Geologists Warn Arkansas Lies in Major Earthquake Zone
Casper Neighborhood a Finalist for Kindest Place in U.S.
2020 Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Share Views in 5 Iowa Cities
Farm to Summer Week: MN Kids Enjoy Locally Grown Food
Census Reveals Bright Spots, Challenges for Ohio Farming
Iowans with Disabilities Urged to Make Their Votes Count
Women Empowered by Hillary Clinton's Nomination
Female politicians in Indiana hope more women become inspired to take on leadership roles in government. (whitehouse.gov)
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana doesn't have a good track record when it comes to electing women to political office, and advocates hope the Democratic Party’s nomination of Hillary Clinton to run for president will bring a change to the Hoosier State's political makeup.
Indiana ranks 34th in the nation for the percentage of women serving in the legislature. It is one of eight states that never have had a female governor or U.S. senator.
Indiana's four largest cities – Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville and South Bend – have never had female mayors.
Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson is the only female mayor of a city of 30,000 or more in the state. She says an attitude needs to be adjusted, adding that just recently she was approached by someone needing to fill some jobs.
"He said, 'I'm looking to hire some guys,’” she relates. “’The job pays $13 dollars an hour. It's entry level, no skills, but it really has to be guys because this environment isn't good for women.'"
Women aren't the only under-represented group. Blacks make up more than 9 percent of Indiana's population, but hold 8 percent of the seats in the legislature.
Hispanics make up almost 7 percent of the state's population, but less than 1 percent of the legislature.
Mara Candelaria Reardon in 2006 was the first Latina woman elected in Indiana. She says women often underestimate themselves, and more need to step up because they make great leaders.
"I think that our womanhood isn't threatened by compromise and finding solutions to problems, where I think often times men's manhood is threatened if they're not successful in 'my way or the highway,'” she states. “And I don't think that works for anybody. Look at the stalemates we have going on in Congress right now."
Shelli VanDenburgh is a former state representative in Indiana and is running for office again. She thinks Hillary Clinton's nomination will inspire women.
"My 13-year-old daughter has so much to say about Hillary running and the potential of her becoming president, and she was even asking me, 'Can she be president, Mom, because she's a woman?'” VanDenburgh tells. “You know it's changing the way that younger women think."
Veronica Carter, Public News Service - IN


Dates, Times Announced For Phase 2 Of Parks Plan Listening TourThe Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is ready to deliver feedback.
Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese Announces Closing Of Saint Sylvester School In BrentwoodSaint Sylvester School in Brentwood will not reopen for the 2019-2020 school year due to rapidly declining enrollment.
Target Raising Minimum Wage From $12 To $13
Filed Under:Minimum Wage, Target
NEW YORK (AP) — Target is raising the minimum hourly wage for its workers for the third time in less than two years.
The discounter said Thursday it plans to raise the hourly starting wage to $13 from $12 in June.
The Minneapolis-based retailer announced in 2017 a plan to raise its starting hourly wages for workers to $15 by the end of 2020 and raised its starting hourly wage to $11. In March 2018, it boosted hourly wages to $12 after seeing a bigger and better pool of candidates.
With unemployment near rock bottom, retailers are under pressure to find qualified workers. In October, Amazon announced a minimum hourly wage of $15 for its U.S. employees.
Walmart raised its starting pay to $11 an hour in early 2018.
(© Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


Home→Uncategorized→A note on hypocrisy
A note on hypocrisy
Posted by Joseph Heath on December 12, 2014 | Uncategorized
This is a long-standing pet peeve of mine. Many people, and most noticeably many journalists, do not seem to have a clear understanding of what hypocrisy is. To keep things simple, let’s go with the everyday definition of hypocrisy as “saying one thing, while doing another.” This is fine, except that it’s important, when accusing people of hypocrisy, to pay careful attention to what they are saying. In particular, it is important to pay careful attention to the distinction between what people would like the general rule to be, and what their preferences over their own actions are, given the existing rules. (Viktor Vanberg and James Buchanan introduced the term “constitutional preferences” and “action preferences” to distinguish the two, which is maybe not the best terminology, but their discussion of the distinction is invaluable.)
Let me give a concrete example. I was reading a little article the other day about Bill Gates’s five favorite books of 2014. One of them was Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century, which I think is kind of hilarious. Here is what Gates said “I agree with his most important conclusions: inequality is a growing problem and that governments should play a role in reducing it. I admire his work and hope it draws in more smart people to study the causes of, and cures for, inequality.”
Some people’s knee-jerk response to this will be to say “Hypocrite! If you’re so keen on reducing inequality, why don’t you give your money away?” Of course, Gates has given away an enormous amount of his money — more that you or I will ever earn — and he has also made it clear that he is placing strict limits on how much money he intends to leave for his children. Nevertheless, he remains rich as Croesus, and he could certainly make a big dent in inequality by giving away a couple more billion dollars. So isn’t he “saying one thing, doing another” by calling for government to take a more active role in reducing inequality, while doing less than he could to reduce it on his own?
The answer is “no,” and the reason why hinges on the distinction between constitutional and action preferences. Most people think that the amount you are obliged to do, as an individual, to solve some particular problem, depends in part upon how much other people are doing. At the same time, you might wish that others were doing more, and you might also be prepared to do much more, if others were as well. So you can quite consistently support a rule change, that would force everyone, including yourself, to do x, while at the same time not volunteering to do x in the absence of such a rule. This is a really simple and obvious point, but often one that gets neglected in public debate. (I have always thought that G.A. Cohen’s book, If You’re an Egalitarian, How Come You’re So Rich? could have been a lot shorter, if he had just made this one simple point, although come to think of it, one of the defects in Cohen’s work is that he may not be able to avail himself of this point.)
Anyhow, I think that taxes on the 1% should be higher, but I don’t voluntarily pay more in taxes — on the contrary, I have a crafty accountant who uses various strategies to reduce my tax liability. I think university professors should teach more, but I don’t volunteer to teach extra classes. I think we should be doing all sorts of things to combat climate change, yet my own carbon footprint is clearly not at a sustainable level. None of this makes me a hypocrite.
That having been said, it might not be a bad idea to come up with a term to describe the person who makes overly self-serving use of the “everyone else is doing it” excuse, or the “I’m happy to go along, once everyone else does too.” For example, the Government of Canada’s current position on climate change is that, at the constitutional level, we are all in favour of a binding regime of carbon mitigation, but at the action level, we are not prepared to do anything until absolutely everyone else has agreed to a plan. An analogy on the individual level would be a person who says ‘I think everyone should pay their taxes honestly,” but then as long as there is someone, somewhere, who is in some way avoiding them, says “why should I pay?” and engages in all sorts of dodgy tax-avoidance.
The general idea is that, if you have a constitutional preference in favour of action x being mandatory for all, this does not oblige you to choose x in circumstances in which is it not mandatory for all, but the constitutional preference should at least loosely constrain your behaviour — like you shouldn’t be choosing things that are totally antithetical to x. It would be nice to have a name for this sort of moral failure — “hypocrisy” clearly is not the right name for it.
Oh yeah, I suppose if you wanted a canonical example of hypocrisy, it would be this:
A note on hypocrisy — 3 Comments
Hasko vk on December 12, 2014 at 11:32 am said:
The newly appointed deputy mayor of Toronto is a great example for someone who does not understand the distinction in play here.
From the Toronto Sun:
“Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong says it is pretty clear residents don’t want to pay more taxes. Minnan-Wong drew that conclusion based on a report received by the executive committee Wednesday that showed just 218 taxpayers out of around 786,000 tax bills opted to pay more than the tax they owed the city last year through the city’s voluntary contribution program. … he reminded his colleagues the voluntary donation form idea came after they heard from speakers earlier in the term telling them that people want to pay more taxes.”
The last sentence goes to show that M-W is not the only one at City Hall who fails to understand what people mean when they say they want to pay more taxes.
Minnan Wong didn’t use the term hypocrisy but he came close:
“Minnan-Wong speculated those who claim they want to pay more, might only want others to pay more. ‘They don’t want to pay more taxes, they want everyone else to pay more taxes,’ he said.”
Of course, what he doesn’t understand is that what (many) people (like Joe) want is for everyone – including themselves – to pay more taxes.
James on December 13, 2014 at 1:49 am said:
In collective action terms, it boils down to knowing what a free rider problem is. I think everyone can understand free rider problems, but almost no one bothers to think of the world in that way. And so they try to fit what you’re saying with the simpler and more intuitive hypocrisy idea.
BensonBear on December 15, 2014 at 1:16 am said:
I don’t think Bill Gates is a good example. He through his company violated the law pretty seriously in many ways. Also, just because someone *says* he would like the law changed in a way that would benefit most people but ostensibly harm themselves, does not imply that this is what they really want, or that they would have wanted it before they made off like bandits at the expense of society at large. The idea that Gates giving away much of what he “earned” makes him a good guy is suspect also, given that he “earned” it by extracting it from many not-so-well people. Nor is Gates “giving” it away in reality. What else could he do with it? He buys himself the adulation implicitly contained in this article. And that he limits the amount of money transferred to his children? Big deal. I think we can be sure they won’t want for anything.
