it at film festivals and other venues. They see it as a call to action.

Diller Family Foundation The Diller Tikkun Olam Awards recognize 15 Jewish teens each year for their extraordinary community service work. Tikkun Olam, which means repairing the world, is exactly what these teens are doing - showing incredible innovation, creativity, and leadership in their communities and around the world. Kveller is proud to partner with the Diller Foundation to share their amazing stories. Even before #MeToo became a viral hashtag, Minnah Stein — aged 14 at the time — was working to educate and empower younger generations about sexual assault and harassment. As she says, “sexual assault and harassment don’t start in the workplace or in college. They begin much earlier. K-12 schools are breeding grounds for harassment and assault, and I want to stop this problem at the source.” After hearing a report on NPR that 1 in 5 girls will be sexually assaulted while in college (as will 1 in 16 boys), Minnah was inspired to launch EMPOWERU, an initiative to educate students on consent, safety, and Title IX rights, which protect students from discrimination based on gender. More than 40,000 students and educators currently benefit from EMPOWERU’s programming, and EMPOWERU’s influence keeps expanding. For this groundbreaking work, Minnah is a 2018 recipient of the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards. We spoke with Minnah her just after she graduated high school in Sarasota, Florida. What is your favorite book? My favorite book is Gone With the Wind. It is the most interesting feminist novel I have ever read. There are so many hidden references and allusions, every time I read it I get something new out of it. Your favorite thing to do with a free afternoon? I enjoy reading, hanging out with my friends, drawing, and playing my banjolele. And how about school — what’s your favorite subject? My favorite subject is always history. We learn so much by studying what was done in the past. Who would you say has had the greatest positive influence on your life? The biggest positive influence in my life has been my mom. She has taught me from day one that no dream or goal is too big or unachievable if I put in the work, and that Tikkun Olam isn’t something we just learn about — it’s something we have to practice in our daily life. And can you tell me about that first moment when you heard that report on NPR and decided you had to raise awareness about the statistics of sexual assault? Sure. When I was 14, I heard an NPR story about the Red Zone, the time between Thanksgiving and Winter Break, when college students are the most at risk of being sexually assaulted. When I heard the statistics, I was shocked and appalled. I later learned that these statistics for college are equally rampant in high school and that the problem starts even younger. My friends and I would be heading off to college soon, yet no one was talking to us about this. I felt like, armed with these facts, I couldn’t stay silent. I had to do something. I wanted to educate students on the facts of the issue to help them stay safe. What was your first big initiative and how did it go? I had over 200 high school students in Sarasota County take the pledge against sexual assault. I got messages from some students taking the pledge who supported my work and encouraged me to continue it. Some students shared with me that they or a friend were a survivor, driving home the point that this problem is real, it happens in our communities, and it needs to be addressed if we are going to ever stop it. Wow. And can you tell me more about EMPOWERU’s Title IX program? How and what do you teach? EMPOWERU works to empower students by starting an important discussion on the issue of sexual assault and harassment. I want to teach students the facts of the issue, what constitutes consent, rights under Title IX, and how to be a helpful bystander. With the #Metoo and Time’s Up movements, sexual assault and harassment in the workplace have become a national issue. That’s great progress and very necessary, but sexual assault and harassment don’t start in the workplace or in college. They begin much earlier. K-12 schools are breeding grounds for harassment and assault, and I want to stop this problem at the source. The way to do that is to start the conversation and present the facts. I work to get students, families, and schools working together to combat this problem. I also help promote #MeTooK12, which was created by the national nonprofit Stop Sexual Assault in Schools specifically for K-12 survivors, families, and advocates. What would you say is the hardest part about doing this work? Well, sexual assault and harassment aren’t easy subjects for most people to talk about. The hardest part of this work is starting the conversation and making people open to talking about sexual harassment and assault in K-12 schools. The most rewarding? The most rewarding part of the work I do has been seeing students engage with the material. When I was hosting screenings of It Happened Here — a documentary about sexual assault — students would ask all kinds of questions and get really interested in the subject. It was amazing to see these students get the education they need and deserve. How do you balance this work with being a teenager and going to school? I think the key way to balance being a teenager, going to school, and being an activist is making sure the things you commit to are things you are passionate about. I have a busy school schedule and workload, but I try to balance it with doing extracurriculars I am passionate about. It’s never something I have to do; it’s always something I feel compelled and driven to do. And so, what’s next for the EMPOWERU campaign? I partnered with the national non-profit Stop Sexual Assault in Schools a few years ago and helped produce the documentary “Sexual Harassment: Not in Our School!” Using this educational video and support materials, I have developed an educational program for Sarasota County K-12 schools that will educate over 40,000 students, teachers, and administrators on the facts of the issue, what constitutes consent, rights under Title IX, how to file a complaint, what to do if a student comes to you and tells you they have been assaulted or harassed, and how to be a helpful bystander. I want to help other schools and organizations nationwide adopt this program. The video and support materials are free to anyone who wants them by logging on to www.ssais.org/video If you could have one superpower, what would it be? If I had a superpower, I would want it to be the power to heal. Sounds like you’re doing that already.

Iran and Israel - understanding the dynamics Cyrus Safdari – Iran Affairs October 6, 2007 The real threat that Iran poses to Israel is that Iran and the US may start to get along, thus undermining Israel's strategic value to the US and creating an obstacle to Israel's regional ambitions. Promoting emnity between the US and Iran also gives the pro-Israeli lobby a reason to exist, even though it is contrary to broader US interests. By now you're quite familar with the standard trope in which Iran, the crazed fundamentalist regime, is supposedly seeking nuclear weapons in order to pose an 'existential' threat to Israel. This is a convenient way to frame the issue, because among other things is perpetuates the mythology of Israel as the underdog victim, facing down a sea of irrationally hostile neighbors. That's why the Israeli propagandists make a particular effort at locating and magnifying any statements from Iranian officials that they can characterize as being threatening to Israel - for example the alleged statement by Ahmadinejad (the New Hitler, we are told) about "wiping out" Israel - now thoroughly debunked but still often repeated. The mythology of Israel as the always-victim was never true of course, as even Israeli historians now acknowledge - nor is it an accurate representation of the Israel-Iran dynamics either. The real threat to Israel: US-Iran engagement What is the real nature of the threat that Iran poses to Israel? Is it that Iran is going to drop a nuke on Israel? No. According to Trita Parsi, author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States, Israel has often gotten along and cooperated with Iran when it suited their interests. In fact, when AIPAC was pushing for US sanctions laws on Iran that prohibited American companies from doing business with Iran, Israel was busy doing business with Iran through Turkey. The danger that Iran poses to Israel is not that Iran may one day decide to nuke Israel - the Iranians are not about to get into a sucidal nuclear exchange with anyone - no matter how hard the Israelis try to portray Iranians as crazed fundamentalists. Rather, the real danger posed by Iran to Israel is that Iran and the US may start to get along, leaving Israel out in the cold, threatening Israel's strategic value to the US, and posing an obstacle to Israel's domination of the Middle East. A secure, economically-stable Iran - which has the benefit of nuclear energy to power its economy in the future and is perceived as being technologically advanced - plus Iran's strategic position and relatively well-educated population of 75 million potential consumers of US goods, added to many other factors - all would pose too much of a temptation to the US to start to warm up to Iran - especially now that the Cold War is over and Israel's strategic utility to the US is severely diminished (assuming Israel was ever a strategic asset during the Cold War in the first place.) As Trita has written: "[I]t wasn’t Iran that turned the Israeli-Iranian cold war warm – it was Israel . . . The Israeli reversal on Iran was partially motivated by the fear that its strategic importance would diminish significantly in the post-cold war middle east if the then president (1989-97) Hashemi Rafsanjani’s outreach to the Bush Sr administration was successful." Israeli politicians began painting the regime in Tehran as fanatical and irrational. Clearly, they maintained, finding an accommodation with such “mad mullahs” was a non-starter. Instead, they called on the US to classify Iran, along with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, as a rogue state that needed to be “contained.” The Iran-Bashing Industry Israel's characterization of Iran as an irrational threat that has to be contained rather than engaged has had the added benefit of providing a raison d'etre for the hardline pro-Israeli lobby in the US. By 1993, with the end of the Cold War and the start of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process under Rabin, AIPAC had lost its purpose and was in a tailspin due to a series of scandals. It had essentially broken off from the Labor government in Israel over the peace process, and had alienated Bush I administration too. AIPAC's swing to the hardline Right had also alienated a good chunk of the Jewish community in the US and had raised quite a bit of ire & controversey all around: by its attempts to impose its hawkish views on the Washington Jewish Week; disclosure by the Village Voice in Aug 92 that a unit of AIPAC had investigated and harassed dovish Jewish peace groups; leaked memos of how AIPAC intended to discredit figures such as Jerome Segal of the Jewish Peace Lobby, Jim Zogby and Jesse Jackson; Rabin explicitly telling AIPAC to back off; Shamir's conflict with Bush I over loan guarantees, etc - all made worse by a series of other scandals and in-fighting which led to the resignations of top AIPAC officials like Thomas Dine, David Steiner, and Harvey Friedman... In fact in June 1993, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin explicitly stated that AIPAC was a right-wing lobby that represented neither his government nor the views of the American Jewish public. But then came the issue of Iran's award of a lucrative oil contract to Conoco as an opening gesture to the US. It was a Godsend to AIPAC, which rallied hard behind sanctions legislation along with Senator Alfonse D'Amato. With the election of Netanyahu and Indyk's "Dual Containment" policy in ascendance, AIPAC got back in business as never before, and they went to town over Iran, pushing harder and harder on primary then secondary sanctions legislation. Now they've gone completely overboard and are overtly embracing the likes of Rev Hagee who explicitly calls for an apocalyptic war on Iran. In short, with the end of the Cold War and the renewal of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, AIPAC needed a reason to exist & a "threat" to rally around - and they found Iran. As Walt & Mearsheimer have written: "In addition to this tendency for those with more extreme views to back and dominate key organizations in the lobby, there is another reason that many pro-Israeli groups have moved rightward: to keep contributions flowing in. As Waxman notes, "Many American Jewish organizations now need Israel to legitimate their own existence. Although these organizations may have been established for the purpose of enhancing and strengthening Israel, today Israel is vital for their continued viability." Portraying Israel as beleaguered and vulnerable, and issuing dire warnings about continued or growing anti-Semitism helps maintain a high level of concern among political supporters and thus helps ensure these organizations' continued existence. And what is the natural conclusion of this sort of policy of "no engagement with Iran"? Although it makes good strategic sense for the United States and Iran to pursue a grand bargain, and although there is plenty of suport for that policy inside and outside of America, it is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Israel and the lobby will almost certainly try to thwart any efforts to seriously engage Iran before they get started, as they have consistently done since 1993...If the United States does launch an attack, it will be doing so in part on Israel's behalf, and the lobby will bear significant responsibility for having pushed this dangerous policy. And it would not be in America's national interest. So now you know. Last updated 13/10/2007

Sports governing body |This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2012)| A sports governing body is a sports organisation that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sports governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport that they govern. Governing bodies have different scopes. They may cover a range of sport at an international level, such as the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, or only a single sport at a national level, such as the Rugby Football League. National bodies may or may not be affiliated to international bodies for the same sport. The first international federations were formed at the end of the 19th century. Types of sports governing bodies Every sport has a different governing body that can define the way that the sport operates through its afflicted clubs and societies. This is because sports have different levels of difficulty and skill, so they can try to organise the people playing their sport by ability and by age. The different types of sport governing bodies are all shown below: International sports federations are responsible for one sport (or a group of similar sport disciplines, such as aquatics or skiing). They create a common set of rules and organise international competitions. The promotion of the sport are also a task of an international federation. National federations have the same objectives as an international federation, but within the scope of one country, or even part of a country, as the name implies. They support local clubs and are often responsible for national teams. National Olympic Committees and National Paralympic Committees are both a type of National Federation, as they are responsible for a country's participation in the Olympic Games and in the Paralympic Games respectively. However, a national governing body (NGB) can be different from a national federation due to government recognition requirements. Also, NGBs can be a supraorganization representing a range of unrelated organisations operating in a particular sport as evident in the example of the Northern Ireland Federation of Sub-Aqua Clubs. Multi-sport event organizers are responsible for the organization of an event that includes more than one sport. The best-known example is the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the organizer of the modern Olympic Games. General sports organisations are responsible for sports related topics, usually for a certain group, such as the Catholic or Jewish sports groups. General sports organisations can also exist for the army and other groups, but they usually are medium-sized, as they do not have that much of a budget to work with. Professional sports leagues are usually the highest level of play in sport, specifically if they consist of the best players around the world in a certain sport. Because of this, they usually work with national and/or international federations, but there is usually a separation between the different federations. Most North American professional leagues usually do not have amateur divisions, as the amateur divisions are mostly run in separate leagues. In addition, most professional leagues are related to other leagues, as players usually attempt to play in the league with the highest level of play. Because of this, promotion and relegation can occur; or, in league systems without promotion and relegation, clubs in professional leagues can have a team in the minor leagues. This enables them to shuffle players who are not doing well to the minor leagues, which will inspire them to contribute more to the team by playing better. - List of international sports federations - List of sports governing bodies in Japan - List of sports governing bodies in Turkey - List of sports governing bodies in Wales

