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Fermentation profile of green Spanish-style Manzanilla olives according to NaCl content in brine.
This work studies the effects of the partial substitution of NaCl with potassium and calcium chloride salts on the fermentation profile of Spanish-style green Manzanilla olives. For this purpose, response surface methodology based in an enlarged simplex centroid mixture design with constrain (∑salts = 100 g/L) was used. Regarding to physicochemical characteristics, pH decreased when CaCl2 increased, titratable acidity was lower in presence of KCl while combined acidity increased as the contents of KCl and CaCl2 were close to the barycentre of the experiment (∼33.33% each salt). Regarding to microbiological profile, Enterobacteriaceae growth was slight stimulated in presence of high CaCl2 contents, yeast patterns were not linked to the initial brine compositions, while the maximum lactic acid bacteria population decreased slightly as KCl and CaCl2 increased in the proportion 1:1, although a moderate (equilibrated) content of both may be stimulating. Results obtained in this work show that Spanish-style green Manzanilla cv. can be fermented in diverse mixtures of chloride salts, albeit the initial CaCl2 should be limited to 20-30 g/L to prevent excessive Enterobacteriaceae growth; combining it with a similar proportion of KCl may also improve LAB predominance. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} | 0 |
Diversity & Cultural Enrichment Report
This is, however, a non-existing non-happening incident, according to Swedish mainstream media which does not report about it.
The 11 year old girls and their two boy birthday guest who tried to help their friends from the 20 asylum seekers harassments (tearing off their swimsuits) at the swimming pool, have tragically been traumatized by this incident at the birthday party which turned into a nightmare for them and for the father who organized the trip to the swimming pool, Husbybadet, at Solna outside Stockholm.
Targeting children  of “Swedish background”
Felicia, a former pupil at the school Dammhagsskolan, at Landskrona, where more than 90% are of foreign origin, was targeted by fellow pupils because she is Swedish. (source in Swedish)
“Swedes Begin to Question Liberal Migration Tenets”
About time:
“Rosengard hardly has the look of a troubled ghetto. Lawns and playgrounds abound. But the area does not look like traditional Sweden, either. Satellite dishes hang from every balcony. The bakery sells Middle Eastern confections. Al Jazeera plays on the televisions. And young men huddle on street corners casually bragging about doing battle with the police.” (Full article from the NYT below the fold)
Beginning in April, police will record knife crimes as a separate offense for a “more detailed understanding” of the problem.
Last week two teenagers were knifed to death in London. Adam Regis, 15, was attacked March 17 on his way home from the movies in Newham, an east London borough that is being regenerated by the 2012 Olympics. He called his girlfriend for help as he bled to death, police said. (Bloomberg)
The East London Mosque speaks with forked tongue. Yesterday, it was due to demonstrate its deep commitment to “standing together against homophobia” by hosting a gala dinner with one Uthman Lateef, a homophobic preacher who has stated: “We don’t accept homosexuality… we hate it because Allah hates it.” Taqiyya, mamma miaby Telegraph, February 26
Marriages to minors — including among foreigners — are no longer acceptable.  From now on, all requirements for marriage in Switzerland will be exclusively judged by Swiss law. (GoV)
Musliculti & PC Against Black Sheep
BLACK sheep are on the endangered species list as some children in north Queensland learn to sing Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep. In other examples, the principal of a school in NSW last year adapted the lyrics from Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree so children would say how happy, rather than gay, his life must be. (Newscom)
MALMO, Sweden — Nick Nilsson, 46, decided to vote for Sweden’s far-right party last fall because of a growing sense that his country had gone too far in letting so many immigrants settle here.
A truck driver, Mr. Nilsson lives a half mile from the Rosengard section of this city, where dreary apartment buildings are jammed with refugees from virtually all the world’s recent conflicts: Iranians, Bosnians, Palestinians, Somalis, Iraqis.
“No one has a job over there,” Mr. Nilsson said recently. “They are shooting at each other. There are drugs. They burn cars. Enough is enough.”
For a time, Sweden seemed immune to the kind of anti-immigrant sentiment blossoming elsewhere on the European continent. Its generous welfare and asylum policies have allowed hundreds of thousands of refugees to settle here, many in recent years from Muslim countries. Nearly a quarter of Sweden’s population is now foreign born or has a foreign-born parent.
But increasingly, Swedes are questioning these policies. Last fall, the far-right party — campaigning largely on an anti-immigration theme — won 6 percent of the vote and, for the first time, enough support to be seated in the Swedish Parliament.
Six months later, many Swedes are still in shock. The country — proud of its reputation for tolerance — can no longer say it stands apart from the growing anti-immigrant sentiment that has changed European parliaments elsewhere, leading to the banning of burqas in France and minarets in Switzerland.
In Malmo, a rapidly gentrifying port city in Sweden’s south, support for the far-right Sweden Democrats was particularly strong, about 10 percent of the vote. It is a place where tensions over immigration are on full display.
The city’s mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, a Social Democrat, ran his hands over a city map in his office, pointing out working-class neighborhoods like Mr. Nilsson’s that voted heavily for the Sweden Democrats, as might be expected, he said. But he could point to wealthier neighborhoods, too, that produced support for the far right as never before.
“We must dig deeper to understand that,” he said quietly.
Some experts say you do not have to dig that far. Sweden’s liberal policies have become costly. In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, Sweden, which had more manufacturing jobs than citizens to fill them, invited immigrants in. Most came from other European countries. They worked and paid taxes. Those were good years for Malmo, which had shipyards and a textile industry.
When those jobs disappeared, Sweden stopped the flow of immigrant labor, but not the flow of refugees, many of whom clustered in Malmo and other former industrial centers. Jobs were still scarce, but housing was available, apartments built long ago for laborers.
In some of those apartment blocks, the unemployment rate among immigrants stands at 80 percent. Still, their children need schooling, and they have elderly parents who need health care. Some are damaged by the violence they have lived through. They suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and drug and alcohol addictions.
Prof. Jan Ekberg, an economist at Linnaeus University, questions the policies that allowed so many refugees to settle far from jobs. “They are depending on the public sector now as never before,” he said. “That was a policy mistake.”
Rosengard hardly has the look of a troubled ghetto. Lawns and playgrounds abound. But the area does not look like traditional Sweden, either. Satellite dishes hang from every balcony. The bakery sells Middle Eastern confections. Al Jazeera plays on the televisions. And young men huddle on street corners casually bragging about doing battle with the police.
A few years ago, the fire and ambulance brigades would not even enter Rosengard without a police escort. Youths there threw rocks and set cars on fire. Police officials say things are much better now. Fires were down 40 percent last year compared with 2009. But last month, two police vehicles parked at the station were set on fire with small homemade explosives.