It is definitely correct that one cannot rightly accuse a person of hypocrisy merely because they engage in behavior that is currently legally allowed while at the same time expressing a wish that it be legally disallowed. But Gates is not a good example of this.
There is a lot more to wealth that just money. I have not read Picketty but I wonder if he considers this to any great extent. People at the lower socio-economic scale, if they have *enough* (cf. Frankfurt “On Equality”), arguably have no complaint on that score. But if their daily activities are limited in the possibilities available to them (as they are, in one way, by the secret, proprietary Microsoft software), they arguably do have a complaint about that.


Weekend Television Listings
Internationals reign supreme once again on what should be a busy weekend for rugby watching. Saturday has the most action with the likes of Tonga vs. Italy, Georgia vs. Scotland, Australia vs. Ireland, and South Africa vs. Wales all on ESPN3/WatchESPN. England vs. Argentina is on The Rugby Channel. If that's not your thing there is Premiership rugby on NBCSN and the Pro12 on The Rugby Channel. There is of course the Women Eagles vs. France today as well.
If you know of an event or a tournament that is not on our list, please share it with us at thisisamericanrugby@gmail.com.
Connacht vs. Cardiff, 2:35 p.m. et/11:35 a.m. pt (live on The Rugby Channel)
Glasgow vs. Ospreys, 2:35 p.m. et/11:35 a.m. pt (live on The Rugby Channel)
Northampton vs. Newcastle, 2:45 p.m. et/11:45 a.m. pt (live on NBCSN)
Women Eagles vs. France, 3:00 p.m. et/12:00 p.m. pt (live on The Rugby Channel)
Tonga vs. Italy, 9:00 a.m. et/6:00 a.m. pt (live on ESPN3/WatchESPN)
Georgia vs. Scotland, 9:30 a.m. et/6:30 a.m. pt (live on ESPN3/WatchESPN)
England vs. Argentina, 9:30 a.m. et/6:30 a.m. pt (live on The Rugby Channel)
Australia vs. Ireland, 12:30 p.m. et/9:30 a.m. pt (live on ESPN3/WatchESPN)
South Africa vs. Wales, 12:30 p.m. et/9:30 a.m. pt (live on ESPN3/WatchESPN)
Exeter vs. Worcester, 12:30 p.m. et/9:30 a.m. pt (delay on NBCSN)
Doncaster vs. Cornish Pirates, 9:00 a.m. et/6:00 a.m. pt (live on The Rugby Channel)
Harlequins vs. Bath, 2:30 p.m. et/11:30 a.m. pt (delay on NBCSN)
Circle G Artworks November 25, 2016 at 1:01 PM
Too bad..! No NZL v. FRA
Drea November 27, 2016 at 12:56 PM
Thanks for publishing these listings with all the details. It's much appreciated!


2015 L.A. Auto Show: Mazda CEO talks rotary engines, hydrogen fuel
By Jerry Hirsch
Masamichi Kogai, president and CEO at Mazda Global Motor Corp., is seen in a new Mazda at the Los Angeles Times. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Mazda is a quirky brand. It's the only automaker to have mass-produced vehicles equipped with rotary engines, and it is content to remain one of the smallest companies in the business.
The Japanese car company makes only about 1.5 million cars annually and controls about 2% of U.S. auto sales.
And that's all right with Masamichi Kogai, Mazda's chief executive, who was at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week to introduce a redesigned CX-9, a seven-seat mid-sized crossover that replaces an aging model.
Kogai, through an interpreter, talked with The Times about Mazda's survival strategy, its plans for a new generation of rotary-engine vehicles and increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
Mazda U.S. sales are up just 2.9% through the first two months of this year, lagging the industry's 5.8% gain. Would you like to see greater sales in the U.S.?
Sales volume is not the only indicator. We need the right sales. If we put market share as a target, we might fall into the trap of discounting the product. That is a short-term strategy and a myopic view.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
What we need to make sure we don't have too much aging of the existing products in the marketplace. We need a fresh lineup so that when our customers are ready to purchase another vehicle we have the product to sell them and they come back to us.
Where do you sell best?
Looking at market share by region, we have about 10% in Australia, about 8% in Canada and that's all followed by Japan, Thailand and Mexico — each at about 5%. The top market by volume is the U.S.
We are allocating production to various regions based on the profit in that country and the number of customers who see value in Mazda's vehicles and the way they drive.
PHOTOS: See the best of the L.A. Auto Show
One reason why Mazda isn't as focused on growth as other automakers is that it has fewer factories and they are running near full production. Have you considered building a new factory?
Before constructing a new plant, we will improve the output of each factory we already have. For example, the CX-5 crossover is a big hit product for us. It is built at our Hiroshima plant with a production capacity of about 240,000 units. We can increase that to 300,000 units without bringing on another factory.
If each worker at the plant improves the cycle time by just 0.1 second, we can get more production. We need small but steady increases like that. While our current production capacity is 1.5 million vehicles, I think that in three years time, we can increase to 1.65 million units.
If our sales capacity exceeds volume three years after that, we will study construction of new plant.
L.A. Auto Show 2015: Mazda CX-9
Other automakers are talking about mergers and how to gain scale in what is now a global industry. How does tiny Mazda survive?
Because we are a small-scale company we are able to focus on clearly identifying our brand. We have launched each new generation of vehicles with the defined Mazda design applied across the car line. We have demonstrated what our brand is about. That has established a solid base for our survival.
There is a saying in Japan that if you are just a small frog in a small pond, there will be bigger ponds, or worlds, that you have not seen. But somebody told me once that doesn't have to be true. Even if you are frog living in small pond, you can still look up into the sky. You can still look toward the long future and have a long-term vision, and that is what we do.
We also have entered into a comprehensive business cooperation agreement with Toyota. By working together on each element of technology, we have a critical mass and can reduce cost and improve efficiencies.
California plans to ramp up its requirement for zero-emission and low-polluting vehicles. Mazda doesn't even have a hybrid in the marketplace. What are your plans?
We understand that we need to meet that regulation, and we are doing some research and working on the electrification of our vehicles. For the Japanese market, we have produced an electric vehicle. For hybrid systems, we have a license from Toyota and are continuing research in that area.
L.A. Auto Show 2015: The 'Fiata' Jaguar XE and other highlights
We also are looking at our rotary-engine technology. It can combust hydrogen and use it as a fuel. The engine can run as a dual fuel system, switching between hydrogen and gasoline. We can also use rotary engines to charge the battery as a range extender in an electric vehicle.
(Most vehicles use a piston engine where pistons travel up and down to transmit power to the drivetrain. In a rotary engine, the piston travels in a circular motion to transmit energy to the drivetrain. Generally these engines are smaller and lighter than piston engines. Because of their unique design, they can run on both gasoline and hydrogen fuel.)
Speaking of rotary engines, tell us about the RX Vision concept sports car introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show last month?
The RX Vision created so much buzz. Many customers who purchased our rotary-engine vehicles in the past keep asking us when the next rotary vehicle will be launched.
We have not been able to decide on when there will be sales of the RX Vision. But the RX Vision presents our dream vehicle that we would like to launch into the market.
For more automotive news, follow me on Twitter (@LATimesJerry) and Facebook.
In Malibu, Kelsey and Camille Grammer’s former compound aims for $19.95 million


Christmas 2017: December 2
Lake Alice (2017)
On the days when my podcast co-host and I have absolutely nothing else to do, we often find ourselves watching movie trailers on Youtube. Usually, we end up going down the rabbit hole of trailers for upcoming horror movies. I'm not talking about the glossy studio releases or the buzzy upcoming indies. I'm talking about the shit. The super low budget horror flicks that pack their trailers full of cliches and jump scares. More often than not, we laugh or roll our eyes. Occasionally, however, we come across something promising. I had not heard of “Lake Alice” before. Yet I found the trailer to be effective. The promise of a snowy, Christmas-set slasher seemed right up my alley. So I decided the film would fit in with my December watch list.
Sarah is returning to her home town, in rural Wisconsin, for Christmas. She's brought along her boyfriend Ryan, who her parents have never met before. Soon, the four are vacationing at the family cabin near Lake Alice, which is blanketed with snow this time of year. While there, Ryan proposes to Sarah, which she enthusiastically accepts. This happy holiday is soon interrupted. In the middle of the night, a masked figure knocks on the door. Soon, the family is being stalked by a knife-wielding killer.
“Lake Alice,” the feature debut of director Ben Miliken and writer Stevie Jane Miller, is clearly a low budget film. It's one of those horror films that clearly couldn't afford big name actors or flashy make-up effects. So instead, the movie tries to compensate with some snowy atmosphere. And it almost works. “Lake Alice” is very much a slow burn. It spends the first forty minutes developing the characters and the town around them. So we spend a lot of time with the cast. The script goes out of its way to introduce three or four separate red herrings, most of which end up adding to the body count. Random stops by cops, visits to bakery, or trips to gas station become more ominous than they probably should be. An unseen figure watches and records the family's activities. The long build-up to the slashing makes you wonder if “Lake Alice” is actually attempting to create atmosphere or is just wasting time. I'm split on that myself, as the film is interchangeably tense and tedious.