Israel's most draconian laws may have been passed by the current right-wing government, but the stage was set long ago by the Israeli Left. With a majority of 65 votes, the Knesset approved last week the extension of an order to prevent family reunification in Israel. Of Palestinian families, of course. Jews are welcome to continue and reunify as much as they please. [tmwinpost] As always, the pretext for approving this draconian law, which deprives Palestinian citizens who fell in love with a Palestinian from the occupied territories (not to mention a Syrian, Lebanese, or Iranian citizen) from living with…Read More... The Palestinian flag is our symbol of resistance to occupation and land theft. Only once we remedy the injustices of the past will we be able to stop waving it. Last week the joint Arab-Jewish party Hadash and Zionist leftist party Meretz held a joint protest in Tel Aviv against the appointment of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and the growing extremism of the Netanyahu government. During the demonstration Meretz activists demanded that Palestinian demonstrators refrain from waving their national flag, a move that angered many Palestinian activists. The controversy over the two flags shows, once again, that the Zionist Left…Read More... | 2 Comments Slowly but surely, the process of shedding democratic characteristics in favor of 'ethnocratic' ones is becoming clearer and clearer for all to see. By Tomer Persico (translated by Maya Haber) Over the last few weeks we have heard about the collapse of the delicate duality the Israeli government has been trying to preserve for years. It is the duality of occupation at home and democracy for abroad, religious coercion at home and a booming high-tech industry abroad, the stabbing at Jerusalem's pride parade and pinkwashing abroad. It is a strategic duality. It allows Israel to play a part in the…Read More... | 2 Comments A proposed law would force human rights NGOs to sport special labels indicating that they receive foreign funding. Maybe it's time to talk about what kind of policies Israeli taxpayers are funding. By Mossi Raz I said it before and I'll say it again: Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked's "Transparency Bill" is a semi-fascistic law that harms democracy and silences dissent in a way that is reminiscent of Putin's Russia. The legislators of the bill have an advantage over the Israeli Left in nearly every aspect: they have organized settlements in which the residents pay municipal taxes that go toward the…Read More... | 2 Comments Why doesn't the Foreign Ministry care whether Israeli weapons end up in the hands of serial human rights violators such as South Sudan? Israel's greatest champions pride themselves on supporting a flourishing country based on start-up ingenuity that respects democracy and human rights. But do those who call Israel the "start-up nation" and the "only democracy in the Middle East" know just how embroiled the Jewish state is in selling arms to serial human rights violators? Israel's shadowy relationship with tyrannical regimes the world over reared its head Sunday morning when the Foreign Ministry announced its objection to a new…Read More... | 2 Comments People generally associate Rabin’s legacy with the Oslo Accords, for which he was later murdered. Less cited is the fact that Rabin’s revolution was dependent on a one-time collaboration with Arab members of Knesset. Today, just like then, that remains our premier task. By Ron Gerlitz When I was in basic training in the army, our commanders woke us up in the middle of the night to tell us Rabin had been elected prime minister. The night he died, I was on a naval patrol boat on a routine and not-so-heroic mission off the coast of Lebanon. The radio was…Read More... | 1 Comment Thousands of Israelis demonstrate in central Tel Aviv against the government's unwillingness to reach an agreement with the Palestinians. Photos by Yotam Ronen, Oren Ziv / Activestills.org Thousands of Israelis participated in a protest march in central Tel Aviv Saturday night against the Netanyahu government's policies in the West Bank and the continuing violence. The demonstrators, many of them from Peace Now — which organized the event — and the left-wing Meretz party, along with several members from the Arab-Jewish Hadash party and Da'am Workers Party, marched from Habima Square to the IDF headquarters on Kaplan Street, waving Israeli flags…Read More... | 3 Comments Amid the most serious wave of violence Israelis have experienced in at least a decade, several hundred left-wing Israelis protested outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem this weekend, demanding an end to the occupation and the violence. A larger right-wing protest was scheduled to take place in the same location Tuesday night, calling for a harsher and more violent response to the wave of stabbing attacks.Read More... | 1 Comment Between unequal distribution of municipal taxes that discriminate against development towns and admittance committees that bar entry to those who do not belong to the 'white tribe,' the Left must lead the struggle against the kibbutz's sectorial policies. By Elad Wolf Since the founding of the state, the kibbutzim have undergone a process of privatization. From their socialist infrastructure, the kibbutzim and the moshavim have turned into the enemies of equality and solidarity. Perhaps the time has come for the Left to move forward and release its hold on the kibbutzim. [tmwinpost] The biggest question one must ask is what…Read More... | 21 Comments The Labor party is convinced that it can somehow disassociate itself with the Left, call itself the ‘center’ and sneak its way back into power with semantic tricks. It will take the entire left-wing camp down with it. By Tom Cohen Last year, a delegation of Knesset members went to visit PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Among the MKs who participated were Hilik Bar of Labor and Tamar Zandberg of Meretz. There had been a terror attack a few days earlier and there was some pressure to cancel the visit. But MK Bar, who was the head of the Knesset’s Two-State…Read More... | 3 Comments Netanyahu picked a fight with a sitting U.S. president and declared there will never be a Palestinian State. It might have helped him squeeze out another election victory, but where is Israel heading? The Likud and Labor (The Zionist Camp) are tied with 27 seats, but Benjamin Netanyahu has way more paths to bring together the 61 seats necessary for forming a government, and another term for himself. That’s the bottom line of the exit polls published by the Israeli TV channels as the polling stations closed on Tuesday night. Netanyahu and his party members are celebrating, and Bibi is…Read More... | 7 Comments Three months ago, I would have told you that the Right will sweep the elections. But this election cycle has shown that people are looking for an alternative, and that the Left still has a lot of work to do. Regardless of the results of Tuesday's election, these last few months have signaled a positive change: a question mark, a reminder of summer 2011, a leftward turn. When elections were announced three months ago, no one truly understood what they were about or why they were even necessary. Only few doubted that the next Knesset would look significantly different from…Read More... The Israeli prime minister called elections hoping to strengthen his coalition, but he underestimated the personal resentment many Israelis feel toward him. One shouldn't, however, confuse the fierce competition for power with a battle over ideas: even if Labor wins, the end of the occupation is not around the corner. When Benjamin Netanyahu decided to fire Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and send Israelis to the polls for the second time in a little over two years, many people (myself included) defined these elections as “a referendum on Netanyahu.” Final results will only be in on…Read More... | 12 Comments OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTERSubmit - MOST READMOST COMMENTED24 HOURS|WEEK|MONTH - Tweets from https://twitter.com/972mag/lists/writers-972-magazine

Political dignitaries have gathered alongside generations of people saved as a result of the actions of Sir Nicholas Winton to remember and celebrate his life. Known as “Britain’s Schindler”, Sir Nicholas, who died last year aged 106, helped 669 mostly Jewish children flee Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia just before the outbreak of the Second World War. The London-born stockbroker founded the Kindertransport following a visit to Prague at the end of 1938 during which he felt compelled to help save children there from almost certain death. His bravery was only made known to the public half a century later, when his family happened upon an old briefcase in the attic containing lists of children and letters from their parents. Home Secretary Theresa May, MP for Maidenhead, where Sir Nicholas lived, joined Czech and Slovak officials at the Guildhall in London on what would have been Sir Nicholas’s 107th birthday. Survivors from as far as Israel, America and the Czech Republic attended the service alongside descendants of some of those who have since died, to commemorate the life of a man they say they owe their lives to. Among the rescued “children” to pay tribute was Lord Dubs, who was six years old when his mother put him on one of the eight trains which carried the young people to Britain. The former Labour MP, who came to consider Sir Nicholas a friend when they met in later life, said he had had the “tenacity and willpower” to take action against the problems facing people in Prague. He said: “He tackled them with determination and he did it. He could’ve walked away but he didn’t, and to him many of us owe our lives.” Sir Nicholas, known affectionately as Nicky by his family, lived a life full of “love, laughter, passion and commitment”, his daughter Barbara said. Considering the families many of the children went on to have, Sir Nicholas’s relatives estimate somewhere in the region of 7,000 people were able to live because of what he did. Among his many honours were an MBE in 1983 for his services to learning disability charity Mencap, a knighthood in 2003 for services to humanity, and the awarding of a Hero of the Holocaust medal at 10 Downing Street in 2010. Dame Esther Rantzen, whose That’s Life programme in 1988 brought Sir Nicholas’s story to public attention, recreated the moment he first met those he had saved. The clip showing Sir Nicholas in the audience as more and more of those around him stand up after being asked: “Is there anyone in our audience tonight who owes their life to Nicholas Winton?” has been viewed millions of times online. Addressing those gathered at the memorial service, Dame Esther again asked those who felt they owed their life to Sir Nicholas to stand up. As dozens of people rose from their seats, she said: “And it was at this stage that Nicky Winton himself turned round and saw for the first time the enormous impact his decision had made not only on one generation but on generations of Winton’s children. Thank you very much. Nicky, I hope you’re watching.” Mrs May, who also addressed those gathered, said she felt privileged to have known Sir Nicholas, whose story she described as “extraordinary”. She recalled speaking to him at an event in 2010, shortly after the Conservatives formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. Amid laughter from the audience, she said: “He said to me, ‘I just want to tell you that coalition means compromise and that isn’t always a bad thing. Never forget that’.” The memorial service featured musical contributions including a children’s choir who sang from Carl Davis’s Last Train to Tomorrow which was written to tell the story of the Kindertransport children. Sir Nicholas’s son Nick said he hoped his father’s example would continue to inspire others as they look to the future. He said: “It is his legacy to inspire and encourage all of us to be actively involved in our own communities. He’s inspired me, my sister and many others I know, many of you in this room. And that is one of the ways his memory will live on and stay with us in the future.”

The Bible in World History Author: Stephen Leston, Christopher D. Hudson What was happening outside Bible lands during the time of the patriarchs, Jewish kingdoms, the prophets, Jesus’ ministry, and the early church? Find out with The Bible in World History. This pocket-sized, fully illustrated reference breaks biblical and early church history into eight major time periods—from “Creation to the Tower of Babel” through “Anno Domini,” the years from Jesus’ birth to about AD 330—and shows what was happening in other parts of the world during those times. With references to Chinese, Indian, African, and Mayan cultures, among others, The Bible in World History will help you see how history and scripture intersect. Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc. 288Pages / Publication Date: 20170101 Subject: REL006630-RELIGION / Biblical Studies / History & Culture,

NEW YORK - The belief that the Lubavitch rabbi who died 10 years ago is the messiah, no longer holds water for most of the movement's Hasids in America. The messianic stream slightly damaged the image of the Chabad movement there at the time, but now only distant echoes remain. Despite the intifada and economic difficulties in Israel, the rate of immigration from North America has risen by about 20 percent in 2003, according to Jewish Agency statistics released yesterday. The end of a tough round of UN meetings for Israel has seen Jewish leaders accusing Ambassador Dan Gillerman of damaging arrogance. A new congregation on the Upper East Side hopes to draw in those disaffected by the Jewish community in Manhattan's developing synagogue war. Though over 40 percent of Americans view Israel as a threat to world peace, support for Israel's policies remains high among the American public, according to the results of a survey released yesterday by the Anti-Defamation League.

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First the Kingdom, episode 34: Praying the Lord’s Prayer Back in 1963, the day in our local Junior High school began either in the main auditorium or home room with the pledge of allegiance and the Lord’s Prayer. Eventually a recent Supreme Court decision that school sponsored prayer was unconstitutional began to change that tradition. I specifically remember our home room teacher announcing to us that she would continue to pray the Lord’s Prayer, but also that anyone in the room could freely opt out. Even though prayer was not technically banned from schools, the public perception was that our government had joined the movement of modern times against simple faith in an all-powerful God. As much as the opponents of public prayer in schools have denied this, the results speak for themselves. The fact is, believers can always pray in the USA. The real loss is what the children who did not know Christ might have gained from learning this prayer back then. Today I would add that even some children of of believing families have often lost the rich benefits of knowing and reciting this prayer. Some time back I attended the funeral of a retired police officer. At the grave site, the pastor recited a passage of scripture and began praying “Our Father, Who art in heaven….” Immediately, and without prompting, everyone there began to join him in the prayer that was well known to his generation. It was a refreshing experience that brought me back to those junior high school days when hundreds of students would recite this prayer together! One complaint I heard from a Jewish girl was that she did not want to pray a Christian prayer. In fact all the elements of this prayer can be found in the prayers of their own Hebrew scriptures, known to Christians as the Old Testament. I count myself greatly and richly blessed to have been taught from the entire Bible, both the old and new testaments. In the Lord’s Prayer I am reminded how Jesus felt about past generations, the promises that were given unto them, and the hope of the fulfillment that he was bringing. This model prayer sums up the foundational and crucial elements of the Christian life. It keeps us mindful of the intimate relationship we have with our Heavenly Father, and our goal to glorify Him. As we pray We become conscious of our part in bringing righteousness, peace and joy – His kingdom to this earth. We understand our constant need for Him, His provisions and His forgiveness, as well as our need to forgive others. Finally in it we seek for His guidance and protection every day, and acknowledge that everything good, loving and holy comes from His reign over us in power and eternal victory. Anyone who is at all familiar with the prayers in the Bible should know that God listens to all sorts of prayers. We are in no way limited to praying this one short prayer. At the same time the use of this or any memorized prayer should not be looked down on as ritualistic. what is in our hearts? That seems to be the important thing. When I think of how Jesus Himself gave us this wonderful gift to teach us and encourage us in prayer, how or why would we refuse it? I invite you to pray along with me today: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

An Interview with Akiva Zimmerman By Elie Delibe Q. What news is there today in the world of Chazanuth, is there a decline in the standard of chazanuth or rather a static situation? A. I am rather depressed because of the general situation concerning Chazanim. I have a feeling that there is a rapid decline in the standard of Chazanuth in many countries with large Jewish Communities. In particular I see a decline in the United States. Q. Why do you think it is so, are there no more excellent Chazanim of high standard of whom we can be proud, and in whom we may see the continuation of the traditional Chazanuth? A. Fortunately there are still such Chazanim, but only very few whose performance and interpretation in prayer would bring his listeners into an ecstasy, or into a spiritual uplift. Q. Can you explain why, do you think there is a decline in the standard of Chazanuth, what are the main reasons for this? A. It seems to me that there is a general lack of interest in chazanuth everywhere, this is probably the main reason why there is a decline in the development of good chazanim. The other reasons are as I see them, that the chazan is called upon to do many duties within his community, and he is not occupied enough in singing. Very few Synagogues now engage full time chazanim, the Cantor in the United States in particular has no status as it used to be years ago. Q. Why do you think the status of the chazan today is not what it used to be? A. It is a proven fact that so few chazanim these days occupy full-time positions. Therefore they have to make a living from other sources, and cannot devote their time to singing and to the study of music. In the U.S. the regular Cantor is always engaged in a number of duties. In practice the task and the duties of the so called Cantor in the U.S.A. is similar to that which a Chazan used to be in the middle ages, namely; he is a Melamed, a Mohel, a Funeral attendant, and a functioner of all kinds of communal duties, in addition to his main task as Chazan. Q. Well, a chazan could do all these duties, and still be a good Chazan? A. That is possible, but in fact it is not so, in the States the Chazan today unless he is an outstanding singer, he has no status. He is subjected to the dictates of the Rabbi, the Wardens, the Sisterhood. They are confmed to a limited time for their services, they have no free hand and free reign in the programme of the service, to express their feelings in singing, so the service becomes standard. Q. If a chazan is obliged to finish at a certain time, it is not such a terrible thing to limit himself and define his singing within the time available? A. Today a Chazan is limited to a time table, he is obliged to finish the service at a certain time, regardless if he has enough time left for the Mussaf prayer. I believe that this is limiting the scope of any chazan to develope. Of course some Congregations are more strict than others in these matters, nevertheless, this is the general situation today. Q. Are there any Schools or Seminars for Chazanim in the United States? A. Yes, there are Seminars, or as they call them ‘Cantorial Schools’ which were established by all three streams of Judaism in the States. In most cases, where the Chazan is a young man who just finished his training he is in the hands of the Rabbi whose instructions he must follow and certainly would not have a chance to develope his talents. Q. Are there any new Chazanim today who posses special talents and good voices? A. Yes, I am glad to say that Israel is not yet devoid of good Chazanim thank God. There are some chazanim of quality in several countries, and especially in the U.S.A. and if they had a chance, they would have certainly become the greatest Chazanim of our time. For instance, Chazan Paul Kovarsky, who was a pupil of the late Shlomo Mandel and Leib Glantz, is serving in the Beit Tsedek Congregation in Toronto. In his profession he is a solicitor, if he was working in Chazanuth only, I am sure he would become a great Chazan. There is also Chazan David Lefkovitz who is serving in the Park Avenue Congregation in New York. His father was a well known orthodox chazan a “Menagen” and composer, so the young Lefkovitz grew up in an environment of Chazanuth, and could have become a great Chazan if he was not limited in his services. A new star among Chazanim is Benzion Miller who is serving at the Beth-Eil Synagogue in Boro-Park in New York. Chazan Miller is a Chassid of the Bobov Chassidim, he possesses a beautiful tenor voice which is very similar to the voice of the late Moshe Kussovitzky. He has a special talent to emulate Kussovitsky in his singing. David Kussovitzky is still officiating in the Temple Emanuel, where he is serving for the last 35 years. Almost every year he appears in Israel in Concerts. Chazan Vigoda who reached the age of 87 is still singing in concerts and has recently published a book about Chazanim and Chazanuth. Moshe Taube, who is in my opinion one of the very few Chazanim par-excellence, is serving in the Beith Shalom Congtgation in Pittsburgh. Chazan Taube learned a lot from the style of Leib Glantz, he has a beautiful and cultured voice. He teaches voice production in a music school and also chazanuth privately. Q. From all that you have said, I am not yet convinced that Chazanuth is in decline, as you mentioned before? A. Well, I still think that in spite of all that I have said to you about Chazanim in the States, Chazanuth in general is declining, mainly because there is no more challenge to the young and talented Chazan. He feels no necessity or need to continue to study, to develop his musicality, and to inspire his congregants, because there is no demand for it. In those Congregations where they engage Chazanim, either as part-time or just for the High Festivals, they would not make any demands on the young Chazan. As long as he has a pleasant voice and knows how to lead the Congregation in prayer it is sufficient for them, and I think this applies to every country.