All this does not sit well with Mr. Nilsson and his wife, Ann-Christine, 51, who say that immigrants are not only failing to pay their way, but that they also are refusing to learn the ways of their host country.
“They do not respect Swedish people,” Mrs. Nilsson said. “As long as they learn the language and behave like Swedes, they are welcome. But they do not. Immigration as it is now needs to stop.”
But resentment runs both ways. Residents of Rosengard feel that they are isolated and looked down on. They scoff at the notion that Swedes are somehow special — less racist and xenophobic than other Europeans. They believe the country has been generous with financial support, but little else.
Young immigrants like Behrang Miri, 26, whose family came from Iran, say Islamophobia is a growing issue. “If a Swedish guy hits a woman, it’s alcoholism,” he said. “If someone hits a lady in my neighborhood, it’s due to culture.”
He added: “And all this talk about outlawing burqas for teachers. No teachers wear burqas. Why are they talking about that?”
Mr. Miri, a rapper who has started a nonprofit agency to encourage multiculturalism, says he loves Sweden and is grateful he was taken in. But, he says, the Swedes have not gone far enough in accepting immigrants. “O.K., they’ve opened up the first door.” he said. “But I want doors four, five and six. I want to be able to become president.”
Even older immigrants who have made lives here say they have little contact with Swedes. A refugee from Bosnia, Ask Gasi, says he can understand that Swedes are reluctant to embrace the diverse and needy refugee population. He wonders himself whether the government made a mistake in letting so many come in.
Mr. Gasi was able to earn a doctorate degree here, and he has a job as a teaching assistant. But he still does not feel welcome. He points to the swastikas and the Serbian crosses etched in the hall outside the mosque he attends.
“It’s hard to watch the news,” he said. “It’s Muslim this, Muslim that. Everything is about how bad we are. The Swedish won’t say anything to your face. But they say things.”
Some experts believe the support for the far right has already reached its limits in Sweden. They say the increase in votes last fall was more the product of deft campaigning by the far right, which has avoided inflammatory language, than a deepening of racist or xenophobic sentiments.
Ulf Bjereld, a political science professor at the University of Gothenburg, says that a vast majority of Swedes rank immigration very low on their list of concerns. He says they are, in fact, less racist and xenophobic than they used to be, according to surveys conducted regularly since the 1990s.
But researchers have found that immigrants do face discrimination in jobs and housing. Malmo’s mayor, Mr. Reepalu, believes jobs and schooling are critical, though he notes with disappointment that as soon as a school has more than about 20 percent immigrants, Swedish parents take their children out.
6 thoughts on “Diversity & Cultural Enrichment Report”
Regarding “child refugees” – you might wanna include the video below in a post. It is a fundraiser for the terror-madrassas many of the unaccompanied minors go through before entering the west… Apparently they are a lot more “educated” than most people assume.
At the same time, eggs were withdrawn form the daily breakfast tables at the home for elderly at Nordlund in the city of Köping, Sweden. The decision had been made: From now on, you can only have eggs on weekends. Explanation: Eggs no good for elderly people.
This decision has just recently been reversed, so now the elderly at Nordlund can again have their daily egg.
– It measures up to the requirements of the social security administration, ie six bedrooms and three toilets. The location is also good, close to public communications, schools and spare time activities.
The house does need some refurbishing, though, according to Jarmo Nieminen, estate manager of the commune.
[WITHIN a radius of a few hundred metres of the imposing al-Zahra mosque and school in Sydney’s ethnically diverse southwest, a frenetic pace of building activity is under way as trendy apartment blocks rise from old industrial estates.
The mosque is located in Arncliffe, 10km south of the city centre, a place settled mainly by Lebanese Muslims since the 1970s that was once feared to be an ethnic enclave of crime and unemployment.] | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} | 0.00009 |
Q:
Firefox: Item inside flexbox container does not preserve aspect ratio
I have bumped into this, while solving another issue.
I have the following, basic, layout:
+-----+-----------------+
| | |
| c |c +------+ |
| o |o | item | |
| l |l | | |
| | +------+ |
| 1 |2 |
+-----------------------+
col 1 and col 2 are created via CSS Grid. Now, I am striving to center item (both horizontally and vertically) inside the col 2.
#content {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: minmax(13rem, 15%) minmax(85%, 100%);
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
bottom: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
#circle {
background: #7FFF00;
width: 9%;
padding-top: 9%;
border-radius: 50%;
margin: auto;
}
.menu {
background: #D2691E;
grid-row-start: 1;
grid-row-end: 1;
}
.circle-area {
background: #191970;
grid-row-start: 1;
grid-row-end: 1;
grid-column-start: auto;
grid-column-end: span 2;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
<body>
<div id='content'>
<div class='menu'></div>
<div class='circle-area'>
<div id='circle'></div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
Code above on JSFiddle
My code is working as I expect it to (item saves it's aspect ratio and being centered vertically and horizontally), when tested in Chrome 62.0 and Safari 11.0. Though when I've got to Firefox (56.0) - the aspect ratio is changed on window resizing. I have tried another centering technique - using grid (JSFiddle) (the result is the same Firefox won't preserve aspect ratio).
Now, commenting out (JSFiddle) the flex part from css, will make Firefox preserve aspect ratio, though item is not centered vertically anymore.
My questions are:
Is this a known issue (bug) in Firefox, or something wrong with my code?
What is the proper fix/workaround to center item vertically and horizontally, inside col 2, while preserving aspect ratio (preferably using flex)?
A:
Browser behavior on percentage-based vertical margins/paddings in a nutshell
It is not a bug per se, but probably due to browser's different implementation how percentage-based vertical spacings (top and bottom margins/paddings) should be calculated in flex or grid layout contexts:
Percentage margins and paddings on grid items can be resolved against either:
their own axis (left/right percentages resolve against width, top/bottom resolve against height), or,
the inline axis (left/right/top/bottom percentages all resolve against width)
A User Agent must choose one of these two behaviors.
There is no consistency of choosing either resolution strategy: as you can see, Chrome and Safari will choose strategy #2, while IE, Edge, and Firefox will go for strategy #1 (which explains your bug). W3C also noted that:
Note: This variance sucks, but it accurately captures the current state of the world (no consensus among implementations, and no consensus within the CSSWG). It is the CSSWG’s intention that browsers will converge on one of the behaviors, at which time the spec will be amended to require that.
Authors should avoid using percentages in paddings or margins on grid items entirely, as they will get different behavior in different browsers.