“Lake Alice” runs all of 77 minutes long and the carnage doesn't begin until the half-way point. If you're expecting a gore-fest, you're going to be disappointed. There's a throat slicing, a head bashing, and a full body burning but none of these scenes are especially explicit. The film attempts a certain voyeuristic edge, with the killer recording most of his murders. There's occasionally a tense moment but, too often, the murderer sneaks up on the victim in an obvious way. There's one clever twist involving the slasher's identity but it's still pretty easy to guess. The killer certainly has a neat appearance. The combination of a dark parka and a white ski mask, with the blackened eyes emphasized, is a striking look.
The film's cast is a mixed bag. Brad Schmidt plays Ryan as an optimistic guy and strikes an occasionally charming moment. Caroline Tudor, as Sarah, is obviously a novice performer. Tudor's delivery is often pretty flat. Her screaming is not especially convincing either. Peter O'Brien, a character actor of some note that is probably the movie's biggest name, plays the dad, Greg. (Unless, perhaps, Eileen Dietz – otherwise known as the demon face from “The Exorcist” – counts as a big name.) He does a good job of making his obvious contempt for his daughter's new boyfriend clear without being a jerk. Probably the best performance in the film is Laura Niemi as the mom and she's out of the movie for most of its run time.
So “Lake Alice” tries. I can appreciate that. However, the film ends up being a little anemic. The short run time and minimalist plot combines to make a movie that doesn't offer much. The choice of favoring suspense over gore, or even over jump scares, is an admirable one. It doesn't quite work though, as the film's cast and characters don't quite live up to its ambitions. I suspect the director's next film will probably be better. The film does utilize its December setting well, with a gift-giving scene around the Christmas tree and plenty of stomping around in the snow. [5/10]
The Simpsons: Marge Be Not Proud
The very first episode of “The Simpsons” was Christmas themed. Oddly, the series has not returned to the holiday too often in the years since. However, it's second Christmas episode – from the seventh season, a season packed with classic episodes – may be the show's best December-related offering. “Marge Be Not Proud” begins with Bart lusting after “Bonestorm,” a “Mortal Kombat”-style, hyper-violent video game. He asks for it for Christmas but Marge refuses, saying the game is too expensive and too violent. Bart wants the game so badly that he decides to shoplift it. He's immediately caught but the security guard lets him go, as long as he doesn't return to the store. Naturally, the Simpsons goes to that same store the next day for a family photo. The revelation ends up effecting Bart and Marge's relationship in a serious way.
“Marge Be Not Proud” is packed full of fantastic gags. Lawrence Tierney has a hilarious guest spot as the store security guard, who becomes angry at a cheese-and-cracker set and baffles Bart with his odd words. This leads to an inspired weird gag, where Bart imagines the back of the car seat as the guard, who utilizes the built-in ash tray. Milhouse contributes some inspired moments, involving a ball-and-cup game or Bart trying to get close to his mom, desperate for mom-related affection. The boy's imagination leads to some great moments, such as an imaged dreary Christmas in prison or video game characters coming to life to egg on his theft. (Including, I must point out, Sonic the Hedgehog.)
This is a Bart centric episode, though Homer gets some great moments. Such as his insight into the “Police Academy” series, his reaction to Allan Sherman, or the particular way he sets up a baby gate. Lisa gets one or two funny moment as well, such as her metaphor about the bathroom rug, her comments about artificial snow, or her reaction to the final moment. There's some other free-roaming absurdity here, such as the reoccurring gag about a golf game or an insightful appearance from Troy McClure. And, of course, the “Bonestorm” commercial is a classic.
Ultimately, what makes “Marge Be Not Proud” a classic is its more poignant moments. In the beginning, Bart is uncomfortable with how his mom treats him like a little kid. Following his shoplifting episode, Marge begins to treat her son differently. She no longer sees him like a child. It's a feeling most kids and parents have to deal with eventually. The episode brings the subtle changes to a growing relationship to life in an effective way. The conclusion, which shows that familial love can overcome anything, is surprisingly touching. This mixture of hilarious absurdity and emotional character interaction is often when “The Simpsons” was at its best. That is clearly on display here. [8/10]
Posted by Bonehead XL at 9:36 PM
Labels: animation, christmas 2017, holiday horror, horror, other television, slasher films
Zack Clopton's 2017 Film Retrospective
Director Report Card: Lucky McKee (2017)
Catching Up with the Bangers n' Mash Show Again
Director Report Card: Errol Morris (2016)
Christmas 2017: December 24
NO ENCORES: To All a Goodnight (1980)
RECENT WATCHES: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
WHY DO I OWN THIS?: Santa with Muscles (1996)
Director Report Card: Stephen Sommers (2013)


I read an interesting paper recently by a group of psychology researchers who were investigating the influence of electromagnetic stimulation of parts of the brain in terms of how it affected the moral choices which people will make.
Two groups of people faced the same set of questions. One group was wired up to a machine which ran a small electromagnetic charge across the temperoparietal junction (TPJ) of the brain. The other group wasn’t.
An example of the types of moral judgements which the subjects were asked to make is as follows:
Example 1.
George is having a coffee at John’s house. George asks for sugar in his coffee. John has two similar jars in his cupboard. One contains sugar but it says POISON on the label; the other contains poison but the label says SUGAR.
John, knowing that the jars have the wrong labels, gives George a spoonful of poison from the SUGAR jar. George dies.
Did John deliberately poison George?
The group which was NOT being subjected to the electromagnetic stimulation (EMS) almost unanimously said yes.
Remarkably, there was a significantly high percentage of subjects in the other group which did not consider John to be guilty. Their reasoning was that John had taken the poison from the jar marked SUGAR and that was enough for them to believe he was off the hook.
In another example, John does NOT know that the labels have been switched. He believes he is putting sugar, not poison, into George’s coffee. George dies.
Group One (nonEMS) found him not guilty of premeditated murder. Most of Group Two found him guilty because George died.
In a third example, John thinks the labels have been switched, wants to poison George but inadvertently gives him a spoonful of sugar (believing it to be poison) and George finally gets a break, enjoys his coffee and goes off to watch the football.
By now, you’ll know what the groups’ verdicts are going to be. Group One condemned John for intending to poison George while a significant proportion of Group Two saw nothing wrong in what John did, simply because George survived.
There are numerous other variations of these experiments which all indicated the same confusion in moral judgement in subjects whose brains had been fogged by external stimuli such as electromagnetic charges. In all of them, the confusion arises from their inability to separate the facts of the matter from the intention of the agent. In moral judgements we regard somebody’s intentions as being the prime factor, regardless of whether they succeed in carrying out those intentions. In moral terms, attempted murder is just as serious as murder whereas being unwittingly involved in someone’s accidental death is not a criminal act at all. In assessing the guilt or innocence of an accused person, we need to establish if the accused had any motivation for causing or attempting to cause a death.
As an aside, the implications of this research are far-reaching and give rise to serious concerns about much of our Western lifestyle. We are surrounded by mobile phones, iPads and mp3 players (especially with headphones), digital televisions, wireless telephones, wi-fi computer connections, modems, so-called energy-saving light bulbs, microwave cookers, laptops and netbooks, transmission masts and numerous other appliances and devices, all of which emit electromagnetic radiation comparable to the EMS which was applied in the experiment. In the light of the experiment mentioned above, I find it to be inconceivable that our immersion in a veritable ocean of electromagnetic radiation is having no comparable effect. I also have information which indicates that a lot of research into these issues has been suppressed and marginalised. It’s not easy to adversely affect the corporate interest with hard, medical, scientific truth.
More generally, I’m struck by the fact that people can be so easily influenced to change their opinion of right and wrong by subtle environmental factors. You don’t necessarily need to have electrodes attached to your cranium in order to have your moral compass deflected off course. Fear of social unrest or other supposedly disruptive consequences may also affect someone’s idea of right and wrong. It’s very important to recognise that the members of Group Two who were making perverse judgements about John’s guilt or innocence genuinely believed in the value of their verdicts at the time. In their minds, it was clear that if George had survived, even though John had intended to poison him, then no condemnation of John’s character was warranted.
This experiment came to my mind when I read Lord Nimmo-Smith’s report of his inquiry into allegations that Rangers deliberately withheld and concealed parts of their arrangements to pay their playing staff. LNS at least managed to note that this was indeed what they had done. The registration conditions had not been met and Rangers had deliberately intended to keep part of their payment arrangements concealed. Those facts were recognised, hence the guilty verdict.
LNS then demonstrated his Group Two credentials by stating that Rangers had not gained or sought to gain a competitive, sporting advantage by deliberately and continuously breaking the registration rules. He ignored the obvious fact that Rangers intended to acquire a stronger playing squad by avoiding the taxes due on £47 million of salary. He ignored the significance of the fact that Rangers intended to dupe the tax authorities by disguising players’ remuneration as loans through an EBT scheme. Registering these payments with the SPL (and SFA) as they should have done would have blown Rangers chances of pretending to HMRC that monies paid to their employees via EBTs were entirely discretionary. And despite media misdirection and propaganda stating that Rangers had “won” their appeal to the FTT over HMRC assessments, LNS had the facts in front of him which stated clearly that the FTT had ruled – and Rangers had accepted – that the EBTs were indeed contractual salary arrangements in the case of at least five players.