This story was originally published in 2019 and has been updated to reflect the events of the 94th Annual Academy Awards. Whatever your opinion of the Academy Awards, if you care about film, you can’t just dismiss them. If nothing else, the Academy’s winners double as a history of film. An imperfect history, sure, but a history nonetheless. Running through the list of Best Picture winners, you’ll see trends wax and wane and at least get a rough sense of what was valued in movies for each year and the progression of trends. Around the World in 80 Days’ Best Picture win, for instance, looks like the pendulum swinging back from the grit of On the Waterfront and Marty, the previous years’ winners. But what if each year produced two winners? Madness, right? But it would have the advantage of offering a fuller picture of what was going on in the world of film at the time. This list attempts to do just that: Pick a second film from the list of Best Picture nominees that would both make for a deserving winner and offer a fuller sense of film history. It’s not an attempt to pick a winner from the year in its entirety. (Though Danny Peary’s 1993 book Alternate Oscars proves there’s a lot to be learned from doing that.) It’s not an attempt to suggest that these films are better than the films that won, even if they sometimes are. (Ahem, Crash. Ahem, Braveheart.) It’s an attempt to identify each year’s best Best Picture loser, perhaps suggest a film that could deservingly sit beside the winner as a fine second choice. Consider it an alternate path through Oscars history. So let’s start from the very beginning, back when winners were announced in advance and the awards ceremony consisted of an elaborate dinner. 1st Academy Awards: 1927/28 The 1st Academy Awards makes choosing an accompanying Best Picture winner easy: The Academy officially chose one for itself. For one year only, the Oscars selected both an “Outstanding Picture” and a “Best Unique and Artistic Picture.” The idea was to distinguish more commercial films from more artistically inclined efforts (shades of the controversial Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film prize announced, then dropped, in 2018). Retroactively, Outstanding Picture winner Wings was named as that year’s Best Picture winner, consigning Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans to a footnote, if only in terms of awards history. Yet Sunrise is a stunning achievement that could just as easily have taken the honor. The story of an unnamed man (George O’Brien) and woman (Janet Gaynor, who won Best Actress for her work here) in a state of marital discord, it finds F.W. Murnau bringing the German Expressionist techniques he pioneered with films like Nosferatu and The Last Laugh to Hollywood. It’s decidedly, to use the Academy’s terms, unique and artistic, though whether that puts it into a different category than a more popular film like William Wellman’s high-flying Wings remains a surprisingly lively question this deep into the Oscars’ existence. 2nd Academy Awards: 1928/29 Winner: The Broadway Melody Best Loser: In Old Arizona Where Sunrise would come to typify the sort of film that usually wins Best Picture — a serious artistic statement from a major director — In Old Arizona typifies the sort of film that would rarely take the top prize in the future, an unpretentious, crowd-pleasing genre film (albeit one that builds to an unexpectedly grim ending). It still works pretty well on those terms, though enjoying it now means looking past the sight of heavily made-up white actors playing Latino characters. Still, this adaptation of an O. Henry story tilts all its sympathies toward the outlaw hero the Cisco Kid (Warner Baxter, in a Best Actor–winning role) and away from the pompous white soldier charged with tracking him down. The popularity of the film would help make Cisco Kid a movie, radio, pulp, comics, and TV staple for years to come, played several more times by Baxter, then later by Cesar Romero and, most recently, Jimmy Smits. 3rd Academy Awards: 1929/30 Winner: All Quiet on the Western Front Best Loser: The Big House The prison drama The Big House performs a similar sleight of hand, setting up a new prisoner sent up on a manslaughter charge after a drunk-driving incident (a young Robert Montgomery) as the hero, but focusing instead on a pair of hardened criminals (Chester Morris and Wallace Beery) who turn out to be not as irredeemable as they first appear. A highly influential film that set the pattern for prison movies to come, it’s a gripping piece of filmmaking, filled with images of how prisons dehumanize those within its bars, that builds to a violent climax that still looks pretty shocking. 4th Academy Awards: 1930/31 Best Loser: The Front Page The only problem with The Front Page is that Lewis Milestone’s adaptation of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s play about fast-talking journalists on the crime beat will always be overshadowed by Howard Hawks’s even better His Girl Friday, a take on the same material but with a gender flip that makes it do double duty as a romantic comedy. But Milestone’s film is no small accomplishment either. Starring Adolphe Menjou and Pat O’Brien, it’s fast-paced and funny and finds the director doing his best to break past the limitations of the early sound era and bring visual flair to the dialogue-driven material. 5th Academy Awards: 1931/32 Winner: The Grand Hotel Best Loser: Shanghai Express Speaking of visual flair, Josef von Sternberg didn’t abandon the stunning visual style he developed in the silent era once sound entered the picture. He also picked up an ideal collaborator in the form of Marlene Dietrich, an actress who understood just how powerfully she could hold the screen with a world-weary look and a breathtaking costume. Shanghai Express is the fourth of seven films that Dietrich made with Sternberg between 1930 and 1935. Set in a China in the midst of political turmoil, it stars Dietrich as a “coaster” — a woman of questionable reputation who moves among the men of the ruling class — who unexpectedly reunites with the man she truly loves on a train destined to be taken over by revolutionaries. Sternberg and Dietrich’s partnership thrived in the pre-Code era, and the film mixes unforgettable images with a complicated depiction of sexual mores that wouldn’t fly a few years later. 6th Academy Awards: 1932/33 Best Loser: 42nd Street Nor, for that matter, would 42nd Street, a behind-the-scenes musical drama about the tough business of putting on a show during the Depression that doesn’t hide the rough edges or turn its characters into saints. (Ginger Rogers, for instance, plays a heroine nicknamed “Anytime Annie.”) This early in the sound era, movies were still figuring out what musicals could be. But they didn’t want for talented creators with big ideas, including Busby Berkeley, who directed the film’s musical sequences. Berkeley understood that there was more to a movie musical than pointing a camera at performers and letting it roll, that the camera itself has to be part of the choreography, and that sense is already very much in place in this early effort of what would turn out to be a long career. 7th Academy Awards: 1934 Winner: It Happened One Night Best Loser: The Thin Man Frank Capra’s road movie/romantic comedy It Happened One Night became the first film to sweep the Oscars in every major category, dominating the awards so thoroughly that seemingly nobody else had a chance. It was also a too rare instance of a comedy taking the top prize, though the charming romantic mystery The Thin Man — starring Myrna Loy and William Powell as a crime-solving couple who love mystery, alcohol, their dog, and each other — wouldn’t have been a bad choice either. The film kicked off a delightful series, but this first entry is the sharpest and best, with Loy and Powell’s sexual chemistry and bons mots drowning out virtually any other aspect of the film — not that that’s any reason to complain. 8th Academy Awards: 1935 Winner: Mutiny on the Bounty Best Loser: Top Hat The plot of Top Hat is the flimsiest of farces in which a string of misunderstandings keep Fred Astaire’s and Ginger Rogers’s characters from getting together until the film’s final moments. It’s also a pure delight, with Astaire and Rogers at their most charming as they dance their way through a string of missed connections and moments of mistaken identities to a series of songs written by Irving Berlin. The pair appeared together in ten films, and though both had tremendous success apart from one another, there’s a kind of magic to seeing them together. Top Hat surrounds them with colorful characters, drops them into lush sets, and lets that magic happen. 9th Academy Awards: 1936 Winner: The Great Ziegfeld Best Loser: Dodsworth Adapted from a Sinclair Lewis novel subsequently turned into a successful play, Dodsworth stars Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton as a retirement-age couple who get to know each other again while traveling to Europe, only to learn that they don’t relish each others’ company anymore. The film wouldn’t work with a director who couldn’t focus intensely on the inner lives of its characters. Fortunately, it had William Wyler, who knew how to pull that off better than virtually anyone else, via a combination of assured, understated filmmaking and a reliance on strong performances. Wyler already had dozens of films to his credit when he made Dodsworth, but it’s with this film here that he earned the first of many Oscar nominations. 10th Academy Awards: 1937 Winner: The Life of Emile Zola Best Loser: The Awful Truth The Oscars fell into hard-to-break patterns fairly early in its existence, one of them being a tendency to take serious films more, well, seriously than comedies. It Happened One Night’s multi-category sweep a few years earlier and Capra’s second Best Picture triumph for 1938 would prove notable exceptions, and Leo McCarey’s screwball comedy The Awful Truth — in which Cary Grant and Irene Dunne figure out that maybe getting divorced isn’t such a hot idea after all — probably didn’t stand a chance up against the likes of A Star Is Born, The Good Earth, Lost Horizon, and the ultimate winner, The Life of Emile Zola. It’s a sterling example of the form, however, and Grant and Dunne make ideal sparring partners, so ideal that they’d appear in two more films together. 11th Academy Awards: 1938 Winner: You Can’t Take It With You Best Loser: Grand Illusion Another bad habit for the Academy: only occasionally remembering that great films are often made in countries that don’t speak English, efforts usually relegated to the Best Foreign Language Film category. That category wouldn’t even be introduced until 1947, but at least the awards for 1938 acknowledged the existence of Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion, a humanistic story of the first World War released as a second such war loomed on the horizon. 12th Academy Awards: 1939 Winner: Gone With the Wind Best Loser: The Wizard of Oz Every once in a while there’s a year that’s home to more enduring classics than most years. Sometimes the Best Picture nominees don’t reflect this. (The nominees for 1999, for instance, leave out Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, The Matrix, Fight Club, The Talented Mister Ripley, Boys Don’t Cry, The Iron Giant … the list goes on.) But sometimes they do. Gone With the Wind — a giant cultural phenomenon if nothing else — beat out Dark Victory, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, The Wuthering Heights, Goodbye Mr. Chips, and Love Affair to win Best Picture. It also beat out an equally, if not more, enduring film from director Victor Fleming: The Wizard of Oz, which has since become several generations’ first bewitching introduction to both musicals and classic Hollywood filmmaking. 13th Academy Awards: 1940 Best Loser: The Great Dictator 1940 wasn’t quite 1939, but it still produced more timeless movies than most years. Both Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford directed two Best Picture nominees (Hitchcock’s Rebecca took the prize) and with The Philadelphia Story, George Cukor delivered one of the greatest romantic comedies. But if we want this list to double as a shadow history of other trends in Oscar-nominated films, let’s give this slot to The Great Dictator, both because Charlie Chaplin isn’t represented anywhere else — on this list or the list of actual winners — and because nobody else was making a film like it in 1940. Even after the outbreak of World War II, Hollywood wasn’t rushing to make films condemning Hitler; Chaplin served as his own producer for the film, in which he plays the dual roles of fascist dictator Adenoid Hynkel and his look-alike, an unnamed Jewish barber who gets swept up into the ugly business of authoritarianism. It was a risky undertaking, mixing absurd humor with biting satire in the service of a heartfelt plea for peace, but it became a hit with critics and audiences alike. 14th Academy Awards: 1941 Winner: How Green Was My Valley Best Loser: Citizen Kane How Green Was My Valley beating out Citizen Kane — for years the consensus choice for the greatest film ever made — to win Best Picture is one of the easiest examples to point to of Oscar getting it wrong. This overlooks two facts: (1) How Green Was My Valley is also pretty great, and (2) the competition was tough that year, which also saw nominations go to Here Comes Mr. Jordan, The Little Foxes, The Maltese Falcon, Sergeant York, and Suspicion, among others. (The Academy would cap the nominee number at five a few years later, and it would stay that way until 2009.) That said, none of those movies are Citizen Kane, first-time director Orson Welles’s rise-and-fall story (co-scripted by Herman Mankiewicz) inspired by the life of William Randolph Hearst and filled with every filmmaking trick Welles knew (and many he invented). 15th Academy Awards: 1942 Winner: Mrs. Miniver Best Loser: The Magnificent Ambersons 1942 was another year with an abundance of great Best Picture nominees (Yankee Doodle Dandy and The Pride of the Yankees among them), yet it still makes the most sense to choose an Orson Welles film as our alternate. The Magnificent Ambersons was taken out of Welles’s hands before he finished it, setting him up to have high-profile conflicts with studios and producers for the rest of his career. The tacked-on ending still sticks out, but the depiction of a midwestern family’s dimming prospects and fading optimism is both endlessly inventive and deeply affecting. 16th Academy Awards: 1943 Best Loser: The Ox-Bow Incident When David O. Selznick made a big push for the 1946 film Duel in the Sun, Variety dismissed it as a “glorified Western.” The genre wasn’t held in universally low esteem — Cimarron won Best Picture; Stagecoach and others earned nominations — but talking of it dismissively didn’t exactly raise any eyebrows either. Such was the uphill battle faced by Westerns even at the height of their popularity. But even the most snobbish viewer could see that William Wellman’s The Ox-Bow Incident was no ordinary Western. A story of mob mentality taken to a deadly extreme, it stars Henry Fonda as a cowboy who joins a posse to track down some murderers only to watch as its pursuit of justice spins out of control. The prolific Wellman directed Wings, the first Best Picture winner, and here seizes on the story’s timelessness and helps set the stage for the morally ambiguous Westerns that would dominate the 1950s. 17th Academy Awards: 1944 Winner: Going My Way Best Loser: Double Indemnity Billy Wilder and co-writer Raymond Chandler didn’t create film noir with this adaptation of a James M. Cain story about an insurance agent (Fred MacMurray), a femme fatale (Barbara Stanwyck), and the murderous scheme they embark on together. But film noir certainly wouldn’t have been the same without the combination of Wilder’s sour take on humanity and Chandler’s dialogue. The Academy was more in the mood for uplift, honoring Going My Way, in which Bing Crosby plays a laid-back priest. But it’s Wilder’s film whose influence would seep into the groundwater. 18th Academy Awards: 1945 Winner: The Lost Weekend Best Loser: Mildred Pierce Did any director thrive in the studio system quite as much as Michael Curtiz? Born in Hungary, Curtiz enjoyed great success in the European film industry, and then even greater success when he became Warner Bros.’s No. 1 in-house director, a stint that included Casablanca, a long association with Errol Flynn, and more. Curtiz was meticulous and adaptive and at first none-too-thrilled to be working with Joan Crawford, who needed a comeback and to prove her worth to Warner Bros. when she landed the lead in Mildred Pierce. She achieved both aims, and won over Curtiz, with this noir-influenced James M. Cain adaptation about a mother who gives and gives to a daughter who takes more than she deserves. It’s an example of every piece of the studio machinery working in perfect sync — from the star to the shadow-drenched compositions — to create art as heartbreaking as it is thrilling. 19th Academy Awards: 1946 Winner: The Best Years of Our Lives Best Loser: It’s a Wonderful Life World War II upended the professional lives of both director Frank Capra and actor James Stewart. Capra focused on making morale-boosting documentaries about the war. Stewart fought, returning shaken by his experiences as an airman. He would rarely discuss his time in the service in later years, and he struggled to resume acting, pausing before accepting the role of George Bailey, the small-town savings-and-loan proprietor who comes to realize how much his life has touched those around him. The film underperformed at the box office, only becoming a Christmas staple years later after a copyright lapse led to near-constant airings on local stations in the ’70s and ’80s. It didn’t lack for plaudits at the time, however, earning five Oscar nominations, including a Best Actor nod for Stewart and a Best Director nomination for Capra. It lost them all to The Best Years of Our Lives, another thoughtful consideration about what really matters, similarly informed by the war years. They now make a satisfying double feature. 20th Academy Awards: 1947 Winner: Gentleman’s Agreement Best Loser: Great Expectations David Lean wouldn’t win any Academy Awards until he became the go-to architect of thoughtful epics like Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia. But he might just as rightly have won for this adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, which streamlines the novel without losing Dickens’s clever plotting, rich characters, or flair for grotesquerie. Its nomination provided another sign that the British film industry remained alive and well in the years after World War II — to say nothing of what was happening in Italy, Japan, France, Sweden, and elsewhere. More would follow. 