The solution
What you can do is simply to define the circle itself as a pseudo-element. In this approach:
the outer #circle element has a width of 9%, but nothing else
the ::before pseudo-element will have a width of 100% and a padding-top of 100%, this will force it to a 1:1 aspect ratio as desired
Your updated CSS will look like this:
#circle {
width: 9%;
margin: auto;
}
#circle::before {
background: #7FFF00;
border-radius: 50%;
width: 100%;
height: 0;
padding-top: 100%;
content: '';
display: block;
}
See proof-of-concept below (or in this fiddle):
#content {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: minmax(13rem, 15%) minmax(85%, 100%);
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
bottom: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
#circle {
width: 9%;
margin: auto;
}
#circle::before {
background: #7FFF00;
border-radius: 50%;
width: 100%;
height: 0;
padding-top: 100%;
content: '';
display: block;
}
.menu {
background: #D2691E;
grid-row-start: 1;
grid-row-end: 1;
}
.circle-area {
background: #191970;
grid-row-start: 1;
grid-row-end: 1;
grid-column-start: auto;
grid-column-end: span 2;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
<body>
<div id='content'>
<div class='menu'></div>
<div class='circle-area'>
<div id='circle'></div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
| {
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
} | 0.000207 |
// Author: Ryan Cobb (@cobbr_io)
// Project: SharpSploit (https://github.com/cobbr/SharpSploit)
// License: BSD 3-Clause
using System.Net;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
using SharpSploit.Pivoting;
namespace SharpSploit.Tests.Pivoting
{
[TestClass]
public class ReversePortForwardingTests
{
public const string testWebResponse = "this is a test";
[TestMethod]
public void TestCreateReversePortForward()
{
Thread httpListener = new Thread(() => CreateHttpListener());
httpListener.Start();
ReversePortForwarding.CreateReversePortForward(4444, "127.0.0.1", 8080);
string result = string.Empty;
using (WebClient client = new WebClient())
{
try { result = client.DownloadString("http://localhost:4444"); }
catch (WebException) { }
}
Assert.IsTrue(result.Equals(testWebResponse));
httpListener.Abort();
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestDeleteReversePortForward()
{
Thread httpListener = new Thread(() => CreateHttpListener());
httpListener.Start();
ReversePortForwarding.CreateReversePortForward(4444, "127.0.0.1", 8080);
string result = string.Empty;
using (WebClient client = new WebClient())
{
try { result = client.DownloadString("http://localhost:4444"); }
catch (WebException) { }
Assert.IsTrue(result.Equals(testWebResponse));
result = string.Empty;
ReversePortForwarding.DeleteReversePortForward(4444);
try { result = client.DownloadString("http://localhost:4444"); }
catch (WebException) { }
Assert.IsFalse(result.Equals(testWebResponse));
}
httpListener.Abort();
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestFlushReversePortForward()
{
var list = ReversePortForwarding.GetReversePortForwards();
Assert.IsTrue(list.Count == 0);
ReversePortForwarding.CreateReversePortForward(4444, "127.0.0.1", 8080);
ReversePortForwarding.CreateReversePortForward(4445, "127.0.0.1", 8080);
list = ReversePortForwarding.GetReversePortForwards();
Assert.IsTrue(list.Count == 2);
ReversePortForwarding.FlushReversePortFowards();
list = ReversePortForwarding.GetReversePortForwards();
Assert.IsTrue(list.Count == 0);
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestListReversePortForwards()
{
var list = ReversePortForwarding.GetReversePortForwards();
Assert.IsTrue(list.Count == 0);
ReversePortForwarding.CreateReversePortForward(4444, "127.0.0.1", 8080);
list = ReversePortForwarding.GetReversePortForwards();
Assert.IsTrue(list.Count == 1);
ReversePortForwarding.DeleteReversePortForward(4444);
list = ReversePortForwarding.GetReversePortForwards();
Assert.IsTrue(list.Count == 0);
}
private static void CreateHttpListener()
{
using (HttpListener listener = new HttpListener())
{
listener.Prefixes.Add($"http://127.0.0.1:8080/");
listener.Start();
while (true)
{
var context = listener.GetContext();
var response = context.Response;
var responseString = testWebResponse;
var buffer = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(responseString);
response.ContentLength64 = buffer.Length;
var output = response.OutputStream;
output.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
}
}
}
}
} | {
"pile_set_name": "Github"
} | 0 |
Critics today warn the government's new plan to clean up the internet could be the most draconian crackdown on online free speech in the Western democratic world, and would impact social media users but not the tech firms it is designed to target.
The Online Harms white paper proposes taking sites offline to UK citizens if the sites fall foul of new regulators, and suggests levying massive fines on companies like Facebook and Google and their employees in an effort to crack down on the spread of child abuse images, terrorism, revenge pornography and hate crime.
But campaigners warn the Culture Secretary's stated aim to make the UK the 'safest place in the world to go online' could mean regulators or even algorithms decide what websites or content Britons can see.
Jim Killock, executive director of Open Rights Group told MailOnline: ‘We are talking about the potential for the most draconian crackdown in the Western democratic world.
‘We’re talking about banning content that the government won’t make illegal – it won’t legislate to ban it, but it wants companies to do so.
'They're saying "we don't like Facebook so we're going to give Facebook more power to regulate our content more", it's a terrible irony.'
Campaigner Jim Killock, executive director of Open Rights Group, said: 'We are talking about the potential for the most draconian crackdown in the Western democratic world'
The Open Rights Group is a crowd funded organisation which works to protect digital rights including privacy and free speech.
In its analysis of the white paper it warned that 'in its drive to make the internet "safe", the government seems not to recognise that ultimately its proposals don’t regulate social media companies, they regulate social media users.
'The duty of care is ostensibly aimed at shielding children from danger and harm but it will in practice bite on adults too, wrapping society in cotton wool and curtailing a whole host of legal expression.'
The organisation warned that 'governments both repressive and democratic are likely to use the policy and regulatory model that emerge from this process as a blueprint for more widespread internet censorship.'
It said firms would protect themselves by creating filters which blocked the uploading of content which might incur fines - but warned such technology would be incapable of differentiating between abusive or harmful content, and content which was parody, comedy, satire or editorial.
Mr Killock added: 'The government’s proposals would create state regulation of the speech of millions of British citizens.
'We have to expect that the duty of care will end up widely drawn, with serious implications for legal content that is deemed potentially risky, whether it really is nor not.'
Former Culture Secretary John Wittingdale warned the proposals risk dragging Britons into a 'draconian censorship regime', adding: 'This mooted new UK regulator must not give the despots an excuse to claim that they are simply following an example set by Britain.'
Mark Stephens, a media lawyer at Howard Kennedy, said: 'We are the first Western regime to consider this. The only other countries doing this are Saudi Arabia, China, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Russia. It is not appropriate for a Western democracy.'