Let’s recap that. LNS could see that Rangers paid players part of their salaries via EBTs. Those arrangements should have been part of the documentation submitted to the SPL as part of the player registration process. Rangers deliberately concealed that documentation. David Murray told the FTT , under oath, that Rangers used the EBTs to offer wage packages to better players whom they would not otherwise have been able to sign for the club. LNS concluded that Rangers, knowing full well that they were poisoning Scottish football regardless of what the label read, had not gained any sporting advantage from deliberately breaking the rules.
Rangers broke the rules. They knew they were breaking the rules. They were breaking the rules in order to sign better players than they could afford by keeping to the rules. They signed those better players and fielded them in hundreds of matches.
And LNS, relabelling the jar to suit, says that no competitive sporting advantage was gained.
That is his Group Two moment; George survived, no harm done, let’s move on.
Everything else proceeds from that viewpoint. Now that we’ve decided that John didn’t succeed in his attempt to poison George, we can indeed move on. We can move on to minimising John’s punishment. We might even avoid punishing John at all by dumping a fine onto hundreds of John’s long-suffering creditors. We can move on to finding somebody – anybody – whose interpretation of the penalty that should be imposed on a club which does not correctly register its players flies in the face of all reason, sense of fair play, precedent and practice.
Step forward Sandy Bryson, the man who decides which labels belong on which jars, regardless of their contents. Bryson, lest we forget, was the man who was in charge of registrations at the time of the scandal which led to Jim Farry’s disgrace and downfall over the SFA’s failure to allow Jorge Cadete’s registration with Celtic. Farry pulled the trigger but Bryson provided the gun, supplied the ammunition and pointed it towards the target. (By the by, let us also recall that James Traynor has never varied from his outspoken opinion that Farry was a magnificent administrator.) But the panel decided that Bryson was wearing the SUGAR label.
LNS and his fellow panel members decided that Bryson’s testimony was the be all and end all of interpretation of the SFA’s implementation of fair play. This was in spite of the fact that on the only occasion when his guidelines had been challenged in an independent judicial tribunal, the SFA’s case collapsed ignominiously before lunchtime on the first day of the hearing and the SFA immediately parted company with its long-serving Secretary. It was also in spite of the fact that Bryson’s advice to Celtic about FC Sion’s registration irregularities was that all was in order and nothing could be done; a perverse interpretation which was shot down in flames by UEFA who not only threw FC Sion out of Europe but also ordered the Swiss FA, on pain of being suspended from international competition, to retrospectively award victories to every one of Sion’s opponents in domestic league and cup fixtures in which improperly registered players had turned out for FC Sion. No matter; it says SUGAR on this jar of Bryson.
A credible witness? A man on whose testimony the learned panel should base their verdict? Only if your capacity for making moral judgement has been disrupted could you conclude an inquiry by ruling that no cheating had taken place and no unfair competitive or sporting advantage had been gained. Furthermore, why did the LNS panel take evidence from the SFA’s registration officer in the first place, given that the SFA was already standing by to hear any appeal? What sort of appeals body turns up at the initial hearing in order to give evidence in support of one of the parties and what kind of panel is so morally confused that it thinks such an intervention is okay? It is little surprise that this panel had such a complete unawareness of the principle of fair play.
Make no mistake about this. Scottish football has been run by Group Two members for a long time and continues to suffer for it. The poison in Scottish football’s coffee was put there deliberately, knowingly and with malign intent, regardless of what labels are on the jars. There is no excuse for asserting that the opinions of Group One and Group Two members have equal validity just because they may be sincerely held. They most certainly do not have equal validity.
It may well be the case from now on that football supporters in Group One decide that their only remaining option is to do without sugar or give up coffee altogether because they can recognise the futility of paying money into a sport which is being run along its present lines. It may well be the legacy of the LNS inquiry that George went home and decided not to bother watching the football after all.
Tags: contracts, corruption, David Murray, EBT, electromagnetic stimulation, experiment, FTT. LNS Inquiry, Henry Clarson, Lord Nimmo Smith, moral judgement, morality, psychology, Rangers, registration, remuneration, research, RFC, Sandy Bryson, SFA, SPL, temperoparietal junction
Heads, You Win
The League Cup semi-final against Danny Lennon’s spirited St. Mirren side ended with another Hampden let-down from a Celtic team which is getting to the stage where it can be relied upon to under-perform in do-or-die matches where victory is expected.
Last season’s League Cup Final was a fairly evenly contested game for the most part but Kilmarnock got the breakthrough and deserved to edge it in the end. But there’s no doubting that Celtic didn’t do themselves justice. The Scottish Cup semi-final against Hearts was another occasion in which the Hoops looked as if they had forgotten how to do their jobs.
Ross County’s stunning upset at the same stage of the same tournament was well deserved on their part but it was a mystery that Celtic played so badly when they were in the middle of a superb winning streak in the league and should have had great confidence in their ability to overcome their First Division opponents.
This season, although Celtic eventually knocked Arbroath out of the Scottish Cup at the second time of asking, the performances in both matches belied the colossal gap in the status and resources of the two clubs.
Many supporters would add to this list a severe disappointment in the Highlands a couple of years ago when Celtic seemed to be strong favourites to win the SPL until they lost an away match in Inverness. We should bear in mind, in fairness to the Highlanders, that they have consistently presented a difficult challenge to every club that visits them and it was Celtic’s turn to be ambushed that night but the result was still a shock. Personally though, I strongly maintain that the fix was in that season to ensure that Murray’s fraudulent enterprise got first dibs at the Champions League booty. The refereeing in that particular match was McCurryesque. That was a big factor in the ultimate result, not only in that match but also in the final league standings.
But there is no denying that Celtic have regularly failed to show the hunger and will to win which the supporters are entitled to expect of the team. There can no longer be any doubt that this is true. I think it is highly significant that after the match Neil Lennon stated in an interview that some of the players were like spoilt children in the first half. That is a very strong – and not entirely inaccurate – criticism of the side’s thoroughly abject display but it is also very unusual for a manager to say such a thing in public. It makes me suspect that he has tired of regularly feeling duty bound to shield players from well deserved criticism in the wake of performances which are far short of what is rightly expected from them. However, I don’t think it addresses the core problem. More on that later.
As far as the league is concerned, there has been criticism of the fact that Celtic haven’t won as many points this season as they had at the same stage of the last title campaign. I couldn’t care less how many points Celtic accrue so long as we end up with more than anyone else. Celtic fans are well aware of the nine-in-a-row which Jock Stein’s sides achieved. I doubt if there’s one fan in a hundred who could say how many points Celtic won in each of those years.
When Wim Jansen’s team won the league title in 1998 with 74 points and stopped the nine-in-a-row achievement from being surpassed, I don’t remember a single Celtic supporter who grieved over the fact that Tommy Burns side had won more points in each of the previous two seasons while finishing second. (75 and 83, to save everybody looking it up.)
What matters is winning the title.
So I’m prepared to cut the team some slack in the league because, highly paid or otherwise, there is a limit to the amount of physical wear and tear which professional footballers can withstand over the course of a season. A successful quadruple campaign would require at least sixty-five games. The possibility of cup-tie replays and representative call-ups could easily take that total above seventy. It’s too much to expect any player to perform in every one of those games at the required standard so I’m glad that we have the opportunity to use squad rotation to rest players who need a break. The fact that several points may be dropped without fatally damaging the title quest is nothing but good news in my book.
But in one-off, knock-out cup-ties, there’s a different set of criteria altogether and I don’t think the players have developed the correct mentality for these competitions. This is underlined to a certain degree by the fact that Celtic very rarely win a match in which they’ve lost the first goal. Games can be lost on the way to winning league championships but not in the course of a triumphant cup campaign.
Recent Celtic teams have not shown that they have the ability to deal consistently with the pressure of playing in a match which they can’t afford to lose, most especially against opponents who set out to exploit that factor. There have been a few notable exceptions but Celtic’s best performances have generally come in games where they have felt that they have nothing to lose and lots to gain.
The current Celtic side has a number of good qualities but it only overcomes its numerous deficiencies when every player’s work rate, self-belief and resolve are at a very high level. It’s the players’ responsibility to ensure that they rise to that standard every time they are called upon to discharge their professional responsibilities. If they’re not self-motivated, they’re wasting everybody’s time.
The first-team coach can only encourage them and give them an opportunity to show that they are up to that challenge. If they don’t have the correct approach to their work, they need to look at themselves instead of hiding behind the management team. I expect that there are at least a dozen current Celtic players who are being honest with themselves tonight about why they froze this afternoon but they might not necessarily know how to find a solution.
It appears to me that the fear of losing to underdogs strongly inhibits the present side. Too many players tighten up and, as their performance consequently suffers, so the prospect of defeat further erodes their self-confidence and they enter into a negative feedback loop. Losing the first goal highly exacerbates the problem. The downward spiral continues as players begin to panic or show petulant signs of frustration. These responses in their turn further reinforce the sense of impending doom and self-doubt. Opponents sense this and are inspired to raise their own game still further, buoyed by the growing belief that they have the psychological upper hand. Meanwhile, baffled coaches watch from the technical area, trying to understand why under-performing players are behaving like “spoilt children” or why they don’t seem to have the same hunger as their opponents.