21st Academy Awards: 1948 Best Loser: The Red Shoes We can probably thank The Red Shoes for inspiring an entire generation of dancers, and it’s not hard to see why. Its story about pursuing artistic perfection no matter what the personal cost goes to some tragic places, but there’s so much beauty along the way that it almost seems worth it. That ambiguity is at the heart of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s story, which centers on a ballerina who struggles to reconcile her need to pursue her artistic gifts with her desire for happiness. Powell and Pressburger were pushing boundaries as well, blurring the lines between filmmaking and choreography — and reality and dreams — in the stunning dance sequences and making bold use of Technicolor in ways never attempted before. It’s a tale of obsession made with obsessive attention to detail and a stunning command of film’s power to stir and move. 22nd Academy Awards: 1949 Winner: All the King’s Men Best Loser: A Letter to Three Wives A case of a clever idea elevated by a thoughtful filmmaker and a perfect cast, A Letter to Three Wives gives viewers three stories of unsettled marriages for the price of one. Originally based on the novel A Letter to Five Wives before being trimmed (at one point Anne Baxter was to have played a fourth wife), it opens with three wives (Jeanne Crain, Ann Sothern, and Linda Darnell) receiving a letter from a never-seen friend informing them that she’s leaving town with one of their husbands. As the day passes, each reflects on whether or not it could be her husband — and whether or not she should blame herself if it is. It’s a rich setup that Joseph Mankiewicz uses to depict the domestic discontents beneath the surface of postwar American prosperity. 23rd Academy Awards: 1950 Winner: All About Eve Best Loser: Sunset Boulevard There’s long been a strand of self-loathing to the film industry, and sometimes that self-loathing leads to great movies. It’s evident in All About Eve, a film about the cutthroat world of Broadway that could just as easily have been about Hollywood. And it’s essentially the raison d’être of Billy Wilder’s equal parts tragic and darkly funny Sunset Boulevard, in which a struggling screenwriter (William Holden) discovers Hollywood’s gothic underbelly after stumbling into an intense relationship with an unstable star of the silent age (Gloria Swanson). Swanson’s own history — she’d been one of Paramount’s biggest stars but had struggled professionally since her heyday — is just one way the film holds a dark mirror up to the town that made it possible. 24th Academy Awards: 1951 Winner: An American in Paris Best Loser: A Place in the Sun Adapting Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, George Stevens chose to focus on the interior lives of its characters: a striving factory worker (Montgomery Clift), the co-worker he romances and impregnates (Shelley Winters), and the smart-set object of desire (Elizabeth Taylor) who leads him to make some cruel choices. Powered by intense performances and Stevens’s craftsmanship, it’s powered by the tension between its raw emotions and the artfulness of their presentation — the same combination that powered another nominee that might just as easily have taken the year’s Best Picture prize, A Streetcar Named Desire. 25th Academy Awards: 1952 Winner: The Greatest Show on Earth Best Loser: High Noon A Western in which the hero spends much of the film fearing for his life, unable to rally those he’s sworn to protect to help him in spite of the righteousness of his cause, High Noon didn’t fit the genre’s usual mold, and it didn’t please all of the genre’s admirers. Howard Hawks has said he made Rio Bravo as a response to the film, turned off by the seeming helplessness of the hero, played by Gary Cooper. But the Fred Zinnemann–directed film struck a chord with audiences and critics alike, many of which did not miss that its central conflict mirrored the paranoia of the McCarthy era. But though it won four Oscars, including a Best Actor prize for Gary Cooper, controversy surrounded it thanks to the hounding of screenwriter Carl Foreman for taking the fifth before HUAC. (Among those doing the criticizing, John Wayne, who’d turned down the Cooper role and whose The Quiet Man was also nominated for Best Picture that year.) Foreman ended up blacklisted and Cecil B. DeMille’s popular, if little loved, The Greatest Show on Earth took the top prize. 26th Academy Awards: 1953 Winner: From Here to Eternity Best Loser: Roman Holiday The film that made Audrey Hepburn a movie star, Roman Holiday is the ideal to which all romantic comedies aspire, and builds to a lovely, bittersweet ending that few have dared to duplicate. Hepburn plays Ann, a princess who sneaks away from her handlers and gets to explore Rome in the company of Joe (Gregory Peck), a worldly reporter who at first doesn’t recognize her, then conspires to exploit the friendship — an instinct that lasts until he realizes that he’s falling for her. Co-scripted by a long-uncredited Dalton Trumbo, it’s both a love letter to Rome and distillation of what it feels like to fall unexpectedly in love, even when there’s little hope of that love lasting beyond the length of a fling. 27th Academy Awards: 1954 Winner: On the Waterfront Best Loser: The Caine Mutiny Humphrey Bogart became famous by playing a certain type of cool, hard-bitten character, but he created some of his best performances by tweaking his onscreen persona. In a Lonely Place, for instance, finds him plumbing the darkness beneath the surface of a hardened loner. And in The Caine Mutiny, he portrays a naval captain who cracks in slow-motion, his air of authority hiding the rage and paranoia that drives him. There’s much to recommend in Edward Dmytryk’s adaptation of Herman Wouk’s novel, about a mutiny and its ensuing court martial in the midst of World War II, but it’s Bogart’s haunting work that makes it unforgettable. 28th Academy Awards: 1955 Best Loser: Mister Roberts To continue the theme of naval rebellion: Henry Fonda spent years playing the lead of Mister Roberts on Broadway — so long, in fact, that by the time this film adaptation came around, some considered him too old, and too long out of movies, to play the part. But the film suggests no one else could have played it half as well, pitting Fonda’s Roberts, a junior-grade naval lieutenant, against a tyrannical captain played by James Cagney as they work an unglamorous assignment during World War II. The film’s a strange but potent mix of irreverence and patriotism. Roberts wants to fight but is kept away from the war by his dull commanding officer’s whims, so he retaliates with insubordination. It has a tattered origin, too. John Ford directed it until illness and conflict drove him away, leading to Mervyn LeRoy and an uncredited Josh Logan taking over. (Logan, co-writer of the theatrical version, also directed another 1955 Best Picture nominee, Picnic.) But the humor keeps it lively from beginning to end, and the performances — including a Best Supporting Actor–winning turn from Jack Lemmon — are priceless. 29th Academy Awards: 1956 Winner: Around the World in 80 Days Best Loser: Giant George Stevens won his second Best Director prize for Giant, a sprawling story of oil, Texas, racism, and thwarted passion starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and (in his final role) James Dean. Yet it wasn’t enough to overcome the publicity blitz created by producer Mike Todd for his star-packed adaptation of Jules Verne’s novel. (That Todd was married to Taylor added an extra twist to the tale.) Nonetheless, in the middle of a decade in which prestige pictures often emphasized bigness, Giant remains a model of how to tell an intimate story on a grand scale, focusing on the lives of a handful of characters without letting them become dwarfed by the landscape or the extended running time. 30th Academy Awards: 1957 Winner: The Bridge on the River Kwai Best Loser: 12 Angry Men The film industry saw television as a threat from the moment it was introduced, and spent much of the ’50s trying to create new ways to compete with the new medium on the block, from wide-screen movies to 3-D. But TV and film found that their coexistence could be mutually beneficial, with television sometimes serving as a proving ground for film material and a new generation of film directors honing their skills on the small screen, where they learned to work fast and make the most of a few sets and limited budgets. 12 Angry Men benefited from both those trends, adapting a previously produced teleplay and serving as the feature-film debut of Sidney Lumet, who’d worked extensively in television. Lumet and a remarkable cast headed by Henry Fonda create high drama as jurors arguing a case that all but Fonda’s character sees as open-and-shut — leading him to dig in in an attempt to make everyone else see it his way. 31st Academy Awards: 1958 Best Loser: The Defiant Ones Producer and director Stanley Kramer’s name has become synonymous with righteous films about pressing social issues, and while that’s not entirely unfair, it doesn’t quite capture the variety of films that bear his name, from High Noon, The Caine Mutiny, and The Wild One (which he produced) to It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, an attempt to make comedy on an epic scale. The Defiant Ones is, literally and figuratively, one of his most bare-knuckled efforts, chaining Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis together as escaped prisoners and forcing them to work out their differences if they want to survive. The film deals with prejudice by folding it into a propulsive chase movie, letting the politics serve the narrative and not the other way around. Kramer didn’t always get that balance right, but it works here. 32nd Academy Awards: 1959 Best Loser: Anatomy of a Murder Otto Preminger was no stranger to taboo-smashing when he made Anatomy of a Murder, having previously directed The Moon Is Blue — scandalous for its then-shocking discussion of sexuality — and The Man With the Golden Arm, which dealt frankly with drug addiction. The legal thriller Anatomy of a Murder was no exception, shocking audiences with a courtroom drama filled with graphic discussions of rape. That it was Jimmy Stewart as a laid-back lawyer doing much of the talking only made it more shocking, and the film was even banned for a time in Chicago. Once smashed, taboos have a hard time being restored, and its straightforward approach to adult material helped set the stage for the decade to come, one in which the once-inescapable Motion Picture Production Code would first lose power before being replaced by the modern ratings system. 33rd Academy Awards: 1960 Winner: The Apartment Best Loser: The Sundowners Robert Mitchum rarely got to show his gentler side, but it’s on full display in this Fred Zinnemann–directed story about Irish-Australian settlers living a peripatetic existence along Australian frontier. Mitchum plays a man whose wanderlust is challenged by the needs of his wife (Deborah Kerr) and son, and Zinnemann’s beautiful shots of the Australian wilderness make it easy to see why anyone would find it hard to stay in one place. It’s a film of high stakes, if little overt drama, highlighted by Peter Ustinov’s comic supporting turn. Those qualities might have made it easy to choose a masterpiece like The Apartment over it, but it remains an involving story of a family’s by turns joyful and perilous existence. 34th Academy Awards: 1961 Winner: West Side Story Best Loser: The Hustler A tale of moral compromise and the heavy price of success set in the seedy world of competitive pool, Robert Rossen’s The Hustler earned nine Academy Award nominations, and gave Newman one of his most famous roles, one he’d revisit years later in The Color of Money, for which he’d finally win a Best Actor trophy after six nominations. The film became a hit unexpectedly, its success spurred in part by rave reviews and a sense that the film knew the ins and outs of the world it was depicting. (That Rossen had once hustled pool probably helped.) Though shot in Cinemascope, it’s defined by a sense of claustrophobia. These are characters who always feel like the walls are about to close in on them. Often they’re right. 35th Academy Awards: 1962 Winner: Lawrence of Arabia Best Loser: To Kill a Mockingbird It’s not hard to see why Gregory Peck’s performance as Atticus Finch has become synonymous with unbending American virtue in the face of fierce opposition. Peck plays Finch as a man with a deep sense of right and wrong, but also as someone capable of deep disappointment, someone who struggles with how to convey the injustice of life to his children. Like the film around him and the Harper Lee novel from which it’s adapted, he’s hopeful but clear-eyed, aware of how hard it is to champion justice and tolerance in a world that often seems to want neither. 36th Academy Awards: 1963 Winner: Tom Jones Best Loser: How the West Was Won The concept of “too big to fail,” coined for the banking system, can extend to movies, too. Cleopatra was a notorious flop in 1963, but that didn’t stop it from winning a Best Picture nomination anyway. It’s worth seeing if only to see what all that money looks like on the screen, but for a better example of Hollywood going big — in the most literal sense — check out How the West Was Won, a star-filled omnibus film directed by John Ford, Henry Hathaway, and George Marshall that charts the progress of Western expansion via a series of loosely related stories. Its full effect will be lost on even the biggest home screen, however. It’s the most ambitious film shot in true Cinerama, a process involving three cameras, three projectors, and an arcing screen that creates an immersive quality rivaled only by IMAX. It’s a good movie, but an even better spectacle. 37th Academy Awards: 1964 Winner: My Fair Lady Best Loser: Dr. Strangelove Stanley Kubrick set out to make Dr. Strangelove as a straight thriller, but the deeper he got into the project, the more absurdity he saw in Cold War politics and the careful balancing act needed to keep a policy of mutually assured destruction from tipping over into a nuclear apocalypse. The result — an obsidian-black comedy in which Peter Sellers plays multiple roles — depicts a crisis set in motion by the one man’s cracked mind, but kept in motion by the insane systems around it. It’s filled with comic high points, but it’s the queasy sense that the fate of the world has never been more perilous that makes it haunting — now as much as ever. 38th Academy Awards: 1965 Winner: The Sound of Music Best Loser: Dr. Zhivago Seeing the biggest movies of 1965 meant sitting still for a while. The winner, the Julie Andrews–starring musical The Sound of Music, clocks in at 174 minutes. Doctor Zhivago, which tied it with five nominations, runs 193 minutes. Director David Lean didn’t want for Oscar success, having taken both Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia to Best Picture wins and winning Best Director for both, but here the Academy ultimately went with the lighter option with The Sound of Music, a box-office smash that didn’t do much for critics at the time. The years have been kind to The Sound of Music, but there would have been no shame in giving Lean a third win for his sweeping story of upheaval in Russia starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, an emerging star who’d win Best Actress for a different Best Picture nominee, the stylish British morality play Darling. 39th Academy Awards: 1966 Winner: A Man for All Seasons Best Loser: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? In filmmaking, there are big risks and small risks. Taking a shockingly profane Edward Albee play about one long, dark night in the lives of a hard-drinking middle-aged couple — and handing it over to a first-time director — is itself a pretty big risk. Casting married movie stars who seemed at first too young and glamorous for the parts only made it more risky. But with his adaptation of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Mike Nichols showed audiences something they’d never seen before, stripping away the glamour from Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and letting their harsh words draw blood as they spend an evening with a younger couple who gets drawn into the emotional quicksand around them. The risk paid off with a nomination, though not a trophy, and helped push the boundaries of what was permissible in movies in ways that would never be pushed back. 40th Academy Awards: 1967 Winner: In the Heat of the Night Best Loser: Bonnie and Clyde Containing everything from talking animals to amoral criminals, the nominees for 1967 double as a cross-section of what was going on in Hollywood at the time, so much so that Mark Harris used it as the subject for his excellent book Pictures at a Revolution. Filtering a story of prejudice through a tense thriller set in the Deep South, In the Heat of the Night took the top prize. Elsewhere, both The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde captured a Hollywood filled with fresh ideas, the product of an emerging generation of new filmmakers and the influence of the French New Wave. Of the two, Bonnie and Clyde is the more radical, and its violent antiheroes — Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway playing a pair of notorious Depression-era outlaws — made it the more controversial, so let’s make it our alternate choice and let it serve as a stand-in for the seismic changes going on around it. 41st Academy Awards: 1968 Best Loser: The Lion in Winter Sometimes the Best Picture field is defined by what it leaves out. 1968 could have seen nods for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Faces, Rosemary’s Baby, or any number of other challenging films. Instead, the Academy played it safe, awarding the splashy Dickens musical Oliver! and not getting all that adventurous with the nominees, either. The Lion in Winter, in which Peter O’Toole’s Henry II and Katharine Hepburn’s Eleanor of Aquitaine argue over who should succeed him as King of England, proved controversial in part because it looked like such a safe choice, even prompting several critics to resign from the New York Film Critics Circle after it won that prize. Groundbreaking it’s not, but O’Toole and Hepburn (who’d win her second Best Actress prize for her work) are remarkable and the film’s sharp exchanges give it an electric charge that makes it anything but staid. 42nd Academy Awards: 1969 Winner: Midnight Cowboy Best Loser: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid The breakout success of Easy Rider marked a turning point that would help define the next decade of films, a shaggier period less beholden to the old ways of doing things. The Best Picture nominations overlooked it, as well as another sign of things to come, Sam Peckinpah’s ultraviolent Western The Wild Bunch. But another Best Picture nominee offered a more playful variation on The Wild Bunch’s elegiac spirit, the George Roy Hill–directed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford as outlaws roaming an Old West that’s starting to leave them behind. Scripted by William Goldman, it used one of film’s most venerable genres to explore the idea of changing times as a turbulent decade drew to a close. 43rd Academy Awards: 1970 Best Loser: Five Easy Pieces The 43rd Academy Awards provided even more evidence of the upheaval happening in the movie business. In the Best Picture category, hip and irreverent New Hollywood films like M*A*S*H and Five Easy Pieces vied with the cornball Airport and Love Story (even if the latter dressed up its sappy narrative with New Wave–inspired filmmaking). The winner, the sharp biopic Patton, belonged to neither camp, but Five Easy Pieces — a Bob Rafelson–directed film fueled by the restlessness and discontent of the ’60s, in which Jack Nicholson plays a man who believes he doesn’t fit in anywhere — would have represented the changing times. 