Ex-Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said the new internet reforms risked giving tyrants an excuse to restrict free speech
The proposal to block sites which fall foul of new regulations is one of a slew of reforms set out today in the Government's White Paper on Online Harms, designed to force tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Twitter to clean up harmful material on their platforms.
It also suggests companies could be wiped from internet search results and app stores if they fall foul of the law. In the most serious cases they could be banned from the internet altogether.
Under the new rules, any website which allows users to post content will have a legal 'duty of care' to all users.
The regulations will apply to firms such as Google and Facebook, which have repeatedly come under fire for hosting vile material, including terrorist and paedophile content.
But they will also apply to smaller websites which allow users to post comments, including blogs, and online news and review sites.
Web firms will be held to account by an independent regulator, which will set out the new code and have the power to hand out severe punishments.
However, the regulator's rules on terror and child exploitation will have to be approved by the Home Secretary.
Under new rules, any website which allows users to post content will have a legal 'duty of care' to all users
The Government is launching a consultation on the extent of the regulator's powers, but the paper's proposals include:
Personal fines for individual senior managers at firms which seriously break the rules;
Web firms needing to provide annual reports setting out the amount of harmful content on their platforms;
Civil fines of up to £20million, or 4 per cent of annual turnover, for firms which break the rules;
In the worst circumstances, the regulator could have offending websites blocked by internet service providers, so they cannot be accessed in the UK.
The regulator will also have powers to tackle disinformation – so-called 'fake news' – although the White Paper concedes this has no clear legal definition.
The measures come amid growing concerns that tech giants are damaging democracy with misinformation. They have been criticised for circulating instruction manuals for would-be terrorists, hosting extremist videos and providing a 'service' for paedophiles to direct each other to illegal material.
The Government will say it is considering the extreme measures due to 'the serious nature of the harms in scope and the global nature of online services'. It will add that the threat of disconnecting websites from the internet would 'only be an option of last resort'.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said: 'The era of self-regulation for online companies is over. We want the UK to be the safest place in the world to go online.'
Charities and campaigners welcomed the measures.
NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said: 'Social networks have failed to prioritise children's safety. It's high time they were forced to act through this legally binding duty.'
Last night the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said the White Paper had 'no intention' of impacting editorial content.
A spokesman said: 'These measures are not about regulation of the press, they are about tackling online harms and the damage they can do to people's lives. The independent regulator will take a sensible, risk-based approach.' | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} | 0.000298 |
The present invention relates to a mobile rack system having a plurality of wheeled mobile storage racks adapted to run along rails installed on a floor of limited storage space such as of a store and the like.
It is not good, from a view point of efficient use of a limited space of a room, to fixedly situate a number of racks accommodating books and other goods on the floor of the rooms with spaces left between the adjacent racks.
Thus, for making an efficient use of a limited space, so-called mobile rack system is getting popular, which employs a number of wheeled power driven or manually actuated mobile racks adapted to run along rails installed on the floor of the room, so as to preserve a space for access only between specific positions of racks. Most of the conventional manually actuated mobile racks are provided at their sides with members by means of which the human power is exerted to push and move the rack.
Also, some of the conventional manually actuated mobile racks incorporate a rotary handle provided at one side of the rack and operatively connected, through a chain or the like transmission mechanism, to a driving axle of driving wheels. The arrangement is such that a man standing by the rack rotates the handle to drive the driving wheels so that the wheels are driven to roll along the rails to move the rack to the desired position. For informations, this type of mobile rack system is disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,309.
Although these manually actuated mobile rack systems are advantageous in that they are simple in construction and are costless as compared with power driven type mobile racks in which each rack carries an electric motor or the like power source, they are not suitable for heavy-load racks accommodating a large weight of contents, because the man standing by the rack can no more move the rack in such a case, by simply pushing the rack nor by rotating the handle.
At the same time, it has been pointed out that, in the conventional rack system, the racks are tend to move unintentionally, especially when the rails are not horizontal, to cause a collision of the racks and, accordingly, a collapse of the goods mounted on the rack. In the worst case, the operator who is working in the passage of the racks for loading and unloading the racks may be accidentally injured by the racks.
In addition, in the conventional manually operated mobile rack system, each of the racks is provided with its own driving mechanism, which is quite uneconomical from viewpoints of manufacture and space utilization.
Under these circumstances, the present invention is aiming at overcoming above described problems of the prior art by providing an improved mobile rack system.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved mobile rack system in which the racks can be easily moved manually, even when they are loaded with heavy loads.
It is another object of the invention to provide a manually actuated mobile rack system in which the unintentional movement of the racks, which may cause a collision of racks or collapse of goods, is fairly avoided.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a mobile rack system in which a plurality of racks are moved by a single driving means, thereby to economize the space and to reduce the cost of manufacture.
To these ends, according to the invention, there is provided a mobile rack system having a plurality of rails, and a plurality of mobile racks adapted to run along said rails, each of said wheels having a seat for an operator, pedal means mounted for operation by the operator on the seat, driving wheels adapted to be actuated by said pedal means through a transmission means.
According to another aspect of the invention, the pedal means are associated with suitable braking means which are effective to prevent the racks from moving unintentionally, thereby to avoid the aforementioned accidents. According to still another aspect of the invention, the mobile rack system incorporates a tractor adapted to run along a separate rail to pull the mobile rack. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} | 0 |
Primary CNS lymphoma treated with combined intra-arterial ACNU and radiotherapy.
To assess whether nimustine (ACNU), a drug that can cross the blood brain barrier, combined with radiotherapy, improved the survival of patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL). Between 1995 and 2005, we treated 63 immunocompetent PCNSL patients with combination therapy consisting of intra-arterial ACNU (100 mg/m(2)) and whole brain radiotherapy (36-50 Gy). Their median age was 60 years (range 28-81). The median follow-up was 24 months. With this regimen we achieved a complete response rate of 75% (43 of 57 patients). Kaplan-Meier estimates for median progression-free survival and median overall survival were 26 and 39 months, respectively. The 3- and 5-year survival rates were 51% (95% confidence interval [CI], 36-65%) and 32% (95% CI, 17-47%), respectively. By multivariate analysis, age (<60 vs. > or =60 years) was the only statistically significant prognostic factor; the WBRT dose, sex, and number of tumors were not significant prognostic factors in this study. Myelosuppression was the most frequent side effect, 60% of patients experienced grade 3-4 leukopenia. Late neurotoxicity as a result of treatment was observed in 14 of 43 patients (34%) and higher age (>60) was associated with a high risk of neurotoxicity. The intra-arterial administration of ACNU combined with radiation therapy yielded a high response rate at acceptable toxicity levels in younger patients with PCNSL. However, late neurotoxicity was a serious complication in patients above 60 years of age. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} | 0.000628 |
Impact of Carnival important as city mulls Civic Center plans
It was Michael Krafft, of the Cowbellian de Rakin Society, who could be credited with the first ever Carnival-related purchase. The same year Mobile’s first Mardi Gras mystic organization paraded, Krafft and a compatriot paid the city’s mayor a visit.