This is where I would have hoped and expected Jim McGuinness to earn his corn as part of Celtic’s coaching staff but I fear that his role is currently limited to working with youth players. I feel that Celtic would lose nothing by looking in the direction of professional advice from a successful sports psychologist to address some of the recurring issues that are afflicting the team. These regular pratfalls can no longer be dismissed as blips or off-days. They’re a direct result of well researched and fairly well understood mental processes and states of mind which need to be, and can be, adjusted with suitable programmes, specifically designed for each individual player.
Football is still years behind other sports in this field but Celtic could do a lot worse than to make room for a Head Teacher in the first-team coaching staff.
Tags: Celtic, Hampden Park, Heart of Midlothian FC, Hearts, Henry Clarson, Inverness, Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC, Jim McGuinness, Jock Stein, Kilmarnock FC, League champions, psychology, Ross County, Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup, SPL, Sports Psychology, St. Mirren, Tommy Burns, Wim Jansen


L-39 Safety Officer: Zak Tomczak
L-39 Safety Officer: Zak Tomczak	admin	2018-04-19T20:00:25-04:00
Robert J (Zak) Tomczak
Robert J (Zak) Tomczak is President of Peregrine Defense Solutions. LLC. Peregrine provides consulting services regarding aviation safety program management to a select list of Corporations involved in unique flight operations.
Mr. Tomczak grew up in the northern Wisconsin city of Park Falls. The city’s airport was a privately owned 1800 ft dirt airstrip built by a neighbor, which essentially made it in his “backyard”. His father owned a 1947 Aeronca Champ so he began his flying career at age 16, paying for flying lessons by washing and waxing airplanes.
He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in business administration and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the USAF through the AFROTC program.
Mr. Tomczak served as an active duty U. S .Air Force fighter pilot for twenty-six years, retiring at the rank of Colonel. He flew both the F4 Phantom and F-16 Fighting Falcon and held various leadership positions including Operations Group Commander, Director of Operations of the Alaska NORAD region and fighter wing Vice Commander. During his career he also served as Chief Flight Examiner of the Air Force’s largest F-16 Wing, Flying Safety Officer, Chief of Flight Safety of the Air Force’s first F-16 combat wing and Chief of Safety of Air Combat Command at it’s headquarters at Langley Air Force Base Virginia where he was responsible for the Mishap Prevention Programs for the 120, 000 person command flying over 1800 aircraft.
He led numerous Air Force Mishap and Accident Investigations and was awarded the Air Force Chief of Staff Individual Safety Award for his flight safety program management and investigations of F-16 mishaps during the early operational use of the aircraft.
After retirement from the USAF, Mr. Tomczak joined Lockheed Martin Corporation in Orlando Florida where he became Director, International Business Development, responsible for worldwide sales of airborne precision targeting systems. He retired from Lockheed Martin Corporation in 2015.
Mr. Tomczak holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin, a MS in Systems Management from St Mary’s University of San Antonio, is a graduate of the University of Southern California Institute of Systems and Safety Management Flying Safety Officer program and is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College.
He has over 3300 hours of flying time and holds Commercial, Instrument, Single and Multi engine ratings.
For more information about our UPRT program call (407) 846-4400 or contact us below:


United Way Receives $1.3M Grant from Wells Fargo
By: United Way Staff
Greater Twin Cities United Way announced a $1.3 million grant from Wells Fargo to support United Way programs and nonprofit partners. Over the past five years, Wells Fargo has provided $6.5 million in grants improving household stability and economic opportunity for people and families experiencing poverty in our region.
This grant will help nearly 17,000 individuals by providing:
Crisis resources for nearly 5,000 callers through United Way 2-1-1
Stable housing for over 300 youth and families
Groceries and meals for nearly 11,000 people
Job training for more than 200 low-income adults
The grant also will help us engage nearly 1,900 volunteers through community-wide volunteer projects and events, such as Action Day and Feeding Who’s Hungry.
“Wells Fargo’s commitment to the community is inspiring,” said Trent Blain, interim president and CEO of Greater Twin Cities United Way. “We are grateful for our partnership and we look forward to continuing to work together to make the Greater Twin Cities a region where everyone thrives, regardless of income, race or place of residence.”
Read the April 23 press release
United Way Worldwide recently recognized Wells Fargo as its No. 1 Workplace Giving Campaign for 10 consecutive years. Over the past decade, Wells Fargo and its team members across the country have donated more than $713 million, and just last year, logged 31,000 volunteer hours.


Connecting Kids with the Outdoors Comes Naturally to Bass Pro Shops
By Therese Ciesinski, In The Dirt newsletter editor
Photos courtesy of Bass Pro Shops and GardenSMART
Outdoor retailer Bass Pro Shops and GardenSMART are partnering with the not-for-profit Whole Kids Foundation to address concerns that today’s children don’t spend enough time outdoors. Gardening is one way to bring kids back to nature. When kids garden, they see the fruits of their labors, and understand the importance of clean air, water, soil, and the environment.
Getting children outside is core to Bass Pro Shops’ mission. “Introducing kids to the outdoors is critical to fostering the next generation of conservationists,” said Bass Pro Shops Founder Johnny Morris. “Bass Pro Shops is excited to connect even more people to nature and inspire students to discover, enjoy and protect the outdoors.”
As an incentive, Bass Pro Shops, Whole Kids Foundation, and GardenSMART are hosting a sweepstakes to plant gardens in schools. During the month of October, you can enter your child’s school to win a $2000 garden grant. Five lucky schools will each receive a grant to start a garden or improve an existing one. What’s more, each school will have the opportunity to showcase their garden on its own episode of GardenSMART.
Bass Pro Shops has been getting people into nature for over 40 years. By now, the story of Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops’ founder is almost legend: In 1971, Morris, an angler, drove across the country buying the fishing tackle that he couldn’t find locally, and selling it in his father’s liquor store. That success led to a mail order catalog and more stores. Today, 72 stores later (and more opening every year), the rest is outdoor retailing history.
The stores are enormous, each about 150,000 square feet, and each one is customized to reflect its location. From the aquarium and the wildlife displays to the merchandise, no two stores are alike. Combining education, conservation, entertainment and retail sales, every store is an experience, like a visit to a natural history museum and aquarium combined.
Year-round events are a big part of how Bass Pro Shops gets its outdoor message across, and are tailored to all ages and experience levels, from hardcore anglers and hunters, to camping families, to kids playing in their backyards.
“There’s a Father’s Day catch and release fishing event,” says Stan Lippelman, Vice President of Marketing. “In June and July we have outdoor camps for kids, with different seminars, including archery, shooting, and identifying animal tracks.” A family swim camp is held in summer. There are also fishing and hunting events in fall. “The stores are gateways to the outdoors,” he says.
From October 24 to the 31, Bass Pro Shops is hosting in-store Halloween events for kids ages 12 and under. It includes a free photo with the Peanuts gang in a pumpkin patch. There are also costume parades, free gifts, craft-making sessions, and the opportunity to enter your child’s school in the sweepstakes to receive a $2,000 grant to start or improve a school garden.
And on October 24, Bass Pro Shops, in partnership with Whole Kids Foundation and GardenSMART, will host a special “Grow A Pumpkin Patch” event for kids, with a garden craft and free gardening tips booklet.
Why gardens? “It’s all about the power of the outdoors and spending quality time in nature,” Lippelman says. “It’s getting kids off of couches. Being outside is good for kids’ physical and emotional well-being.
Bass Pro Shops is a sponsor of GardenSMART, and we thank them for their sponsorship and their commitment to nature and the outdoors. Sponsors are why GardenSMART can continue to bring you the quality garden programming it has for more than 17 years. We couldn’t do it without them.
Click to download a PDF of the Grow A Pumpkin Patch Booklet. For more information about Bass Pro Shops, go to basspro.com.
https://www.GardenSMART.com/?p=articles&title=Connecting_Kids_with_the_Outdoors_Comes_Naturally_to_Bass_Pro_Shops


01. Freedom's Children - Sea Horse
02. Freedom's Children - The Homecoming
03. Freedom's Children - That Did It
04. Freedom's Children - Fields And Me
05. Freedom's Children - The Crazy World Of Pod (Electronic Concerto)
06. Freedom's Children - 1999
07. Freedom's Children - About The Dove And His King
FREEDOM'S CHILDREN
Galactic Vibes
SHADOKS MUSIC
SHAD 102CD SHAD 102CD
This is the third album by South Africa's Freedom's Children, originally released on the Parlophone label. The year is 1971, but the song is "1999." The group is Freedom's and the vibes are galactic. And now just over 30 years later, we can look back at "1999." This is a many-layered album, almost to the point of being cluttered, but this is what makes it interesting. Each time you listen you can hear something new, be it a tone in Brian Davidson's wailing vocals, a riff from Julian Laxton's screaming guitar, a sequence of notes from Barry Irwin's booming bass, the change from sticks to hands on Colin Pratley's awesome drumming, or merely putting your ear right up against the speaker to feel the presence of Ramsay MacKay on the live version of "The Homecoming." The centerpiece of Galactic Vibes is "The Homecoming," which appeared in a shorter version on Astra, but this live version has to be one of South Africa's epic tracks. Recorded live at the Out of Town Club (which, according to a copy of their flyer in the sleeve notes, advertised as a "steak parlor"), the track features a quite stunning and by all accounts legendary drum solo that lasts for the best part of 8 minutes before those dramatic guitar chords. Aside from this monstrous drumfest, the album features some blistering, fuzz-edged guitars on the thundering "That Did It" as well as the quieter and beautiful "Fields And Me." There is also the experimental keyboard piece, "The Crazy World Of Pod: Electronic Concerto," which is just short enough not to become irritating. The orchestration on "About The Dove And His King" adds a beauty and quality sheen to what is quite a rough rock sound, which is due mainly to the inventive recording methods used. With layers of overdubs and no noise reduction, this method created what the sleeve notes describe as a "musical mystical mist of sound." This is a wonderful way to describe the slightly distorted guitars and vague hissing sounds. These guys were breaking barriers not only in South Africa's rather narrow 1970s rock world, but would have broken through numerous perceived limitations on the world stage, had the world bothered to listen. Galactic Vibes is an album that South Africans can be proud of, even 30 years later. It is a great musical achievement that can be hauled out again and again and simply marvelled at.