44th Academy Awards: 1971 Winner: The French Connection Best Loser: The Last Picture Show Peter Bogdanovich made his feature directorial debut in 1968 with the inventive, low-budget thriller Targets, but his meteoric ascent began a few years later with this Larry McMurtry adaptation about a small Texas town and the reckless youth that call it home in the early 1950s. Bogdanovich grew up idolizing (and later often befriending) the directors and actors of classic Hollywood, but he never slavishly imitated them. Instead, he made films that bridged the gap between new and old. Shot in black-and-white and filled with images influenced by classic Westerns, The Last Picture Show pays homage to Bogdanovich’s influences but has a restless, New Hollywood energy and downbeat tone, all its own. 45th Academy Awards: 1972 Winner: The Godfather Best Loser: Cabaret Bob Fosse’s adaptation of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s musical takes many liberties with its source material — cutting some characters and songs, adding others, expanding the narrative — but it captures the same sense of mounting doom as the openness and personal liberties of Weimar-era Berlin fade with the rise of fascism. Fosse’s challenges included mounting a musical at a moment when they’d fallen out of favor, and though Cabaret bears little in common with golden age Hollywood musicals, the presence of Liza Minnelli as its star provides a sense of continuity. Anyone expecting a happy ending, however, was in for a shock, and the film’s depiction of ambiguous sexuality and cultural chaos felt just as connected to the ascendant glam-rock movement, which embraced it, as it was to the MGM spectacles of old. 46th Academy Awards: 1973 Winner: The Sting Best Loser: Cries and Whispers Film from non-English-speaking countries, however remarkable, usually have to settle for winning in the Best Foreign Language Film category, but every once in a while one breaks through. It’s highly unlikely the Academy would ever have honored Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers — one of the director’s most grueling films — with a trophy, but doing so would have acknowledged his many contributions to the explosion of European filmmaking talent trying to make sense of what had happened to the world in the years after the Second World War. (Even if The Sting is, admittedly, much more fun.) 47th Academy Awards: 1974 Winner: The Godfather Part II Best Loser: The Conversation Were it not for the inclusion of Irwin Allen’s dull, star-studded disaster movie The Towering Inferno, this would be a contender for the strongest field of Best Picture nominees ever produced. Bob Fosse’s Lenny and Roman Polanski’s Chinatown remain revered classics, but the year belonged to Francis Ford Coppola, if only because of numbers; Coppola released not one but two Best Picture nominees in 1974. Giving the second slot to another Coppola film might seem excessive, but not only is The Conversation a masterpiece that can stand side by side with The Godfather Part II, it’s a strikingly different film, trading in the epic sweep of his gangster classics for disturbing intimacy in a portrait of a surveillance expert (Gene Hackman) who comes undone when he gets too close to an assignment. 48th Academy Awards: 1975 Winner: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Best Loser: Nashville A magnum opus attempting to do nothing less than capture the downcast spirit of post-Watergate America, Robert Altman’s Nashville follows two dozen characters during a few eventful days in Music City, USA, a place where entertainment and politics intersect and dreamers and cynics rub shoulders. Altman’s habit of carving movies out of hours of heavily improvised footage could easily have gotten away from him — as it sometimes did elsewhere — but the results here are stunning, veering from comedy to tragedy and ending in a kind of fevered madness. 49th Academy Awards: 1976 Best Loser: Taxi Driver In 1976, the feel-good picture of the year told the story of a scrappy boxer who rises from obscurity, fights the champ — and loses, securing only a moral victory in the process. Such was the spirit of the times, but Rocky Balboa’s journey looks downright triumphant next to that of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), the alienated cabbie for whom New York has become a living hell. Director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader take the film to the sort of dark places few movies dare to go. The Academy responded with a nomination but no award, but its vision of one disturbed man’s plumbing of the lower depths has proved enduring. 50th Academy Awards: 1977 Winner: Annie Hall Best Loser: Star Wars The ill-defined Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film idea may or may not return in the future. But even if it’s a bad idea, there is some logic to it. Films that capture the public imagination via sensation, action, and special effects tend not to win Best Picture even when they become one of their era’s defining moments. There’s no better example of that than the films of 1977, when Star Wars helped define blockbuster filmmaking, became a pop-culture phenomenon, and took over the imaginations of a whole generation — only to see the top honor go to Woody Allen’s bittersweet story of an on-again, off-again love affair. (Star Wars didn’t exactly fade into obscurity due to the loss, however.) 51st Academy Awards: 1978 Winner: The Deer Hunter Best Loser: Coming Home Mainstream films mostly stayed away from the topic of the Vietnam War until years after the fall of Saigon, but in 1978, two such films earned Best Picture nominations. Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter offered a nightmarish vision of the war, but Hal Ashby’s Coming Home is just as uncompromising in its own way, depicting the homefront experiences of a Marine captain (Bruce Dern), his wife (Jane Fonda), and a paraplegic veteran (Jon Voight) in late-’60s California. The leads and Ashby’s intuitive direction — often paced to the rhythms of hit songs from the ’60s before they became soundtrack clichés — helps capture the spirit of a country still figuring out what it had been through, what it meant, and where it needed to go next. 52nd Academy Awards: 1979 Winner: Kramer vs. Kramer Best Loser: Breaking Away A determinedly small film that’s all the better for its tight focus, this Peter Yates–directed coming-of-age story follows four friends as they try to navigate the strange space between high school and the rest of their lives. The focus belongs to Dave (Dennis Christopher), a talented cyclist infatuated with all things Italian who — with the help of friends played by Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, and Jackie Earle Haley — concentrates on participating in a big race and trying to figure out what’s next for him. Filmed and set in Bloomington, Indiana, it keeps a light tone without losing sight of the limited options to the working-class children of the quarry workers who built the college town that now looks down on them. 53rd Academy Awards: 1980 Winner: Ordinary People Best Loser: The Elephant Man As with the year How Green Was My Valley beat Citizen Kane, Scorsese’s searing Raging Bull loss to Robert Redford’s Ordinary People has become an easy example of how the Oscars often get it wrong. That’s not really fair to Ordinary People, which is a pretty terrific in its own right. But because another Scorsese film got one of our spots above (and will get one below), let’s give this one to The Elephant Man, David Lynch’s retelling of the friendship between John Merrick (John Hurt), a deformed man exhibit in a Victorian freak show, and Frederick Teaves (Anthony Hopkins), a doctor who takes him into his care and helps restore his sense of dignity. A moving costume drama that’s also very much a David Lynch film, it mixes striking black-and-white photography with a compassion for outsiders of all kinds. 54th Academy Awards: 1981 Winner: Chariots of Fire Best Loser: Reds A decades-in-the-making passion project for director and star Warren Beatty, Reds brought the sweep of a Hollywood epic to a subject most epics wouldn’t touch: the life of radical journalist Jack Reed (Beatty), a writer now best known for Ten Days That Shook The World, his account of Russia’s October Revolution. Ambitious at every level, Beatty’s film mixes an all-star cast (one that includes Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson), stately narrative filmmaking, and documentary interviews with those who knew Reed and his circle. It earned Beatty a Best Director trophy, but the Best Picture prize proved more elusive, perhaps in part because of the film’s refusal to draw any easy conclusions about the radical ideas it depicts. 55th Academy Awards: 1982 Best Loser: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial A fairy tale set in the American suburbs and dressed up in science-fiction trappings, Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial suggests that even the most mundane settings could be filled with wonder via the story of an alien who takes refuge with a family still reeling from divorce. For years the highest-grossing movie of all time, its emotionally rich, visually stunning storytelling captures everything Spielberg did better than everyone else at this point in his career. He made it look easy. The many imitators that followed proved that wasn’t the case. 56th Academy Awards: 1983 Winner: Terms of Endearment Best Loser: The Right Stuff Adapting Tom Wolfe’s book about the early days of the American space program, Philip Kaufman delivered a movie equal parts epic and irreverent, capturing the danger of spaceflight (and the test-pilot programs that preceded it) and the absurdity of a political environment that pushed it into existence and the media circus surrounding the original astronauts and their wives. In other words, it stays true to the tone cultivated by Wolfe, a movie equally at home depicting awesome achievements and the flawed men and women who made it possible. 57th Academy Awards: 1984 Best Loser: Places in the Heart Sally Field’s “You like me!” acceptance speech after she won Best Actress honors for Places in the Heart gave the Oscars a moment sure to be featured in highlight reels from now until the end of the Oscars themselves. Field is remarkable in the film, and it wouldn’t have been a bad Best Picture choice, either. Written and directed by Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer) and beautifully shot by Néstor Almendros, it stars Field as a widow who forms a makeshift family that includes a blind lodger (John Malkovich) and a homeless man (Danny Glover) in a deeply prejudiced Depression-era Texas town. Benton drew from his own memories growing up in Texas, and the mix of affection for and repulsion toward the place that made him can be felt from beginning to end. 58th Academy Awards: 1985 Winner: Out of Africa Best Loser: Prizzi’s Honor Few directors stayed as engaged and interested in risk from the beginning of their career to the end as John Huston, who kept taking chances until his death in 1985. Prizzi’s Honor, Huston’s penultimate film, became both a critical and popular favorite, but it might have been a disaster without a director as capable of balancing comedy, suspense, and romance, or willing to compromise with a less daring ending — though a cast that includes Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, and Anjelica Huston (John’s daughter) certainly helps, too. 59th Academy Awards: 1986 Best Loser: A Room With a View From the ’60s through the aughts, producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala made immaculately sculpted films for art-house audiences, often literary adaptations capturing a way of life now lost to time. Their commercial and critical success found a high-water mark in the ’80s and early ’90s, beginning with this spirited E.M. Forster adaptation starring Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel Day Lewis, Judi Dench, and Maggie Smith. A Room With a View offers stunning Florentine cityscapes, gorgeous costumes, and peerlessly rendered depictions of yearning and repression — essentially everything a Forster adaptation needs and with a cast it’s impossible to imagine improving upon. The team became a kind of lazy shorthand for tastefully unadventurous filmmaking, and unfairly so. Their best films burst with intelligence and passion. 60th Academy Awards: 1987 Winner: The Last Emperor Best Loser: Broadcast News At once a funny, carefully realized look a complicated relationship and an incisive, prescient study of the power of mass media, James L. Brooks’s Broadcast News is the result both of Brooks’s exhaustive research and the skills with dialogue and character he’d spent years honing via film and TV work. Albert Brooks and Holly Hunter co-star as a journalist and producer, respectively, working in TV news whose aforementioned complicated relationship is shaken up by the arrival of an attractive, inexperienced, charming new reporter (William Hurt) who’s slowly revealed to be a chilling suggestion of journalism’s future. 61st Academy Awards: 1988 Winner: Rain Man Best Loser: Working Girl Some types of movies that often have a hard time winning Best Picture Oscars, especially in the past few decades: comedies in general, romantic comedies in particular, and most films focused more on women than men. Mike Nichols’s Working Girl, in which Melanie Griffith keeps losing her footing as she climbs the corporate ladder while dealing with sexism and a treacherous boss (Sigourney Weaver), checks all those boxes, making it a dark horse in the year’s race, even if it was one of the most sophisticated and winning comedies of the decade. Playing a character who’s a mix of brains and Staten Island–bred determination, Griffith’s at her most charming here. 62nd Academy Awards: 1989 Winner: Driving Miss Daisy Best Loser: Born on the Fourth of July Oliver Stone would discover there was no cinematic flourish or excessive gesture he didn’t like in the 1990s, but with Born on the Fourth of July, he made one of the best films of 1989, a late entry in a cycle of ’80s movies reckoning with the legacy of the Vietnam War. It’s territory he’d previously explored with the semi-autobiographical (and Oscar-winning) Platoon, but here he uses the experiences of Ron Kovic, a Marine turned antiwar activist who became one of the most prominent voices for veterans after returning home and adjusting to life as a paraplegic. Tom Cruise plays Kovic memorably in a performance that tears down all his movie-star charm, requiring him to be vulnerable onscreen in a way he’d never been before and has rarely been since. 63rd Academy Awards: 1990 Winner: Dances With Wolves Best Loser: Goodfellas Ten years after making one of the best films of his career and losing the Best Picture Oscar to a movie star making his directorial debut, Martin Scorsese did it again. Goodfellas didn’t take the prize but, to put it mildly, it would make a fine alternate choice, having gone on to become one of the most admired — and most imitated — films of the ’90s, a film that captures both the transgressive rush of living outside the law and the long, paranoid comedown of staying in the life too long. 64th Academy Awards: 1991 Winner: The Silence of the Lambs Best Loser: Beauty and the Beast One of the most beloved products of the Disney animation renaissance that began in the late 1980s — a string of films that breathed new life into both the studio and theatrical animation on the whole — Beauty and the Beast made news as the first animated feature to earn a Best Picture nomination. It would remain the only such film to earn that distinction until 2009, by which time the animated output of Disney, Pixar, and other studios had helped the form shed its reputation as strictly kids’ stuff. Combining classic hand-drawn animation with some computer-assisted flourishes, Beauty and the Beast now looks like a bridge between the past and the future. 65th Academy Awards: 1992 Best Loser: The Crying Game Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game was so defined by its twist that all the other elements that made the film compelling got a bit lost in the conversation. The big reveal is, of course, an unforgettable moment, but it’s just one part of a complex political thriller that begins with a member of the IRA (Stephen Rea) developing a bond with a British soldier (Forest Whitaker) he’s helped to kidnap — a bond that leads him to make good on a promise to look after the soldier’s London girlfriend (Jaye Davidson). It works both as a propulsive suspense film and as an exploration of the slipperiness of identity — national, ideological, sexual, and otherwise. 66th Academy Awards: 1993 Winner: Schindler’s List Best Loser: The Fugitive The Fugitive almost plays like the result of a dare: What if you made a movie that was basically one long chase scene? Could it work? Could it still feel substantial? Adapting a ’60s TV series that had been a pop-culture sensation in its day, Andrew Davis brought in actors with the gravity to elevate an already smart script, casting Harrison Ford as the wrongly accused man on the run and Tommy Lee Jones as the lawman determined to bring him in. It’s one of the rare action movies to have earned a Best Picture nomination, and it’s not hard to picture it as a winner (at least in a year when Schindler’s List didn’t effectively shut down any competition from the moment of its release). 67th Academy Awards: 1994 Winner: Forrest Gump Best Loser: Pulp Fiction Quentin Tarantino (and co-writer Roger Avary) had to settle for the Best Original Screenplay trophy for the era-defining Pulp Fiction. But whether you see Forrest Gump as a sentimental celebration of all things boomer or a sly send-up of the same, Pulp Fiction had more to say about where we were headed as a culture than where we’d been. Which isn’t to say that Pulp Fiction isn’t as rooted in the past in its own way as the Robert Zemeckis–directed winner, but its attempts to get beneath the surface of genre tropes and B-movie thrills through a mix of earnest admiration and irony helped reinvent them for a new generation. 68th Academy Awards: 1995 Best Loser: Babe It’s rare that the Academy gets a chance to reward a film and its polar opposite in the same year. The films of 1995, however, offered just such a chance. Instead of going with a story of macho sacrifice and revenge, it could have given the Best Picture honors to Babe, a film that emphasizes the importance of sensitivity, tolerance, and communication via the tale of a pig who doesn’t know he’s not supposed to do the work of a sheepdog so goes ahead and does it anyway. The Academy didn’t, but in our alternative universe, we can. 69th Academy Awards: 1996 Winner: The English Patient Best Loser: Fargo “Who are you people?” Billy Crystal quipped in the opening monologue of an Oscars ceremony he dubbed “Sundance by the Sea.” It was a year in which independent filmmaking made itself felt, a trend evident even in the Best Picture category. Of the five nominees, only one, Jerry Maguire, came from a major studio (and even it mostly played like an indie). The award went to the stately The English Patient, arguably the nominee most indebted to classic Hollywood filmmaking. It could just as easily have gone to Joel and Ethan Coen’s Fargo, however, a better representative of what was happening away from the traditional Hollywood system, where the usual rules don’t apply and a film about a pregnant police officer investigating a murder in the upper Midwest could get a green light and find an enthusiastic audience. 