“After the parade the mayor invited them over and he bought them food and drink,” Executive Director of Finance and acting Chief of Staff Paul Wesch said. “So, that was probably the first economic impact.”
There’s no question that Mardi Gras, with its garish events and colorful parades, has a positive impact on city finances each year, but the weeks-long prelude to Ash Wednesday also has cultural significance that cannot be understated.
“It does define us and it enhances our public image,” Wesch said. “So, I think if Mardi Gras did not produce a dollar, it would still be important that Mobile provide the home for Mardi Gras because it’s so important to us.”
The cultural and economic impact of the Carnival season will have to be evaluated as the Mobile City Council weighs two options Mayor Sandy Stimpson has presented to them for redevelopment of the Civic Center site.
One plan, from Stirling Properties, proposes to replace the old Civic Center arena, where a number of societies hold balls, with a brand new, multi-purpose facility similar in scope to the current building. The Stirling plan requires a city buy-in to the tune of $66 million, or about $8 million in debt service per year, and surrounds the arena concept with a number of residential buildings.
Another plan, proposed by The Cordish Companies, scraps the arena in favor of an open-air concept surrounded by retail, restaurant and office space. The area is large enough to facilitate a large group of people, the city’s real estate consultants have argued. It’s also unclear the level of financial support Cordish will ask the city to provide.
In 2015, one of two years recently where Mardi Gras parades have taken place all in one month, making it easier to gauge impact, the events boosted overall sales tax numbers by almost $2 million, according to information provided by the city’s finance department.
In fact, when comparing March 2015 to other months, the roughly $11.6 million in sales tax revenue generated within the city limits is second only to January of that same year, which saw $13.8 million generated because of the Christmas holiday. Sales tax collections are a month behind.
While those numbers reflect increased sales during February 2015, Wesch said the financial impact of Mardi Gras goes on throughout the year.
“Now, that being said, is that all that is spent on Mardi Gras? No,” Wesch said. “We spend probably millions of dollars year round on Mardi Gras; building floats and hiring people to do all sorts of things for our organizations, designing and constructing costumes or what have you.”
At the same time, parades require city expenses, such as overtime for workers in the police and fire departments, as well as public works.
The overall price of overtime for city workers during Mardi Gras in 2015 was about $1.2 million, according to the numbers provided by the city. The city routinely spends about $500,000 per month on overtime, which means that Carnival season adds about a $700,000 expense to the city.
The city also sees a financial benefit from lodging taxes during the season, Wesch said. The numbers from 2015 show a huge increase in lodging tax revenue for February and March of that year. While the other months in 2015 had under $600,000 in lodging tax revenue per month, February and March revenues were about $634,000 and $744,000 respectively, according to city numbers.
David Clark, president and CEO of Visit Mobile, said Mardi Gras definitely leaves a mark when it comes to tourism.
“What we know is Mardi Gras sells out a lot of the downtown hotel and beltline hotels on the weekends,” he said. “Those hotels wouldn’t sell out otherwise.”
The events also mean tourists will come into the city and spend money at stores and restaurants during a time of year they wouldn’t otherwise.
“During those two weeks this year, we had 1 million visitors,” Clark said.
While the financial and tourism aspects are important, Mobile Carnival Museum Executive Director Judi Gulledge said Mardi Gras has simply become part of the city’s cultural fabric.
“For many, many people Carnival is a season,” she said. “It’s just like a major holiday, where people go to events or decorate their homes with wreaths and trees.”
While it has been some of the mystic societies that have been most vocal about the Civic Center’s future, the season itself reaches beyond that, Gulledge said, to the folks who might only go to the parades.
For many musicians, costume designers, hairdressers and others, she said, it’s not just part of a financial livelihood, but a cultural livelihood as well.
“All of your folks who work directly or indirectly during Mardi Gras might make a living, but it’s also cultural,” she said. “It’s very much a part of people’s life that they plan for, regardless of whether they’re in a society or not.”
About The Author
Dale Liesch has been a reporter at Lagniappe since February 2014. He covers all aspects of the city of Mobile, including the mayor, city council, the Mobile Housing Board of Commissioners, GulfQuest National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico and others. He studied journalism at The University of Alabama and actually graduated in 2007.
He came to Lagniappe, after several years in the newspaper industry. He achieved the position of news editor at The Alexander City Outlook before moving to Virginia and then subsequently moving back a few years later. He has a number of Alabama and Virginia Press association awards to his name.
He grew up in the wilderness of Baldwin County, among several different varieties of animals including: dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, a horse and an angry goat. He now lives in Midtown Mobile with his wife, Hillary, and daughter, Joan. The family currently has no goats, angry or otherwise, but is ruled by the whims of two very energetic dogs. | {
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Transcriber’s note:
In this book, words and phrases originally in italics are
enclosed by underscores _like this_.
SCOTT BURTON, FORESTER
[Illustration: “Good shot, old man,” he cried to Morgan.]
SCOTT BURTON
FORESTER
by
EDWARD G. CHEYNEY
Illustrated by Norman Rockwell
D. Appleton and Company
New York London
1917
Copyright, 1917, by
D. Appleton and Company
Printed in the United States of America
TO
MY BROTHER
Whose broad-minded views
Have had an ever-present influence on my life
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
ILLUSTRATIONS
“Good shot, old man,” he cried to Morgan
By night they had ... camped within sight of the lights
of Red Wing
His instinct was to run ... but he stood there too terrified
to move
He waved his knife threateningly, and tried to warn Scott off
SCOTT BURTON, FORESTER
CHAPTER I
“Hello, Scotty, have you decided yet which one it will be?” Dick
Bradshaw called, eagerly, as he ran up the walk to the old Burton home.
He had been away for two weeks, and when he left, the selection of a
forest school for Scott had been the all absorbing question.
“Yes,” Scott answered, “it was decided a week ago. You know there never
has been any doubt in my mind. I picked out the Western college in the
first place, but father and mother did not want me to go so far away
from home. I persuaded them last week that it was the best thing to do,
and they consented.”
Dick’s face fell. “That means I shall not see you for four years,” he
growled.
“Oh no, Dick,” Scott answered quickly, “not over three at the most, and
possibly not over two. That was what persuaded father and mother to let
me go. You see they may give me enough extra credit for that extra high
school work and those three years of summer school we took, to enable me
to squeeze through in two years. I have sent in my credits, and shall
find out when I get there.”