Other releases on SHADOKS MUSIC
Other releases by FREEDOM'S CHILDREN


Legislative Service Commission
LSC Analysis of Senate Bill
Sub. S.B. 321*
126th General Assembly
(As Reported by S. Finance and Financial Institutions)
Sen. Carey
BILL SUMMARY
· Removes the Attorney General from the Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation (TUPAC) Board of Trustees.
· Changes the quorum requirements for the TUPAC Board of Trustees to a majority of voting members instead of a majority of the members.
· Requires an affirmative vote of a majority of the quorum, instead of an affirmative vote of a majority of the members, in order for the TUPAC Board to take action.
· Provides that not more than 5% of the total "disbursements, encumbrances, and obligations" (rather than "expenditures") of certain Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement foundations and funds in a fiscal year may be used for administrative expenses in the same fiscal year.
· Makes changes to the law governing the Physician Loan Repayment Program including changes to eligibility requirements, reimbursement for certain expenses associated with Program recruitment, and Advisory Board membership.
· Changes the requirements for participating in the Dentist Loan Repayment Program.
· Changes certain procedures of the Dentist Loan Repayment Advisory Board.
CONTENT AND OPERATION
Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation (TUPAC) changes
Current law establishes the Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation (TUPAC). The purpose of the Foundation is to reduce tobacco use by Ohioans, with emphasis on reductions by youth, minority and regional populations, pregnant women, and others who may be disproportionately affected by tobacco use. The reduction in use is to be accomplished through a plan created by the Foundation that provides, among other things, for grants for research and programs related to tobacco use prevention and cessation. Grants are funded primarily using money distributed to the state pursuant to the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement entered into between the state and leading United States tobacco product manufacturers on November 23, 1998.
The general management of the Foundation is vested in a 24-member board of trustees that is made up of 20 voting members and four nonvoting members. Of the 20 voting members, the Director of Health, the Executive Director of the Commission on Minority Health (or the Executive Director's designee), and the Attorney General are ex officio members. Of the four nonvoting members, two are members of the House of Representatives and two are members of the Senate. A majority of the members of the board constitutes a quorum, and no action can be taken without the affirmative vote of a majority of the members.
Removal of Attorney General from Board of Trustees
(R.C. 183.04)
The bill removes the Attorney General from the TUPAC Board.
Change of Board of Trustees quorum requirement
The bill changes the quorum requirement for the TUPAC Board of Trustees to a majority of voting members, instead of a majority of the members. This change coupled with the removal of the Attorney General from the board will result in the quorum number requirement changing from 13 to ten.
Change of vote requirement for Board of Trustees action
The bill provides that the TUPAC Board of Trustees cannot take action without an affirmative vote of a majority of a quorum, instead of an affirmative vote of a majority of the members.
Administrative expense limitations regarding certain Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement foundations and funds
Under current law, the money received by the state through the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement is divided up and distributed to various funds and foundations that include, for example, the Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation, the Southern Ohio Agricultural and Community Development (SOACD) Foundation, and the Biomedical Research and Technology Transfer Trust Fund (BRTTTF). With respect to the TUPAC and SOACD Foundations, current law provides that no more than 5% of each foundation's total expenditures in a fiscal year can be for its administrative expenses. No more than 5% of the total expenditures of the BRTTTF by the Third Frontier Commission in a fiscal year can be used for the Commission's administrative expenses.[1] The 5% limitations do not apply, however, for any fiscal year for which the Controlling Board approves a spending plan submitted by the Commission or particular foundation.
The bill alters the 5% limitation by substituting "total disbursements, encumbrances, and obligations" for "total expenditures." The bill also specifies that the 5% limitation in a fiscal year applies to the administrative expenses in the same fiscal year. Finally, the bill provides that the 5% limitation for the BRTTTF applies to expenses relating to the administration of that fund by the Third Frontier Commission, instead of applying to any Commission administrative expenses.
Physician Loan Repayment Program
(R.C. 3702.71 through 3702.81)
In 1993, the General Assembly created the Physician Loan Repayment Program.[2] Under the Program, primary care physicians[3] agree to provide primary care services[4] 40 hours per week in a "health resource shortage area."[5] They also agree to treat a percentage of Medicaid and Medicare patients equal to the percentage in their service areas. In return for their service, the physicians receive repayment of up to $80,000 of medical school debt ($20,000 annually over a four-year period).[6]
Program participants contract to provide an initial two years of service, then either enter into one follow-up contract for two years of service or two follow-up contracts for one year of service each.[7] The Director of Health may approve a physician for the Program only if the General Assembly appropriates funds for the Program, the Director finds that the physician is eligible for participation, and the physician's primary care specialty[8] is needed in a health resource shortage area.[9]
Eligibility to apply for Program
(R.C. 3702.72)
Current law. Under current law, a primary care physician may apply for participation in the Physician Loan Repayment Program if the physician has not received national health service corps tuition or student loan repayment assistance and meets one of the following requirements:
(1) Has enrolled in the final year of an accredited program required for Board certification in a primary care specialty.
(2) Is enrolled in the final year of a fellowship program in a primary care specialty.
(3) Has been engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery in Ohio for not more than three years prior to submitting the application.
The bill. The bill eliminates the requirement that an applicant for the Program cannot have received national health service corps tuition or student loan repayment assistance and instead requires that the applicant cannot have an outstanding obligation for medical service to the federal government, a state, or other entity at the time of participation in the Program. The bill also eliminates the requirement in (3), above that the applicant has been in practice not more than three years, and replaces it with a requirement that the applicant hold a valid certificate to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery from the State Medical Board of Ohio. The bill retains the requirements in (1) and (2), above.
Reimbursement for travel, meals, and lodging; referral to association
Current law. Current law permits the Director of Health, when recruiting an applicant for the Program, to pay costs incurred by the applicant and the applicant's spouse for travel, meals, and lodging in making one visit to one health resource shortage area. Current law also permits the Director to refer the applicant to the Ohio Primary Care Association, Inc., for assistance in being recruited to a site within a health resource shortage area at which the applicant agrees to be placed.
The bill. The bill eliminates the Director's authority to undertake these activities.
(R.C. 3702.81; R.C. 3702.79 and 3702.80 (not in the bill))
Current law. Current law provides for a Physician Loan Repayment Advisory Board that must provide consultative services, along with the Ohio Board of Regents, to the Director of Health when the Director adopts rules governing the Program. The Advisory Board must also annually submit a report to the Governor and General Assembly describing the operations of the Program during the previous calendar year.
Current law requires that the Board consist of 11 members as follows:
(1) Six members appointed by the Governor: a representative of the Department of Health, a representative of the Ohio Academy of Family Practice, a representative of the Board of Regents, a representative of the Ohio Primary Care Association, Inc., a representative of the Ohio State Medical Association, and a representative of the Ohio Osteopathic Association.
(2) Two members of the Ohio House of Representatives: one representative from each political party, appointed by the Speaker of the House.
(3) Two members of the Ohio Senate: one representative from each political party, appointed by the Senate President.
Existing law specifies that Board members serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the discharge of their duties.
The bill. The bill removes the requirement that one of the six members of the Advisory Board appointed by the Governor be a representative of the Ohio Primary Care Association, Inc., and replaces it with a requirement that one of these six members be a representative of the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers. The bill also eliminates the provision under which Board members may be reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the discharge of their duties.
Dentist Loan Repayment Program
(R.C. 3702.89 and 3702.92)
Sub. S.B. 51 of the 125th General Assembly created the Dentist Loan Repayment Program. The program provides loan repayment on behalf of individuals who agree to provide dental services in areas designated as dental health resource shortage areas by the Director of Health. The Department of Health is required to administer the program in cooperation with the Board of Regents and the Dentist Loan Repayment Advisory Board. Under the program, the Ohio Board of Regents may agree to repay all or part of the principal and interest of a government or other educational loan taken by an individual for tuition, educational expenses, and room and board. These expenses must have been incurred while the individual was enrolled in an accredited dental college or a dental college located outside of the United States that meets the standards set by the State Dental Board and must be determined reasonable by the Director of Health. The Director of Health is required to adopt rules in consultation with the Ohio Board of Regents and the Dentist Loan Repayment Advisory Board to implement the Program.