70th Academy Awards: 1997 Best Loser: L.A. Confidential From their labyrinthine plots to their unvarnished — but historically accurate — racial attitudes and language, James Ellroy’s novels have long proven difficult to adapt. Curtis Hanson’s pass at one of his best books cracked the code. It streamlined the plot and turned down the heat on the racism but left the spirit intact, and in Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe — a pair of Australian actors then relatively new to American audiences — it found the perfect embodiment of Ellroy’s morally conflicted protagonists. The result was a fresh take on classic noir themes set in a seedy, bygone L.A. It plays like it was ripped from the pages of one of Ellroy’s books, set in a place where one wrong turn could take anyone down the path to ruin. 71st Academy Awards: 1998 Winner: Shakespeare in Love Best Loser: Saving Private Ryan Much like Schindler’s List, everyone knew Saving Private Ryan — an acclaimed film on an important historical topic from a top-tier filmmaker — would win Best Picture from the moment it was released. And then … it just didn’t. Twenty years later, it seems all the odder that a pleasant trifle like Shakespeare in Love — a film released and relentlessly promoted by the Weinstein brothers’ Miramax at the height of its powers — would win out over one of the capstone achievements of Steven Spielberg’s career. But, hey, in our alternate-universe Oscars, that’s easy enough to correct. 72nd Academy Awards: 1999 Winner: American Beauty Best Loser: The Sixth Sense 1999 was a wild year at the movies, yielding one singular film after another, from Three Kings to Fight Club to Magnolia to Being John Malkovich to The Blair Witch Project to The Matrix. Some of these confirmed emerging directors like Spike Jonze and David O. Russell as major talents. Others, like The Matrix, broke new ground with stunning special effects. The year’s Best Picture nominees, however, barely reflected any of this. American Beauty wasn’t exactly a safe choice for the winner, but it was hardly the most inventive offering of the year. Nor were The Cider House Rules or The Green Mile, or even The Insider, a fantastic Michael Mann movie, but one from an established director challenging himself to bring the same sort of tension to a docudrama that he had previously brought to crime films. Of the nominees, The Sixth Sense provided the best indication of what was happening elsewhere in the film world. A seemingly out-of-nowhere supernatural drama crafted with discipline by M. Night Shyamalan, a filmmaker most moviegoers had never heard of, it became a cultural phenomenon by taking viewers by surprise — but the twist never would have worked without the patience Shyamalan invested in the filmmaking or the careful performances by Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment. 73rd Academy Awards: 2000 Best Loser: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Assuming the Academy sought to reward an action film with lyrical elements as 2000’s Best Picture, they had two easy choices: Ridley Scott’s Gladiator and Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. They went with the one that emphasized the action over the lyricism, however. Combat is a form a communication in Lee’s modern riff on the wuxia films of his youth, using stunning fight scenes to tell a story of doomed love starring Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh. 74th Academy Awards: 2001 Winner: A Beautiful Mind Best Loser: In the Bedroom Big often wins at the Oscars, and in most years, indies struggle to compete with deep-pocketed studio projects. Despite its critical acclaim and multiple nominations, In the Bedroom never really stood a chance. The first official Sundance selection to earn a Best Picture nomination, the debut film from actor turned director Todd Field is a gutting depiction of violence and its aftermath, watching as the marriage of a happily married couple (played by Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek) fractures after the murder of their son. It’s a small story told with precision, delicacy, and an unflinching commitment to following difficult choices to their unsettling conclusions — all qualities that make it remarkable, even if they may also have hurt its chances to take home any prizes. 75th Academy Awards: 2002 Best Loser: Gangs of New York Martin Scorsese would finally win an Oscar a few years later for The Departed, but it would have been just as fitting for him to have won for this story of a rough, long-lost New York starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis. The film has its problems, particularly toward the end, but its ambition and commitment to recreating 19th-century Manhattan, down to its last muddy detail, mark it as one of the last of the old-style epics, before green screens and CGI made depictions of the past much less tactile and, all too often, much less immersive. 76th Academy Awards: 2003 Winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Best Loser: Lost in Translation Any skepticism still lingering about Sofia Coppola after her 1999 debut The Virgin Suicides dissipated with this story of a young woman (Scarlett Johansson) who doesn’t know what to do with herself or her life, and who, left to her own devices in Tokyo, crosses paths with a middle-aged movie star (Bill Murray) in the midst of a midlife crisis. Their relationship keeps shifting the more time they spend together, and the two find an undeniable connection, even if they can’t quite decide what form that connection should take. Coppola’s assured sophomore effort revels in that ambiguity, and in the between-worlds state of its main characters, two people who may never meet again but who come to understand that their chance encounter will reshape how they look at the world for the rest of their lives. 77th Academy Awards: 2004 Winner: Million Dollar Baby Best Loser: Sideways It’s a credit to how appealing Alexander Payne makes California wine country (and wine itself) look in Sideways that the film provided both the region and its major industry with an economic boost for years after its release — because otherwise it treats its protagonist’s vino obsession as a symptom of a larger problem. A divorced, middle-aged writer, Miles (Paul Giamatti), drinks too much on occasion, but his real problem is the rut into which he’s driven himself, one that no weekend trip to his favorite vineyards with his more successful best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church) can cure. He’s a mess and he knows it, and his self-loathing ought to make him unbearably unpleasant to watch. But Giamatti’s performance — so prickly and yet so vulnerable — finds Miles’s humanity, and a dim, persistent hopefulness in a film that brought some of the best elements of character-driven ’90s indie films to a wider audience in the succeeding decade. 78th Academy Awards: 2005 Best Loser: Brokeback Mountain We said up front that this would not necessarily be a collection of films that should have won over less deserving winners. But let’s make one exception, because Crash is, well, terrible: a superficial but overheated look at racism that winds up making some pretty pat conclusions. Brokeback Mountain, by contrast, illustrates a different kind of prejudice via a tragic love story, but Ang Lee always puts the film’s characters — movingly played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger — first, focusing on their desires and the disappointments of a world that wants to keep them apart. Even putting aside its value as a breakthrough film that brought a gay love story to mainstream audiences, it’s a deeply felt and beautifully realized film — and its virtues look even more pronounced when it’s placed next to the year’s winner. 79th Academy Awards: 2006 Winner: The Departed Best Loser: Letters From Iwo Jima Martin Scorsese finally directed a Best Picture winner (and nabbed a Best Director award) for The Departed, but the Academy could just as easily have given a third trophy to Clint Eastwood for the second of two 2006 films revisiting the Battle of Iwo Jima. Flags of Our Fathers, which recounted the struggle to take a rocky island stronghold from the Japanese in World War II from the American side, is also worthwhile. But its counterpart, which treats the battle from the perspective of the Japanese forces, is even more remarkable, capturing the hellish conditions in which the soldiers fought and the unforgiving ideology that brought them to the battlefield in the first place. 80th Academy Awards: 2007 Winner: No Country for Old Men Best Loser: There Will Be Blood Do you sometimes have a hard time remembering whether it was No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood that won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2007? If so, you’re not alone. Both are tough, violent films anchored by frightening, larger-than-life performances by great actors. And both find darkness at the heart of different chapters of American history. The award went to No Country, a fine choice. But in this alternate universe we’re creating, let’s give it to Paul Thomas Anderson’s film instead. 81st Academy Awards: 2008 Winner: Slumdog Millionaire Best Loser: Milk Gus Van Sant’s biopic of slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk could easily have fallen into the usual biopic traps, either by trying too hard to show how its subject changed the world or by turning him into a thinly characterized saint. Spearheaded by an empathetic Sean Penn performance, Milk does none of that as it depicts Milk’s immersion in activism, political rise, and murder at the hands of a fellow politician. The film turns an important chapter in American history into a compelling personal story that shows, rather than tells, how one person can make the first ripples leading to sweeping changes. 82nd Academy Awards: 2009 Winner: The Hurt Locker Best Loser: Up If our Best Picture winners ideally function as a cross-section of what we’ve valued in movies throughout their history, one of the great oversights is that the top honor never went to a Pixar film during that studio’s golden age. Up may not be the best Pixar film, but it’s the best of the two to have earned a Best Picture nomination. (Nothing against the great Toy Story 3, but it’s not even the best Toy Story movie.) The tear-jerking opening segment contains some of the best storytelling the studio has ever created, and the rest is pretty terrific, too (especially if you like talking dogs). 83rd Academy Awards: 2010 Winner: The King’s Speech Best Loser: The Social Network It’s a daunting task, attempting to document history while it’s still in progress. Given what’s happened with Facebook and its founder Mark Zuckerberg in the years since 2010, The Social Network might seem to have been premature. But at the turn of the decade, the changes wrought by Facebook were already making themselves felt, and Zuckerberg’s story was already one worth telling. With the strengths of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher balancing each other out, the film follows Facebook’s evolution from an idea to an unstoppable force and Zuckerberg from his time as a cocky kid with a vision to his adulthood as a mogul adrift in a world he helped create. 84th Academy Awards: 2011 Winner: The Artist Best Loser: The Tree of Life For his magnum opus, The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick set about telling the smallest possible story — the mid-20th-century coming-of-age of a Texas boy who shares some biographical details with Malick — and the largest possible story, leaping from the beginning of time to the afterlife. In the process, the director erases any distinction between the two, letting one life and all its joy and anguish stand in for all of existence. It’s a film of images, moods, and moments more than one of plot, and it expects viewers to fill in the bits of narratives it elides. And although Malick has struggled to recreate the power of this approach in his subsequent films, it’s powerful and affecting here, playing like the film he had spent a lifetime waiting to make, in part out of a need to understand what that lifetime meant. 85th Academy Awards: 2012 Best Loser: Zero Dark Thirty Misrepresented in the press before it was even completed and misunderstood after its release, Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow’s sweeping look at the manhunt for Osama bin Laden, as seen through the eyes of Maya, an increasingly obsessive CIA analyst played by Jessica Chastain, works both as a journalistic recounting of recent history and as a consideration of the moral ground surrendered by the U.S. in the years after 9/11. Revenge comes at a terrible price, as is evident in Chastain’s haunted eyes in a quiet final shot that’s as unnerving as any of the preceding action scenes. 86th Academy Awards: 2013 Winner: 12 Years a Slave Best Loser: Gravity Few directors are as adept at combining technical daring with moving storytelling as Alfonso Cuarón, and with Gravity, he found a project that pushed both of those things to their limits. Stranding Sandra Bullock in space and following her increasingly desperate attempts to find her way home, Gravity is a special-effects triumph meant to be seen on the biggest screen possible (and one of the few post-Avatar films to make meaningful use of 3D). But its power comes just as much from Bullock’s role as a woman struggling to maintain her will to live in the midst of desperate circumstances, and haunted by a profound loss. Cuarón’s images would have been impossible in any previous year, but the film’s themes are timeless. 87th Academy Awards: 2014 Where Alexander Iñárritu’s Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) created the illusion of having been shot in a single take, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood played with time in a different fashion. Shot over a period of 12 years, the latter film chronicles the coming-of-age of a Texas kid in a series of well-chosen vignettes. It’s fascinating to watch Linklater attempt to tell a story in a way that had never really been attempted before, meanwhile capturing a changing America in the background. (Dig those iMacs! Remember Harry Potter release parties?) But the film works in large part because Linklater, as usual, lets profundity come to the movie rather than straining to reach it. We see Mason (Ellar Coltrane) go through some rites of passage, but mostly we observe ordinary but telling moments as he gets older and comes into his own. There had never been a film quite like it, and there probably never will be again. 88th Academy Awards: 2015 Best Loser: Mad Max: Fury Road Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight, a dramatization of the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer–winning investigation into child sex abuse, is a remarkable feat of clear-eyed, efficient, somber filmmaking. George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road is in many ways its opposite, a seemingly insane undertaking shot under punishing circumstances and set in a fantastic, speed-crazed, post-apocalyptic world. But Miller’s film — a decades-later installment of a series the director originated in 1979 — is, in its own way, a model of effective storytelling, dropping viewers into a violent, chaotic, resource-starved wasteland and counting on them to catch up as it pits a pair of heroes (Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron) against some cruel overlords. It’s excess with a point, mixing indelible images with powerful emotions. 89th Academy Awards: 2016 Best Loser: Manchester by the Sea The 89th Academy Awards will always be infamous for the mistaken announcement of La La Land — which had been considered a possible, even likely, winner throughout much of the race — as Best Picture. In reality, the award went to the great Moonlight. And though La La Land remains a finely crafted, tunefully entertaining film that doesn’t deserve the backlash it’s attracted, it’s to the Academy’s credit that it went with an unconventional coming-of-age story from an emerging filmmaker that shone a light on corners of the world rarely represented in movies. In a world without Moonlight, however, Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea would also have been a fine choice: a gutting story of loss played with painful intensity — and some well-chosen lighter moments — by a cast led by Casey Affleck. 90th Academy Awards: 2017 Winner: The Shape of Water Best Loser: Lady Bird Finally, the 2017 Best Picture nominees suggest another year defined by abundance and variety. The nomination of Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water (which won) and Jordan Peele’s Get Out (a serious contender by most prognosticators’ estimations) signaled that the lines between prestige and genre films had gotten blurrier. Meanwhile, the continued presence of Paul Thomas Anderson and Christopher Nolan in the running confirmed that they remained some of our most reliably ambitious auteurs; their nominations could be seen coming the moment each of their respective films was announced. Not so for our suggested alternative. Greta Gerwig had co-written several previous films and co-directed one, but Lady Bird, her solo debut as a writer and director, still came as a surprise, with its disarmingly personal take on growing up in a certain time and place (Sacramento in the early ‘00s), making an autobiographical coming-of-age story feel at once specific and universal. Gerwig’s film filled the screen with funny, moving performances from the whole cast, but especially from Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf, as a mother and daughter whose relationship is as fractious as it is loving. Where other nominees went as big as possible, Gerwig proved small could be equally powerful. 91st Academy Awards: 2018 Winner: Green Book Best Loser: Roma Sometimes you just know a Best Picture winner is going to turn into a “Wait, what?” As in: “Wait, what? Dances with Wolves beat Goodfellas?” And so forth. Sometimes it just takes seconds for that feeling to kick in. With Green Book, that feeling kicked in almost immediately. “Wait, what? Green Book beat BlacKkKlansman / Black Panther / A Star is Born / The Favourite?” And, more than anything, it applies to Alfonso Cuarón’s deeply personal tribute to not just the times and place that made him but also the live-in maid who helped raise him (played by first-time actress Yalitza Aparicio). It’s a journey through the past not through Cuarón’s eyes but through hers, a one-of-a-kind movie shot in gorgeous black and white that acknowledges the past’s hold on the present and refuses to confine what’s come before nostalgia and misty memories. And it’s that quality that sets it apart Green Book, too, a film too content to think of the past and its divisions as settled business rather than part of an ongoing story. Roma movingly acknowledged that the act of remembering can be as painful as it is revelatory. 