Dick brightened up a little. The boys had grown up together in the
little New England village, the closest of friends, and the idea of a
long separation was pretty hard, especially for the one who was to stay
at home. They had always had the same tastes in books, studies and
pleasures. Both were hard students and both preferred long walks in the
woods and fields to the games that most boys play. These traits had kept
them somewhat apart from the other boys, and thrown them almost
exclusively on each other’s society.
“When do you go?” Dick asked.
“Early tomorrow morning,” Scott answered. “You see it takes two days to
get there. I was afraid you would not get back in time for me to see you
at all.”
“Tomorrow!” Dick exclaimed indignantly. “Why didn’t you pick out Yale?
You could have come home once in a while then, and we could have had a
great time together there next year.” Dick was planning on taking some
special work in biology at Yale the next season.
Scott was stung by the reproach in Dick’s voice. “You know perfectly
well I would have done it if I could. Yale has a graduate school and I
could not get in. Why don’t you come out with me?”
“Maybe I shall if you find out that it is any good. Why do you want to
go to a place that you do not know anything about?” Dick remonstrated.
“But I do know something about it, Dick. I know that it is in a new
country that I have never seen, that it has a good reputation, and that
a large part of the work is given in camp. What more do you want?”
“Well,” Dick answered, “that camp part sounds good to me and if the
biology is taught in a camp I may be out there with you next year. You
find out about that and let me know. I have to be going now. I just came
up on the way from the train to find out what you had decided. Mother is
waiting for me. See you later.” And he hurried down the walk.
“Come over after supper,” Scott called after him and walked slowly into
the house. This thing of leaving Dick when he was taking it so hard was
the toughest pull of all. He knew Dick through and through, and he
suddenly realized that he did not know anything about any of the people
where he was going. His intimate knowledge of boys was limited almost
entirely to Dick, and he felt a certain timidity in meeting so many
strangers.
As he entered the old home where he had always lived he felt that it was
dearer to him than he knew, in spite of the fact that he was so eager to
leave it. His father was a doctor there in the little village of Wabern,
Mass., a man devoted to his profession, which yielded a large amount of
work with a small income. He had always taken it for granted that his
only child would follow in his footsteps, and for many years he had
tried in every way to interest the boy in his work. He had taken him on
many a long drive on the rounds of his work and tried to impress on him
the beauties of healing sickness and alleviating pain. It was not till
Scott was a strapping big fellow of sixteen that the astonished father
realized that his boy had drifted hopelessly away from the medical
profession.
He had noted with pride Scott’s collection of plants, bugs, small
animals and rocks, and the boy’s love for such things pleased him. It
came to him as a shock when he discovered that the boy’s point of view
was entirely different from his own. For him the specimens were all
related in some way to the medical profession; to Scott they represented
only the different phases of nature. It was the make-up of the great
“outdoors” which interested him, and he longed to be a part of it. It
was the opportunity of such a life that first attracted him toward
forestry, and his mind once made up he bent all his energies to
preparing for the work. His father and mother concealed their
disappointment as best they could and helped him along in this unknown
line of work.
At last the time had come when a special course at college was
necessary, and the question of which school had to be decided. Scott’s
lack of a degree barred him from the graduate schools of the East, and
in his heart he was rather glad of it. He knew every plant, animal and
rock in that section of the country and was eager for new fields to
conquer. The greater proportion of actual woods work was a further
incentive. With these things in mind he had studied the catalogs of the
different schools by the hour, and had finally decided on Minnesota. His
parents had objected at first on account of the distance from home but
they had finally yielded to his wish.
And now the question was settled. His application had been accepted,
Dick had given a grudging approval, and he was actually packing up to
go.
In the hall he met his father, a mild-eyed man of fifty, just returning
from his daily round of mercy.
“Well, Scott,” he said cheerfully, “you are leaving the old nest and
taking a pretty long flight for the first one. See that you fly
straight, boy. Your mother and I have done all that we can to develop
your wings, and the rest of it is up to you. Let’s go to dinner.”
Mrs. Burton was waiting for them in the dining-room. She was very tired
from the work of preparing Scott for his journey, and blue at the
thought of losing him, but she smiled her sweetest smile, and did her
best to cheer the boy’s last meal at home. There was nothing unusual
about the dinner, but Scott felt a certain close companionship with his
father and mother, an equality, that he had never felt before. It gave
him a new feeling of confidence and responsibility that no amount of
lecturing could have done.
Before they arose from the table the doctor said: “Here’s something for
you to remember, Scott. You already know that book knowledge is not
everything. You know that a great deal can be learned from nature, but
there is one important source of knowledge that you must not neglect.
You are going where there will be hundreds of young men, men of all
kinds and character. They will be a good sample of the men of the world,
and it is important that you should know them. Do not do there as you
have done here at home, pick one man for your constant companion and be
indifferent to all the others. You must know them all. Study some of
them for the good traits that you ought to have, and others for the bad
traits that you want to avoid. You can learn something from everyone of
them. You must learn from them how to take a man’s measure for yourself
and not have to rely on the judgment of others. If you learn to judge
men truly your success in other things will be pretty certain.
“Just one thing more. You have insisted on taking up work that is
different from the life I had always planned for you. Perhaps you think
that I am hurt and resent it. That is not true. I want you to feel that
I have every confidence in your judgment and ability to make a success
of anything you undertake even when you choose something of which I am
entirely ignorant. This new work should prepare you to make some use of
wild land, as I understand it, and I am going to make you a proposition.
“That ten thousand-acre tract of cut-over forest in New Hampshire that
your grandfather left us should be made to produce something. I am
willing to give you this tract for your own on two conditions. The first
is that you successfully complete your course and pass your Civil
Service examinations as a proof of your training; and second, that you
show your ability to pick responsible men for your companions. Of the
latter I shall have to be the judge. Fill those two conditions and the
land is yours.”
For the life of him Scott could not find anything to say. It was the
first time his father had ever spoken to him in that way, as one man to
another and it choked him up queerly. He could not even thank his father
for the offer. He was relieved when Dick Bradshaw came in and went with
him to his room to help finish packing and look over his equipment.
The two boys talked till almost midnight over the possibilities of the
western country and the new things that would be found there. The
necessity of Scott’s catching an early train finally forced them to
separate with many a promise of a very active correspondence.
Scott slept like a top till his mother called him at four o’clock. The
train was due at five-fifteen, and everything had to be done in a rush.
His mother preferred it so. Almost before he knew it he had eaten a
hurried breakfast, had hastened to the station, and was looking out of
the car window into the hazy morning with the brave tones of his
mother’s voice still ringing in his ears, “Good-bye, Scott. Remember how
you have lived and write me what you do. As long as you can do that you
are safe.”