To be eligible to participate in the Dentist Loan Repayment Program, an applicant must not have received National Health Service Corps tuition or student loan repayment assistance and must be one of the following: a dental student enrolled in the final year of dental college, a dental resident in the final year of residency, or a dentist engaged in the practice of dentistry in Ohio for no more than three years prior to submitting the application. The application must be submitted to the Director of Health on a form the Director is required to prescribe. All of the following information must be included or supplied:
(1) The applicant's name, address, and telephone number;
(2) The name of the dental college the applicant is attending or attended and dates and verification of attendance;
(3) If the applicant is a dental resident, the facility at which the dental residency is being performed;
(4) A summary and verification of the educational expenses the applicant seeks reimbursement for under the Program;
(5) If the applicant is a dentist, the verification of the applicant's license to practice dentistry in Ohio, and proof of good standing;
(6) Verification of the applicant's United States citizenship or status as a legal alien.
The bill changes the requirements for participating in the Program by specifying the following:
(1) That the individual is not receiving certain assistance in student loan repayment, instead of has never received such assistance;
(2) That, if practicing dentistry, has been in practice for less than three years instead of less than three years in this state.
Dentist Loan Repayment Advisory Board
Sub. S.B. 51 also created the Dentist Loan Repayment Advisory Board. The Board consists of seven members: one member of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker, one member of the Senate appointed by the President, one representative of the Ohio Board of Regents appointed by the Chancellor, the Director of Health or an employee of the Department of Health designated by the Director, and three representatives of the dental profession appointed by the Governor from persons nominated by the Ohio Dental Association.
The Board must designate a chairperson and meet at least once annually. The chairperson is to call special meetings as needed or on the request of six members. Six members constitute a quorum.
The bill reduces from six to four the number of members of the Board that constitute a quorum and that are required to compel the chairperson to call a special meeting of the Board.
Reported, S. Finance & Financial Institutions
s0321-rs-126.doc/kl
* This analysis was prepared before the report of the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee appeared in the Senate Journal. Note that the list of co-sponsors and the legislative history may be incomplete. In addition, this analysis does not include appropriations or other fiscal provisions. See the Legislative Service Commission's Fiscal Note for Sub. S.B. 321 for an analysis of those provisions.
[1] The Third Frontier Commission administers the BRTTTF pursuant to the law governing the Commission. (R.C. 183.18 and Chapter 184.)
[2] The Physician Loan Repayment Program was authorized by H.B. 478 of the 119th General Assembly.
[3] A "primary care physician" is an individual authorized under Ohio law to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery who is Board-certified or Board-eligible in a primary care specialty. (R.C. 3702.71(A).) The terms "Board-certified" and "Board-eligible" are not defined in the Revised Code. However, according to the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), a physician who is Board-certified has completed an approved educational training program and an evaluation process including an examination designed to assess the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to provide quality patient care in that specialty. A physician who is Board-eligible is in the process of becoming Board-certified, although the ABMS discourages the use of this description. ABMS, FAQs (visited Mar. 2, 2004) <http://www.abms.org/faq.asp#WBE>.
[4] "Primary care services" means professional comprehensive personal health services, which may include health education and disease prevention, treatment of uncomplicated health problems, diagnosis of chronic health problems, and overall management of health care services for an individual or a family, and the services of a psychiatrist. "Primary health care services" also includes providing the initial contact for health care services and making referrals for secondary and tertiary care and for continuity of health care services. (R.C. 3702.71(B).)
[5] The Director of Health has designated the following areas as health resource shortage areas:
· A geographical area, facility, or population group in Ohio that has been designated by the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services as a health manpower shortage area under Title III of the "Public Health Services Act." (Title III now classifies a "health manpower shortage area" as a "health professional shortage area.")
· A geographical area, facility, or population group in Ohio that meets both of the following criteria: (1) has a population to primary care physician ratio exceeding two thousand to one, and (2) has previously been designated to be a health manpower shortage area by the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, but the Director of Health has determined no longer meets the criteria to be a health manpower shortage area.
(O.A.C. 3701-6-04.)
[6] Ohio Department of Health, Physician Loan Repayment--Ohio (visited May 1, 2006) <http://www.odh.ohio.gov/odhPrograms/chss/phyloan/ploan1.aspx>.
[7] Id.
[8] "Primary care specialty" means general internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, or family practice. (R.C. 3702.71(C).)
[9] R.C. 3702.73.


Year of the Norma/Norman Bates Mother/Son Dynamic?
Posted in Curiouser & Curiouser with tags ahs, american horror story, american horror story freak show, bates motel, batman, carol kane, clowns, finn wittrock, frances conroy, freak show, freddy highmore, gotham, horror, norma bates, norman bates, robin lord taylor, television, tv, tv series, vera farmiga on November 30, 2014 by TheLadyCatEye
Is this the year of the Norma/Norman Bates mother/(killer) son dysfunctional relationship dynamic on TV?
Norman & Norma Bates of Bates Motel
No seriously, we have the actual Norma & Norman Bates of Bates Motel, with Norma having to come to terms with her sons psychological illness and issues getting worse and worse; we have Oswald Cobblepott & his mother, Gertrud Kapelput that have a weird connection all their own going on; and then there’s psychotic, copy-cat clown, serial killer, Dandy Mott, and his mother Gloria in this season (four) of American Horror Story: Freak show.
Dandy & Gloria Mott of season 4 of American Horror Story: Freak show
What do these mothers & sons all have in common? Well…the sons are all obviously killers; their mothers know this…or will soon find out…they’re unabashedly devoted to their boys, yet they haven’t a clue how to properly deal with their sons descent into madness….
But watch out: These overprotective mothers will do whatever it takes to make sure their boys are safe from harm; even if that means hiding the bodies for them, and crossing a few moral lines themselves along the way.
Oswald Cobblepott, & his mother, Gertrud Kapelput of Gotham
Gertrud is….pretty convinced her Oswald has run off with some lady friend. Not sure where she gets that idea…But nonetheless there’s a few boundaries she needs to abide by:
First rule: Let your son take his bath. Alone. Capiche? …All kinds of awkward here. He’s had a rough day dealing with all kinds of pre-Batman criminal mob stuff. I think he can sponge bathe himself.
Second: I’m going to feel very sorry for the poor unfortunate lady soul that may date Oswald in the future. …Both because he’s Oswald Cobblepott and, of course, Gertrud. Nah. I joke. No! Really! 😉 Kudos to whomever dates Robin Lord Taylor’s Oswald. He’s a keeper.
Oh hell…lets be real: These mothers are facing their own journey and descent into madness.
Yeah, Gloria….where he devours them into that void of a mouth, behind that faux DCnu Joker mask.
In spite of these mama’s over-protective killer instincts…the monsters their sons have become reflect a really nasty reality we face today: Enabling undesirable, unacceptable, and often abhorrent behaviors in people in order to maintain the status quo; particularly at any costs, and especially if said person has a reputation to maintain.
It’s much worse when the killer is rife with privileges, which include class, gender, and race–specifically the white, rich, males who have some sort of societal and class protection. Dandy Mott is a perfect example of someone whose privilege and stunted emotions run unchecked. Sheltered from the world and spoiled rotten by his mother hasn’t helped his psych any either. He’s come to embrace his inner emptiness and darkness, as well as pulling inspiration from the now deceased, tortured soul, Twisty the clown (pictured above).
Dandy Mott’s smashing clown costume
Dandy isn’t afraid to show his mother whom he truly and fully is. This puts Gloria in a very tight spot. Though…it’s hard to empathize someone who enables such warped behavior….especially one that’s admitted to having been at least aware of the inbreeding that’s been going on in the Mott family. It’ll be interesting to see what Gloria ends up doing in the midst of Dandy’s knife happy shenanigans…
Same could be said for Norma Bates. In that corrupt, quiet, coastal Oregon town there’s only so many places one can hide a body. Norman is still a teenager, and has killed two people or more already….though his diagnosis and motivation isn’t necessarily caused by malice or sociopathy…that we know of. Norman’s blackouts are still something to be explored. He may just have a bad case of mental illness…We’ll have to wait and see. We know where his story goes…but it’s the mechanics of his mental illness we need to understand.
Either way…It’ll be interesting to see how far these mothers are willing to be pushed, both by themselves and by their sons’ madness.
Gloria, haven’t we seen you at this angle before? Oh! Wait!
POISONOUS PARENTS: Harry & Zinnia Wormwood (Matilda)
Posted in POISONOUS PARENTS on November 13, 2014 by TheLadyCatEye
“Narrator: Everyone is born, but not everyone is born the same. Some will grow to be butchers, or bakers, or candlestick makers. Some will only be really good at making Jell-O salad. One way or another, though, every human being is unique, for better or for worse.
[Harry takes his first look at Matilda, grunts, and leaves]
Narrator: Most parents believe their children are the most beautiful creatures ever to grace the planet. Others take a less emotional approach.
[Harry and Zinnia are leaving the hospital with the baby]
Harry Wormwood: What a waste of time!
Zinnia Wormwood: And painful!
Harry Wormwood: And expensive, $9.25 for a bar of soap?
Zinnia Wormwood: Well I had to take a shower, Harry!
Harry Wormwood: $5,000? I’m not paying it. What’re they going to do, repossess the kid?”
-Matilda (1996), the day Matilda was born.