92nd Academy Awards: 2019 Best Loser: Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite winning Best Picture felt shocking for a few reasons. For one, a foreign-language film had never before claimed the top prize, making the honor surprising enough. But it also felt a little off that the Academy would get it so right just one year after getting it so wrong. Most pundits had pegged Sam Mendes’s 1917 as the winner, but the unusually strong movie year of 2019 presented an array of great choices, many of which ended up with nominations. In retrospect, it’s weird how quickly the Best Picture buzz died down around Martin Scorsese’s disarmingly elegiac The Irishman, Greta Gerwig’s daring adaptation of Little Women, and Noah Baumbach’s nuanced divorce drama Marriage Story, all of which might have made strong runs in other years and will certainly be remembered long after awards season ends. So will Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, which finds the director — once an indie interloper, now an industry veteran — re-creating the Los Angeles of his youth and using a story of a friendship, aging, and insecurity to reflect on a moment of tremendous change in film history. The film allowed Tarantino (mostly) to put aside a fixation on revenge narratives that have dominated his 21st-century work in service of a funny, introspective film about the passage of time, the dimming of dreams, and the small triumphs that come from making art within a system that doesn’t always value it — a quality that makes it as much about Hollywood’s present and future as about its past. 93rd Academy Awards: 2020 Best Loser: Minari It’s a rare year when none of the Best Picture nominees would be an outright embarrassing winner, but 2020 was just such a year. In fact, several of 2020’s nominated films feel like all-timers, the sort of movies that will live well beyond their year of release, whether as topics of controversial conversation like Promising Young Woman or late discoveries like The Father and Judas and the Black Messiah. It’s tough to pick just one second choice, but the nuances of Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari — which make it the sort of film that rewards, and invites, repeat viewings — gives the film an edge over the competition. The story follows South Korean immigrants trying to make a new start as farmers in the American Midwest in the 1980s — a plan that puts husband Jacob (Steven Yeun) and wife Monica (Han Ye-ri) increasingly at odds with one another as the circumstances stack up against them. The movie explores universal themes of family and community through the specific details of a particular time and place (not coincidentally, the time and place Chung came of age). Youn Yuh-jung won Best Supporting Actress for her performances as a grandmother whose behavior baffles the family’s youngest member, David (Alan Kim), and rightly so, but every element of the film serves a story of memories lived in childhood but not fully understood until years later. 94th Academy Awards: 2021 Best Loser: The Power of the Dog Wait, did the Academy actually award a Best Picture winner at the 94th Oscars? Can anyone actually remember anything that happened after the slap? CODA won Best Picture? If you say so. Actually, CODA’s win makes a lot of sense: It’s a warm, lovingly rendered, nicely acted, broadly appealing movie with a feel-good ending. It’s not a bad choice at all, but picking it over Jane Campion’s thorny, thematically complicated, and darkly funny The Power of the Dog feels like taking the easy way out. A study masculinity in its most toxic form set against the last days of the Old West, it explores a specifically American way in which machismo, denial, and violence get bundled together and the lives that get destroyed because of it (except, of course, when they don’t).

Coronavirus updates: Sisolak declares state of emergency — says it's no reason to panic - Mountain West Conference said Thursday it is suspending all spring sporting events - Renown Health opened a triage tent on its emergency room parking lot to screen patients - President Trump cancelled planned trip to Las Vegas Editor's note: The Reno Gazette Journal is following updates about the coronavirus pandemic and will be updating this story throughout the day on Thursday, March 12. Gov. Sisolak makes emergency declaration, says no decision yet on school closures Gov. Steve Sisolak has declared a state of emergency to boost Nevada’s response to the coronavirus, adding to a fast-growing list of state leaders who have freed up funds to fight the potentially deadly disease. Thursday’s announcement comes after health officials confirmed an 11th case of the respiratory illness in the Silver State. Thirteen other states have made a similar declaration in a bid to halt the virus’ spread. “This declaration is an important tool to advance measures to mitigate and contain COVID-19,” Sisolak said during a press conference in Las Vegas. “This is not a reason to panic. It’s a first step to open access to resources. “At this time it’s become clear this extra step is necessary to meet the moment. … This measure is not something I take lightly, but it’s something we need going forward.” The declaration eases local government officials’ entryway to state funds, as well as Nevada's access to federal aid. Congress has so far appropriated more than $8 billion to deal with the outbreak. The number of coronavirus cases in Nevada includes eight patients in Clark County, two in Washoe County and one in Carson City. Two of those cases have been confirmed by the CDC. Southern Nevada reportedly has access to about 800 kits needed to test for the respiratory ailment. Sisolak said he was working with the state's congressional delegation to receive more tests in a "prompt manner." He also expressed frustration with the federal government's response to the crisis, airing grievances about the availability of test kits and outbreak information relayed by Trump administration officials. Reporters asked the governor questions about the plan for the state's school districts — other states like Ohio have already told schools to close down for the next few weeks. Sisolak said no such determination has been made in Nevada, but it is something that is being closely monitored. — James DeHaven, Brian Duggan Carson City woman contracts coronavirus after trip to San Jose Update 4 p.m. Thursday: A 70-year-old Carson City woman has tested presumptive positive for the new coronavirus after returning from a trip to San Jose, Calif., on March 2. The woman called her health care provider Thursday to report her symptoms and was tested by the Carson City Department of Health and Human Services. She is the first presumptive positive test in the Carson City area. Her sample will be sent to the CDC for further testing to confirm the virus. The woman is quarantined at home with her husband, who is being monitored by health officials. "She reported that she is feeling better today," said Nicki Aaker, director of the Carson City Department of Health and Human Services. The woman traveled from San Jose to Reno on an airplane March 2. Health officials in Carson City are just beginning their investigation into her case to determine who she may have come into contact with while ill. She did not have symptoms during her travel to Reno. "The risk to our community is considerably low," Aaker said. "She did do everything right," Aaker said. "She called her health provider. She self-isolated. She has been very diligent in doing her preventative measures." The number of coronavirus cases in Nevada now stands at 11: Eight in Clark County, two in Washoe County and one in Carson City. Two of those cases have been confirmed by the CDC. -- Anjeanette Damon Carson City-area reports first presumptive positive case A person has tested presumptive positive for COVID-19 in the Carson City area, the Carson City Health and Human Services said Thursday. The office did not specify where the person lives, only saying, "this is the first case reported in Carson City, Douglas, Lyon, and Storey counties." The test has been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation. Democrats cancel upcoming county, state conventions in Nevada The Nevada State Democratic Party announced it is canceling its county and state conventions in a statement sent Thursday afternoon. "Due to concerns regarding the spread of COVID-19, the Nevada State Democratic Party is taking every precaution possible as we begin preparations for our county and state conventions," said party chair William McCurdy II in a statement. "For this reason, we are canceling our county conventions scheduled to take place on April 18, 2020. We will provide county chairs with additional guidance regarding conducting the necessary business such as electing delegates to the state convention." Watch: Renown shows how ER triage tent will work St. Mary's Regional Medical Center updates visitation policy St. Mary's released the following notice on procedures for patients and visitors: Starting Friday, all visitor and patient entries will be through the Emergency Room. Everyone will be screened by a staff member before allowed entry. Visitors will not be allowed if they have symptoms of respiratory infection (fever, runny nose, cough, shortness of breath). Discharging patients will be met at the Arlington Entrance by family/caregiver. Visitors will be required to sign in and out. Returning visitors will be re-screened. Starting Friday, visitor hours will be 4 to 8 p.m. daily with the following exceptions: Laboring mothers-to-be may have one partner and one birth support person accompany them. Nursery and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit patients may have one birth parent plus one significant other who must remain in the room for the duration of the visit. Patients who are at the end of life may have two visitors. Patients with disruptive behavior, where a family member is key to their care, may have one visitor. Patients who have altered mental status or developmental delays (where caregiver provides safety) may have one visitor. Minors under the age of 18 may have one visitor, either a parent or a guardian. Patients undergoing surgery or procedures may have one visitor. Patients who have an appointment at a hospital-based clinic, laboratory or radiology, as well as those visiting the Emergency Department, may have one person with them. Patients who are receiving lodging services as part of their medical treatment plan are excluded from the visitor restriction policy. No visitors under age 12 will be allowed, except in extraordinary circumstances. Patients with a pending or positive COVID-19 test will not be allowed visitors. All support groups have been cancelled until further notice. Saint Mary’s will continue to monitor the situation and update policies and protocols as necessary. 3 new presumptive positive cases in Clark County — LAS VEGAS – The Southern Nevada Health District has received reports of three new "presumptive positive cases" in Clark County. Investigations are in preliminary stages, and the district said in a statement it will provide additional information as it becomes available. Thursday's update brings the total number of cases Nevada to 10: Two in Washoe County and eight in Clark County. Only two of the cases – one in Washoe and one in Clark – have been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three cases announced in Nevada Wednesday afternoon included a New York woman in her 40s who attended a large conference on the Las Vegas Strip. The hospitalized patient attended the Women in Power Summit from March 5-8 at the Mirage. She had had been exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 during her travels to Las Vegas, according to the Southern Nevada Health District. The health district said it is working with the Mirage and organizers of the summit to inform attendees and identify people who came in close contact with the individual. Along with the woman who stayed at the Mirage, two people tested positive after close contact with a previously reported case: A male in his 60s and a woman in her 70s both isolating at home. — Ed Komenda Truckee, Incline hospitals restrict visitation Tahoe Forest Health System, which operates hospitals in Incline Village and Truckee, is limiting visitors. Phone calls are encouraged instead to patients at Tahoe Forest and Incline Village Community hospitals. Visitors are asked to stay away if they have a cough, respiratory condition, fever, sore throat, shortness of breath or gastrointestinal symptoms. Visitors and patients will be screened before entering the facilities by answering a series of questions about recent symptoms of respiratory or influenza-like illness to ensure the safety of patients, staff and community, the hospitals announced in a news release. Clinic staff will ask additional questions to screen and triage potential respiratory illnesses at the time of scheduling and check-in at our clinic locations. The main entrance and emergency room entrance at Tahoe Forest Hospital will be the only way for the public to enter the facility. For Incline Village Community Hospital, the emergency room entrance is the only open entrance for all services inside IVCH. The Pine Street Café is closed and some health and wellness group classes and events are cancelled or may be offered virtually until further notice. Check the Center for Health Calendar on www.tfhd.com for details. Renown opens triage tent in parking lot Renown Health will open a tent on its emergency room parking lot to screen people with respiratory illnesses amid its response to the coronavirus. Renown did not immediately know when the tent would open but said all ER patients would be evaluated before entering the hospital. Media have been invited to tour the triage tent Thursday. The tent is a “precautionary measure,” and Renown emphasized there are no known cases of patients at Renown with coronavirus. “This proactive step to separate patients with symptoms of respiratory illness who need emergency medical care will protect patients in the emergency department and other areas of the hospital. Transmission of respiratory illness from patient to patient is not the only concern as healthcare workers can get sick, too,” Renown said in a statement. In Las Vegas, Sunrise Hospital and Sunrise Children’s Hospital set up tents in the parking lot to prepare for a surge of coronavirus patients. Where is the coronavirus?:Interactive map shows cases in Nevada and beyond “We need to be able to triage and sort those patients and even do some initial screening,” said Jeffrey Murawsky, chief medical officer at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center. “In an outside tent that is well ventilated, you’re able to space people out and reduce risk, so it’s a great way to accomplish this.” Currently, the tents are not in use. “Just preparing in case a surge happens,” Murawsky said. “The most important thing everyone can do is to wash their hands and stay home when you have a fever.” — Staff reports MWC suspends spring sporting events The Mountain West said Thursday that it is suspending all spring sports events. Teams that are currently playing in games or events away from their campuses will be allowed to finish those contests. But all travel for athletics is on an immediate hold, the conference said. Nevada sponsors baseball, softball, track & field, men’s and women’s golf, and men’s and women’s tennis as spring sports. — Duke Ritenhouse President Trump cancels Nevada visit President Trump has cancelled a planned trip to Las Vegas “out of an abundance of caution” amid the coronavirus outbreak. He was set to leave Thursday for a Western swing that would include a pair of fundraisers and an appearance at the annual gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas. The RJC announced after Trump's cancellation that it is postponing its annual meeting and will reschedule at a later date. Coronavirus in Nevada:Timeline of virus' presence in Reno, statewide CBI tournament canceled The College Basketball Invitational, a likely postseason destination for Nevada, has cancelled its 2020 tournament, according to event organizers. The 16-team CBI is the third tier in the national-tournament landscape. It selects teams following the announcement of the NCAA and NIT fields. Nevada, at 19-12 overall and a second-round loser at the Mountain West Tournament, was seen by many national observers as a solid CBI selection. The Wolf Pack won the event in 2016 and also was part of the 2008 and 2009 fields. USL, Reno 1868 FC on 30-day hold The United Soccer League said Thursday that it was suspending operations for at least 30 days. Reno 1868 FC, a fourth-year member of the league, was due to open the 2020 regular season at home on Saturday. There was no determination if that game, along with the rest of the USL's schedule, would be postponed or canceled outright. — Staff and wire

Just one phrase from a famous song that was typically sung at Thanksgiving celebrations. Now, more than ever, we need to ask the Lord to continue to bless us and hold our beloved nation together. With so many challenges ahead, and the divisions that have been wreaked upon us by nefarious individuals in our government, in the media, in our educational system, and internationally (that have their sights on killing us and Israel); we need such protection from God now, more than ever. America has been THE most blessed nation in the history of the world! Why is this so? Because our Founders believed in God, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Thus, they wrote documents that reflected such beliefs which had their origin in the Bible, and applied them to create a new and unique kind of government - designed to be of the people, for the people, and by the people. Over my lifetime, I have seen the escalation of anti-American ideology permeate the government, media, Hollyweird, education, and unfortunately in many homes. But I thank God that my family, being raised in a Biblical Christian environment, has not fallen for such ideology. We can still live our lives and celebrate the joy of the Lord, rejecting what the secular world would like to inflict upon us. I am so grateful to God that our family can adhere to Proverbs 2:2-5. Ronald Reagan warned America - back in the 1980's - that freedom is just one generation away from the destruction of our Constitutional Republic. Here is the exact quote: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” ― Ronald Reagan Why am I discussing this on Thanksgiving? Because I think that we could be on the brink of such a generation now, in 2012 and beyond. The socialist agenda is being touted as better than America's Constitutional Republic, and the college generation is, unfortunately, buying into that myth. The horrors of the communist (Soviet Union) and national socialist (Nazi Germany) and totalitarian oppression (Imperialist Japan) that the Greatest Generation fought so hard against in World War II to fend off and destroy is just a shoulder shrug of history to the Gen X and Millennials. I wonder how many in those generations have actually seen the awful films of Jewish people, Polish Christians, homosexuals, and any other kind of peoples deemed "unworthy" by the Aryans being killed and pushed into mass graves at the concentration camps of Nazi Germany during history class in either high school or college? BTW, I recently learned that the name (Iran) given to the former country of Persia by the Ayatollahs who took over there actually means "Aryan" in the Persian language! Is this just a coincidence? Of course not. I know. Not pleasant images or subjects to discuss during Thanksgiving Day. But I think that while we enjoy the food on our tables today, we also would do well to keep in mind such horrors as food-for-thought as we enter into another four years of a BHO BADministration. I don't need to list all the terrible things that will continue to happen under this would-be dictator (Recall he stated he wishes he could bypass Congress and make all the decisions?? Recall that he also told our nation that when push comes to shove, he would side with the Muslims??) to transform America into what the Greatest Generation opposed in the 1940's. It is sad that history tends to repeat itself - to the detriment of all - by the apparent ignorance of those who didn't learn about (or choose to ignore) such devastingly horrible history in the first place. Last night, I shared a post that describes the current dark times that we will continue to face here in America as we race towards the End Times. However, our TRUE HOPE in this world does not live here - because Christians are "not of this world." Jesus told us that his kingdom is not of this world: John 8:23 And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. John 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here." No matter WHAT this world tries to heap upon us, we need not fear. We may not know what the future holds, but we do know Who holds the future! God's Word hasn't told us everything, of course, but it has told us all that we need to know, for now. And we can experience peace, joy and love through Him; despite all the turmoil going on around us. However, we are also admonished to recognize the "spirits of false prophets all around us," expose them, confront them, and share the TRUTH. We are called to discern the difference between the "spirit of truth and the spirit of error." 