All day long he sat with his nose almost glued against the windowpane
noting every change in topography and speculating on the geological
formation. Occasionally he thought of his father’s injunction and tore
himself away from the window long enough to notice the people around
him. The country outside was of much greater interest to him, but there
kept ringing through his brain continuously, “I will give you that ten
thousand-acre tract.” Surely no other boy had ever had such a chance as
that. It was as big as many a German national forest.
About noon of the second day he passed through St. Paul, and on to
Minneapolis. A thrill passed through Scott as he realized that he was
actually west of the Mississippi River.
Scott hastened from the train with the rest of the passengers, and
pushed his way through the crowded gate into the station. He was burning
to see the College he had been dreaming about for so long. He had no
idea where it was located but he felt certain that a College which had
attracted him from such a great distance must be a matter of pride to
all the citizens and very easily found.
He walked to the first street corner and asked a passerby. “Can you tell
me the way to the Forest School?”
The stranger stopped abruptly. “The what?”
“The Forest School.”
“To the Forest School,” the man repeated wonderingly. “No, I’m afraid I
can’t. I am a stranger here myself. Never heard of it.”
Scott tried another man with a busy up-to-date air. “Pardon me, can you
tell me the way to the Forest School?”
The man passed on with an indifferent look and paid no further attention
to him.
“Humph,” Scott thought. “City manners seem to be different from ours at
home.”
He watched a few people pass by and selected for his next victim an
elderly gentleman with a kindly face and a leisurely air.
“Pardon me, sir, can you tell me the way to the Forest School?”
The old gentleman stopped courteously and apologized for not quite
catching the question.
Scott repeated it.
The old man shook his head doubtfully. “Never heard of it, my boy. What
sort of a place is it?”
Scott was beginning to think that he must have come to the wrong city.
However, the old gentleman was exceedingly polite, and the boy tried to
explain. “It is a school where they train foresters, sir.”
“Oh,” said the old gentleman in a rather doubtful tone. “Strange I have
never heard of it. Let’s ask the policeman.”
They consulted that dignitary, but he had never heard of it and could
find no clue in his little yellow book.
Suddenly the old man seemed to have an inspiration. “Isn’t part of the
University, is it?” he asked.
“Why, certainly it is,” Scott blurted indignantly. The ignorance of
these people was remarkable.
“Oh well, then,” said the old gentleman, “that’s easy. Take that car
right there and get off at Fourteenth Street. You can see it from
there.”
Scott thanked him and hurried into the car. He felt that his troubles
were over at last and he would soon be a duly registered embryo
forester. The University loomed up big as he left the car at Fourteenth
Street, and the gayly dressed students were wandering everywhere in the
idleness of registration day.
Scott tackled an amiable looking fellow and once more inquired the way
to the Forest School. The amiable student stopped and grinned at him
sympathetically. “Well now, old man, that’s too bad. You are miles off
your course.”
Scott’s face fell. “Why, isn’t this the University?” he asked.
“Certainly this is the University,” answered the wise one, “but the
Forest School is part of the Agricultural Department, and that is miles
away at the end of yonder carline. Take the car back the way you came
clear to the end of the carline, and you’ll find the Agricultural
College half a mile beyond that.”
“Thank you very much,” said Scott gratefully, “you are the first person
I have met in the whole city who seems to really know anything about
it.”
“Don’t mention it, old man,” said his new friend with a bow. “You’ll get
there in the end all right.”
The ride back to the end of the carline seemed almost endless, but the
fact that one of those splendid young fellows had called him “old man,”
and the thought that he would soon be one of them cheered him up
wonderfully. The car came to the end of the track at last and he walked
down the road briskly, eager to be a full-fledged student and swagger
like the fellow with the red shoes and the decorated sweater who had
talked to him. He could see the buildings on the hill ahead, but was
rather surprised to find a high board fence around the grounds; the
gate, too, was locked. A man in uniform answered his knock.
“Is this the Agricultural College?” Scott asked by way of an
introduction, for he felt sure that it was.
“No, sonny,” the man answered with a broad grin, “this is the County
Poor Farm, and you are the fourth man them smart alecks have sent out
here today. Now you get back on that car you just left and tell the
conductor to put you off at the Agricultural College, and don’t let
anybody else steer you.”
Scott thanked him with downcast mien, and trudged dejectedly back to the
car. Visions of that gay young sophomore who had called him “old man,”
and deceived him so cheerfully floated before him in a red haze. He
wondered what his father would think of his judgment. He swore all kinds
of vengeance, and it looked for a while as though the whole sophomore
class was in danger.
He drew back as the car passed the University for fear the sophomore
might be waiting to see him go by. Sure enough there he was on the
corner and Scott had a hard time to restrain himself from going out to
thrash him then and there. He eyed the conductor suspiciously when he
called the Agricultural College to try to detect whether he was in the
general conspiracy against all freshmen. He did not feel nearly so sure
of the real Agricultural College when he saw it as he had of the County
Poor Farm. However, it was the right place at last, and a printed sign
pointed the way to the registrar’s office.
Nearly all the students he met on the long winding path leading up to
the administration building were carrying suitcases, and most of them
gazed nervously about them like strangers in a strange land. Scott
threaded his way through the crowds of students grouped idly around the
halls and stairway to a place in the long line which was crawling slowly
past the registrar’s window. A young man wearing the badge of the Y. M.
C. A. approached him and asked if he was looking for a room, but Scott
remembered the trip to the county poor farm too vividly to take any more
advice from a student, and refused to even discuss the matter with him.
The crowd in the line was certainly a mixed one, and from their
appearance he concluded that his father was right in saying that they
were a good sample of nearly all the different kinds of people in the
world. The large proportion of girls worried him a good deal till he
found that they were registering for domestic science, an entirely
separate course from his own. He had not been accustomed to the idea of
coeducation, so popular in the West.
In due time he reached the window and presented his permit.
“Scott Burton,” the registrar read in kindly tones, “of Wabern, Mass. I
remember your case. You have a number of advanced credits. Let’s see.
Here is the report of your case from the enrollment committee. They have
allowed you credit for one semester of mathematics, four of language,
four of rhetoric, four of botany, two of geology, two of zoology, and
two of chemistry. That leaves you only elementary forestry, dendrology,
mechanical drawing and forest engineering to complete the work of the
first two years.”
That was a little better than Scott had even dared to hope. He asked
eagerly, “Then I can finish in two years?”
“Possibly, you will have to see the Students’ Work Committee tomorrow
about that. They may let you take some extra work on probation but you
will have to drop it if your marks are not up to grade at the end of the
first four weeks. In the meanwhile you will be registered as a freshman.