Ah…Harry and Zinnia Wormwood.
Where could I possibly start with these two?
Well, first of all:
Congratulations, for taking absolutely no interest in your intellectual prodigy daughter. She’s a human calculator, has read every single children’s library book, and has a college level IQ. I mean, look at this face:
She has a face that will one day, undoubtedly, cure cancer…and all you can do is sit there in sloth with your tainted TV dinners and your dirty car sales tricks. Yeah…I mean, who needs to read and fill their minds with knowledge right? Who needs those pesky intellectuals who move our society forward anyway?? You know…the doctors and scientists that help cure common diseases; the teachers that are partially responsible for making sure the next generation doesn’t devolve. Oh! And the engineers that build our space ships to send our astronauts into space in hopes that we might find signs of intelligent life somewhere….out there…wherever that may be. Because lets face it: We’re coming up bone dry in the signs of intelligent life on our planet; common sense becoming a common rarity. But yeah…Who needs those people, eh? Meh…
Well, the good news is that your kid is immune to your bullshittery of deceit, stupidity and ignorance with her hunger and eagerness to learn and grow as a person. She’s proof that we, as offspring, aren’t fully influenced by our environment, and/or our parents or the guardians that raised us.
Considering how many parents would deem it a god send to have a child like Matilda, one can only wonder WHY people like Harry & Zinnia Wormwood have children to begin with? Chances are Michael (Matilda’s older brother) and Matilda were the byproduct of a couple of passionate nights between Mr. & Mrs. Wormwood. I mean, that’s how it all starts out anyway, right? Perhaps Zinnia and Harry don’t actually like children. …The world may never know. And for that, I shrug.
Either way, Harry and Zinnia, between your negligence, and not caring whether your child succeeds at life, people in the real world like YOU are the very definition of why our society is heading towards a real life Idiocracy.
So again, congratulations and hats off to you!
In all seriousness, Matilda is one of those stories where the book and the movie are both really good, at least in my humble opinion. I never did see the Broadway musical, so I cannot comment on that. In terms of the book and the film each has a unique vision, is stylistic, and each allow the audience to look through the eyes of this extraordinary young girl.
And come on! Who doesn’t like Danny Devito’s vision and direction? Have you seen his later film, Death To Smoochy (2002)?
Matilda is a grade A example of why we don’t need to be co-dependent on our parents for everything. Given the direction Generation Y (Millennials) are headed in at this moment in time, with the state of the economy, dwindling full time jobs, hours, and benefits, loss of healthcare. etc. it becomes more of a challenge for a good number of my generation not to depend on their parents and family in some aspect or another. Like it or not, there are many situations that are not within my generations control right now, even if we do everything in our power to be as independent as humanly possible. But that’s just where we’re at at this moment in time.
The story of Matilda is a clear demonstration of how our reactions play a crucial role in maintaining our own happiness, health, and overall well being. That’s not to say that everyone isn’t different in how they deal with stress and negativity. If you suffer from depression or any sort of mental illness, then that crucially needs to be factored into the equation. Matilda holds herself up pretty well, in spite of her parents neglect and unethical behavior. She doesn’t allow her parents to discourage her from reading, learning or growing to her fullest potential; and most certainly doesn’t react or blame herself unnecessarily for Harry and Zinnia’s ignorance. Her maturity level is exceeded beyond her years.
Lauren Lungerich, creator of MTV’s Awkward once said: (…though I’ve heard this quote before) “You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it.” Something about her saying this during the making of Awkward really stood out to me. Awkward’s main character, Jenna Hamilton–which I’ll be writing about here soon in more detail–had a lot of negativity coming her way during the first couple of seasons of Awkward from school, her parents, and various curve balls that life kept throwing at this high school misfit. She managed to handle and deal with her problems with grace and tact, and turned a lot of her problems into something that could help herself, as well as others move forward. Matilda does something similar, but still manages to have fun in the process; proving you don’t have to be malicious to play a prank on someone, especially your parents. After all, it’s a possibility they deserve a lot worse than a prank scare, but that’s not for me or you to decide. 😉
That poor parrot though…stuck in a chimney for days? Ah, well…I’d probably stick to super gluing my dads hat on his head.
There are two drastically different directions this story could have gone:
1. The actual direction it went in: Overcoming fear, discouragement, and the ignorance of others; resulting in fun times.
How I put it: Going full Carrie.
As I tweeted just a couple of days ago to Mara Wilson herself:
https://twitter.com/YoungNStrange
“.@MaraWritesStuff Matilda could have gone full Carrie, had she not believed in the power of #Cheerios Thurston Harris & Cheerios.” #ThurstonHar
Hey…anything is possible. 😉
Carrie had a much more damaging upbringing than Matilda did, so I’m not too sure this is a fair assessment… Ultimately, the choice was theirs.
Harry and Zinnia Wormwood represent the apathy that comes when society starts to take for granted the thing, situations, places, and people we should value…but don’t have an appreciation for because they’re so integrated into our daily lives. Although the book came out in 1988, and the movie in 1996, many aspects of the story of Matilda still ring true, especially in this day and age as we descend further and further into a materialistic and self absorbed society. Harry and Zinnia’s bad parenting doesn’t just come from their self absorbed and unethical nature; they allow themselves to become susceptible to the media and other societal influences by zoning out in front of the television and other forms of easily digestible consumerism.
The Wormwood’s don’t value their daughter and her intelligence, simply because they don’t value hard work, intellectual pursuits, education, or a challenge. They’d rather take the easy way out by doing the least amount of work for the largest amount of reward. Harry Wormwood’s job as a dirty car salesman makes this fact pretty obvious and overt. This extends to their parenting as well. Matilda learned instinctively very very early on that she had to become super self reliant if she were to survive in this world; especially from an emotional standpoint.
Often times, those that cannot seek emotional solace and support from within their own families often have no other choice but to seek it out elsewhere. Matilda found a kindred spirit–and later a mother–in her teacher, Miss Honey. Both of them share a similar past with abusive and negligent family members. Ms. Trunchbull being Miss Honey’s main guardian after the death of her father at a very young age.
“You were born into a family that doesn’t always appreciate you, but one day, things are going to be very different.” Miss Honey; Matilda (1996)
When we’re young, we have very little say in where we get to live, let alone who we surround ourselves with. In the US, many teenagers don’t get to leave their home until their 18th birthday. …That is unless they get themselves emancipated, or can convince social services to have them removed from whatever dysfunctional situations they’re in. Many children end up coming up with coping methods to deal with the dysfunction. Matilda’s coping method was immersing herself in her story books, school work, and surrounding herself with friends. For someone as young as six, that may have been her only option. Either way, as challenging as it can be not to get sucked into family drama and dysfunction, Matilda managed to completely focus her energies on expanding the power of her mind; using it constructively. That’s not an easy thing to do, but it can be done and is often necessary.
In spite of their bad parenting, Harry and Zinnia did at least one great thing for their daughter, and that was giving her up for adoption to the one person who loved and valued her most: Jennifer Honey; allowing Matilda to grow up in a loving family.
Everyone has to do what’s best for their children. Sometimes that requires letting them go so they can live up to their fullest potential, in a positive and loving environment.


Courtenay wellness clinic to host grand opening celebration
Public welcome to festivities at Grove Health & Wellness
Hot dogs and cake, bouncy castle and balloon animals – The Grove Health & Wellness is celebrating their grand opening. And you’re invited!
The Grand Opening Community Party takes place June 22 from 1-4 p.m. at the corner of Third Street and Duncan Avenue (332-3rd Street) in The Grove’s parking lot, and all are welcome to attend.
“We’re so excited to invite the community to help us celebrate our new wellness centre and show off our fabulous location,” said Dr. Liza Grant, chiropractor and managing co-partner at The Grove. “We actually opened earlier in the year but waited for warmer weather and barbecue season to have a party.
“We’ll be serving up burgers and dogs, painting faces and eating cake out in our parking lot – should be tonnes of fun! Plus, the clinic will be open for tours, and all our practitioners will be on hand to meet people and answer questions.”
Grant and fellow chiropractors and partners, Dr. Debbie Wright and Dr. Alicia Steele, opened the doors to their new facility in January.
As the Valley’s only clinic that’s exclusively dedicated to offering an integrated and collaborative model of healthcare, Grant notes that they have been very well received.
“The public response has been overwhelmingly positive, and the clinic is thriving,” she said. “In fact, we’re in the process of adding two more healthcare professionals to our multi-disciplinary team, which includes registered massage therapists, chiropractors, naturopathic and traditional Chinese medicine doctors, an acupuncturist and even an artist in residence.”
With an integrated approach to healthcare, practitioners take a team approach and have the expectation of working as a collective. This method of collaboration allows the practitioners to have shared access to patients’ medical files and discuss cases in order to better support them. Patients are free to agree to the approach or not and are consulted throughout the process.
“Our ‘whole-patient’ approach to healthcare is really catching on, and our patients love being part of a collaborative, supportive environment,” said Grant. “We can see that with just how bustling our clinic is – well, it’s that, and also being able to access multiple wellness options in one great downtown location.
“So, save the date, and come on down and see what we’re all about!”
To find out more about the event and/or to book appointments, visit grovewellness.ca or call 250-334-4844.
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