1Jo 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1Jo 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 1Jo 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess that [fn] Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the [spirit] of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. 1Jo 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1Jo 4:5 they are of the world. Therefore they speak [as] of the world, and the world hears them. 1Jo 4:6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. The promises of Christ make foolish the spirit of error in this world. 1Jo 4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son [as] Savior of the world. 1Jo 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 1Jo 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 1Jo 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 1Jo 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 1Jo 4:19 We love Him [fn] because He first loved us. We know where love originally came from. It came from God Himself! Therefore, we know what genuine love means and can celebrate and share it with those whom we love. Thanksgiving is a time to thank the Lord for all he has done for us! It is a time to celebrate our lives with loved ones and enjoy our time together on this special day. Keeping the love, joy, forgiveness, mercy and grace given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ in mind on this day, and every day, helps us keep our focus on what truly matters! Eph 1:13 In Him you also [trusted], after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Eph 1:14 who [fn] is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Eph 1:15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, Eph 1:16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: Eph 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, Eph 1:18 the eyes of your understanding [fn] being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, Eph 1:19 and what [is] the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power Eph 1:20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated [Him] at His right hand in the heavenly [places], Eph 1:21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. Eph 1:22 And He put all [things] under His feet, and gave Him [to be] head over all [things] to the church, Eph 1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Remember to pray and do not cease to give thanks! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! * Complete lyrics of song: We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing; he chastens and hastens his will to make known; the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing: sing praise to his Name, he forgets not his own. Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining, ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine; so from the beginning the fight we were winning: thou, Lord, wast at our side: all glory be thine! We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant, and pray that thou still our defender wilt be. Let thy congregation escape tribulation: thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free! Words: Nederlandtsche Gedenckclanck, 1626; trans. Theodore Baker (1851-1934), 1894. Music: Kremser (Nederlandtsche Gedenckclank, 1626)

Presentation of the official delegation of Germany at the Vilnius Forum Dr. Tono Eitel, German Ambassador to Lithuania 3-5 October 2000 Germany sent an official delegation led by Tono Eitel to the Vilnius International Forum on Holocaust-Era Looted Assets who gave the presentation, 'Implementation of the Principles of the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets in relation to Nazi-confiscated Art in the Federal Republic of Germany', set out below. All countries present at the Forum agreed the Final Declaration. In accordance with the requirements of the Allied restitution provisions, the Federal Act on Restitution and the Federal Indemnification Act, the Federal Republic of Germany fulfilled merited claims on the grounds of confiscation of works of art by the Nazi regime soon after WW II, and set up the necessary procedures and institutions for enabling persons entitled to such indemnification to enforce their claims vis-¹-vis other parties liable to restitution. The claims primarily arose to those who immediately suffered damage and their legal successors or, in the case of Jewish assets, to the successor organizations established in the Western zones and Berlin. The material restitution was effected either on a case-to-case basis or by global settlement. The restitution law and the general civil law of the Federal Republic of Germany thus finally and comprehensively provide for issues of restitution and indemnification of Nazi-confiscated art, especially from Jewish property. In the German Democratic Republic (GDR) the compensation pursuant to Allied law of wrongs perpetrated under National Socialism never went beyond a rudimentary stage. In the course of German reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany has undertaken to apply the above-mentioned principles of the restitution and indemnification law also for the former GDR. There, too, Nazi-confiscated art has been and still is returned or indemnified in accordance with the provisions of the Vermögensgesetz (Property Settlement Act) and the NS-Verfolgtenentschädigungsgesetz (Federal Indemnification Act concerning persons who suffered damage at the hands of the National Socialist regime). Thanks to the global filing of claims on the part of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany Inc. (JCC) in its capacity as today's association of successor organizations claims situated in the accession area with regard to cultural property of Jewish parties having suffered loss have been filed. As formerly in the West German Laender, material indemnification on a case-to-case basis was sought; where this was not possible, compensation was effected by global settlement. Irrespective of such material compensation, the Federal Republic of Germany declared its readiness once again at the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets on 3 December 1 998 to look for and identify further Nazi-confiscated cultural assets in accordance with the principles adopted there in so far as the legal and factual possibilities made provision for it to do so and, if necessary, to take the necessary steps in order to find an equitable and fair solution. Immediately after the Conference in Washington, the Federal Republic of German launched a process of communication between the Federal Government, the Laender and the local authorities on the application of the principles adopted in Washington and began to work on a relevant joint statement. The aim of these endeavors consisted in implementing the principles of Washington, illustrating them as a national task on the one hand and to make use of the structures and procedures of the federal system for this purpose on the other. The decision taken by the Foundation Committee of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Committee on 4 June 1999 which was supported by the Federal Government and the Laender was the first visible sign that this procedure was a success. It was also a forward-pointing sign for all public collections in Germany. This decision authorized the Chairman of the Foundation to seek mutually agreeable solutions with legitimate heirs of Nazi victims including the handover of works of art, regardless of whether this was the compulsory consequence of a legal provision. Meanwhile, the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage has returned a number of notable works of art (including drawings by Vincent van Gogh, Caspar David Friedrich and Otto Müller as well as paintings by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Hans von Marees). Other public museums followed this example (such as Wallraf-Richartz Museum / Museum Ludwig of the City of Cologne with a painting by Otto Müller, the Neue Pinakothek in Munich with a tryptichon by Leopold von Kalckreuth). Privately owned collections (such as Emden Art Museum with another painting by Otto Müller) were also returned, some of this happened out of the limelight in a most unspectacular way. The Federal Government, too, has returned works of art, namely a painting by Adolph von Menzel and another painting by Oswald Achenbach. In connection with these returns, names of Jewish art collectors and patrons such as Silberberg or Littmann (formerly Breslau) who had slipped into oblivion for more than 50 years resurfaced. Preparations are currently underway to make further returns. After the Washington Conference, the Federal Government Commissioner for Cultural Affairs and the Media addressed the Ministers of the Laender, the national associations of local authorities and the associations of museums, libraries and archives in a number of letters, requesting them: 1. to apply the principles adopted at the Washington Conference available to all public collections, 2. to intensify all endeavors to identify and disclose any still unidentified works of art that have not been returned to their former Jewish owners in their inventory of public collections and 3. to conduct detailed investigations into the acquisition procedure using inventory and other archive documents (if necessary, beyond the period between 1933 and 1945). Furthermore, the Federal Government Commissioner together with the Cultural Foundation of the Laender and the Federation of German Museums made a direct appeal to publicly-owned museums to investigate whether they were in possession of any works of art that were confiscated from their Jewish owners during the Nazi regime. With a joint "Statement by the Federal Government, the Laender and the National Associations of Local Authorities on the Tracing and Return of Nazi-Confiscated Works of Art, Especially from Jewish Property" of 14 December 1999, the relevant local authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany took up the principles of the Washington Conference on Nazi-Confiscated Art and implemented them. With this statement, the institutions mentioned above have displayed their willingness to return any Nazi-confiscated art that can be allocated to certain persons who suffered damage, to the legitimate owners or their heirs after investigating each individual case. Furthermore, all public institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany are called upon to examine the works of art in their possession at their own initiative and to disclose any acquisition procedures that are unclear or "suspicious". The Federal Government, the Laender and the local authorities also undertook with their Statement to bring their influence to bear on the competent bodies of the state-owned museums, libraries and archives along these lines. Furthermore, privately organized facilities and private persons have also been called upon to abide by these principles and to act accordingly. In order to assist the German public institutions to continue the search they launched in the past for Nazi-Confiscated art, particularly Jewish property, a task force consisting of representatives of the Federal Government, the Laender and local authorities are drawing up a so-called recommendation in cooperation with experts of museums, libraries and archives. This is intended to provide recommendations on the effective search for Nazi-confiscated art that has not yet been identified and to provide assistance in preparing decisions. The institutions concerned will themselves continue to be responsible for finding a solution which will have to be found taking the circumstances of each individual case into consideration. The idea of providing the institutions with a "recommendation" of this kind sprang from a hearing held by the Federal Government Commissioner for Cultural Affairs and the Media in February of this year in which representatives of the Laender and local authorities as well as experts of museums, libraries, archives, art dealing, historians and "art detectives" were involved. Another important component of the catalogue of measures aimed at implementing the Washington principles is the German Internet Web site announced in the joint statement. The Internet-Web site www.LostArt.de has been available since April of this year. It is operated by the Coordination Agency of the Laender for the Return of Art in Magdeburg. This agency will be expanding its Internet project in future (probably from January 2001) under the new designation Coordination Agency for Lost Art with considerable financial support from the Federal Government. It is to give German institutions the opportunity to publish globally the works of art they hold in their possession which are suspected of being or cannot be ruled out as being Nazi-confiscated objects on the one hand. On the other hand, it also is planned to enable those persecuted by the Nazis and their heirs to "advertise their search" publicly for the works of art they are looking for. This way it will be easier to compare information that is available, simplifying the search particularly for persons who have suffered damage. In the pilot phase of the Internet project that was launched back in April, data is published on art originating from the property of the German Empire. This includes objects that Hitler collected for a museum he planned to set up in Linz. These objects were the focus of provenance investigations for many decades, which were conducted under Allied sovereignty initially, and later by trust management. In order to rule out that these objects did not include Nazi-confiscated works of art that were hitherto undiscovered and to give hitherto unidentified claimants the opportunity to file claims they had not sought to enforce before, the Federal Government is making use of the possibility to publish information on the Internet. The Web site database is updated continually and is supplemented, inter alia, by photographs of the individual works of art. In doing so, the Federal Government is endeavoring to the best of its ability to support the attempts made by the former owners or their heirs or legal successors to reclaim their property. The Federal Government has also set up a working unit which subjects art emanating from the former property of the German Empire to a renewed investigation of origin. The explosiveness of our issue had also been underestimated in Germany up to a few years ago. People were inclined to rely on the assumption that all traces had been investigated exhaustively in connection with the restitution and indemnification proceedings. Everybody here present should be aware that legal instruments are only suitable up to a point when an attempt is made to find the most fair and equitable solution possible in individual cases. In the past few years, there has been a tangible increase in the awareness of competent people at museums, libraries and archives vis-¹-vis this issue. The change in attitude can be attributed to new findings that are the result of ongoing international discussions about the consequences of the atrocities of holocaust, war and persecution which received new impetus from the Conference in Washington, to more intense research in the field of the history of art and last but not least to the new generations of Germany who are keen to obtain an objective grasp of their historical legacy. The Federal Republic of Germany is aware of its historical and moral responsibility to achieve clarification swiftly yet cautiously, in order to administer justice in each individual case to those who are the genuine claimants. Vilnius International Forum on Holocaust-Era Looted Cultural Assets Website, accessed 27 November 2002. The website no longer exists (20 July 2007).

I had my doubts. I didn’t think this day would come, the day I called Chadwick an FO. I stayed up late last night just to add the finishing touches and sew on the arms. He’s not the most handsome of devils, but he’s finished! I may have mentioned this before, but poor sweet Chadwick has become known as the Bug around here. I forgot how tiring simple knit stitch can be around and around and around. The pattern’s great! It’s super easy to follow and except for where I’ve clearly made mistakes, I like how he’s turning out. I’m just tired of basic knit stitch. My husband and I had a completely lazy weekend. After the week I had, I needed it. We stayed up late watching reruns of Eureka and slept in late in the mornings. I feel completely relaxed, even with the drive to Austin I’m about to make. It was amazing. I’ve been contemplating how much fun it would be to have a spinning wheel at our house. To be completely honest, my fascination with spinning wheels started when I was a little girl and I read about Rumpelstiltskin spinning straw into gold. I wondered if it could really be done. Obviously it can’t, but just as magical is watching roving being spun into gorgeous yarn. In honor of the millions who died for no good reason except discrimination, racism, and hate, I’m going to take the day off from blogging. It doesn’t matter if you’re Jewish or not (I’m not), if you’re human, the events some 70-80 years ago should break your heart (as well as the similar events still happening today). Anyway, I want get too political or go into a history lesson right now (we can do that on a less somber day). Join me at some point of the day in a few minutes of silence to remember the children, women, and men who needlessly died. I’m still working on that blank wall. It’s somewhat less blank now. We have a Robbie Jr. Cardboard Rhino Trophy from Cardboard Safari on Etsy. He’s my favourite part of the wall right now, and he’s been up the longest. Then there are five empty frames. I don’t know. I just don’t think I want a whole wall of blank frames. I think it’s time to start filling in the spaces with framed embroidery. Last week, my friend Stacie came over and helped me dye some yarn. Originally, she was going to help me paint the frames for the living room, but I jumped the gun and finished before she got here. While cleaning up, I found some of the Kool-Aid packets I had purchased a couple months back for my Kool-Aid Cowl. She’s an artist and loves colour. It seemed like the perfect match! During a recent trip to Michaels to pick up magnetic paper and neon-colored paints, I came across this interesting yarn. It’s called Sugar n Cream Scrubby. It has these soft ridges along the edges but is still pretty soft. Has anyone used this before?