Here is your registration card. See that it is filled in, and your fees
paid by five P. M. tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” said Scott. “Can you tell me where I can get some
information about a boarding house?”
The registrar gave him one of the printed lists that the student had
tried to give him a little while before, and turned to the next student
in the line.
With his registration card in his pocket Scott felt more certain of
himself again. He was not only a student, he was almost a junior, and if
the other students in the halls had happened to notice him they would
have seen a very different looking boy from the one who had gone in a
half-hour before.
CHAPTER II
Armed with the list of rooming houses furnished him by the registrar
Scott set out in search of a room. His stock of money was limited, and
he regretted that his old chum, Dick Bradshaw, was not there to share
his room, and incidentally his room rent. For to Scott, who had always
lived at home, and never associated very closely with many other boys of
his own age, the selection of a roommate was a problem which he
considered would require much thought and a thorough knowledge of his
intended partner. His New England conservatism kept him from even
dreaming of going in with a stranger.
The search proved rather long and tiresome. The upper classmen had
picked all the best rooms before they left in the spring the year
before, and the assortment now available was not very attractive. Single
rooms were hard to find at all and the prices something to inspire awe.
Scott approached a rather attractive little house which stood back in a
pleasing yard something like the one at his home. The usual sign, “Rooms
to Rent,” was not in sight, but he rang the bell and waited patiently
for someone to answer it. Presently the door opened a crack and a
silver-haired old lady eyed him curiously. Her face looked kindly enough
but the sound of her voice made Scott almost jump.
“What do you want?” she snapped.
“I beg your pardon,” said Scott, “but can you tell me where there are
any rooms to rent around here?”
“No.” Like the crack of a pistol.
“They seem to be rather hard to find,” Scott remarked apologetically.
“Yes,” the old lady fired at him as she slammed the door. “I guess the
people in this park want to live in their own houses.”
Scott gazed at the closed door in astonishment. “Well,” he thought,
“there is one thing sure—I should hate to live in yours.”
He was becoming discouraged, and was turning wearily away from the
twelfth house—almost the last one on his list—when he nearly collided
with a young fellow who was bounding up the front steps three at a jump.
The landlady took pity on Scott’s weary look, and addressed herself to
the newcomer. “Mr. Johnson, do you know of any place where this young
man can find a room?”
The young man turned abruptly and ran his eye frankly over Scott.
“What’s your course?” he asked.
“Forestry,” Scott answered, wondering what that had to do with it.
“Sure I do,” said Johnson. “Come on in with me. That’s my course and I
am looking for a bunkie. Come on up and leave your suitcase and then you
can see about your trunk.”
Scott gazed with astonishment at this new species of being who would
take on a second’s notice a roommate whose very name he did not know.
But that confident and carefree young gentleman was already leading the
way up the stairs without a doubt as to the issue. Scott looked at the
landlady to see what effect such a sudden proposition had made on her.
He expected to find her wide-eyed and agape with astonishment; instead
of that she had closed the front door and was disappearing down the
hall. He would certainly have backed out if he had known how, but both
the landlady and the stranger seemed to be so certain the deal was
closed, that Scott, dazed by the swift passage of events and seeing no
possible way out, followed helplessly up the stairs.
“Maybe,” he thought, “it’s one of those dens you read about in the
newspaper where young fellows are roped in in this way and robbed. If it
is they will need more than that red-headed guy to do it. Dick could
lick the shoes off of him and Dick never could box. They would not get
very much if they succeeded,” he grinned, “the railroads already have
most of it.”
When he entered the room indicated he found his new acquaintance already
seated in a revolving chair near the table, reading a large poster.
Without raising his eyes from the paper Johnson said, “You may have the
two lower drawers of the bureau, I already have my stuff in the others,
and the right hand side of the closet. Better go back to the registrar’s
office and tell them where to bring your trunk; they charge you storage
awful quick at the depot.” And he continued to read the poster.
Scott tried to look the room over carelessly as he thought anyone would
who was used to renting a new one every week or so. He found that he was
still holding his suitcase in his hand. He looked at his roommate to see
if he had noticed it, but that indifferent young man was still absorbed
in the poster and oblivious to his surroundings. Scott set the suitcase
quietly in the corner and took another careless look around the room.
“Well, I guess this will do,” he remarked flippantly. “I’ll go see about
the trunk.”
As he was going out the door Johnson called after him, “Hustle back and
I’ll take you to our hash house. They are nearly all foresters there and
a couple of them are seniors, too.”
Scott hurried to the registrar’s office, left word about the trunk and
started back to his newly acquired room and roommate, both of which he
had obtained almost before he knew it and was not yet quite certain
whether he wanted them or not. However, it was a great relief to feel
that he had some place to go, and he rather thought that he liked it. As
he was going down the steps a husky, sunburned fellow with a swinging
gait and the free air of the woods joined him.
“Getting straightened out?” he asked pleasantly.
“Yes,” Scott answered, with a readiness that surprised himself. “I got a
room, a roommate and a boarding house, all this afternoon.” He was
beginning to feel a little proud of it.
“You are lucky,” the other said. “Where are you from?”
“Massachusetts,” said Scott, a little proudly. He felt that it was
rather a distinction to live so far away. He expected to see some show
of astonishment from this stranger, but instead the answer astonished
him.
“I expect we are nearly the Eastern and Western limits of the School,”
he said quietly. “I am from Honolulu. Not much timber left in
Massachusetts, is there?”
Ordinarily Scott would have been very diffident with a stranger who
accosted him in this way, especially after such an experience as he had
had that morning, but there was a personal magnetism about this tall,
dark, gentlemanly fellow that made him open his rather lonesome heart.
“No,” he answered, “nothing much but second growth. How did you know
that I was a forester?”
“Nothing very mysterious about that. Your green registration card is
sticking out of your pocket. Well, here is where I leave you. So long.”
Scott found his new home and walked in with an independent air of
ownership that sent a thrill through him. Johnson was waiting
impatiently for him. As soon as Scott appeared in the door Johnson
grabbed his hat and started out. “Hurry up, man. You’re late. These hash
houses aren’t home. If you are late you get a short ration.”
Scott took a hasty scrub at his car-stained face and hands, and they
hurried away to the boarding house. Most of the men were already seated
when they arrived. Scott waited for an introduction to the landlady to
inquire whether he could stay there, but Johnson jerked out the chair
next to his, looked at him curiously, and ordered him to sit down.
“Don’t you have to see the landlady here?” Scott asked.
“Don’t worry,” Johnson laughed. “She’s probably spotting you now through
a crack in the door, and you’ll see her pretty regularly every Saturday
night at pay time.”
“Humph,” thought Scott, “I’d like to see anyone get into a
boarding-house around home without giving his whole pedigree and paying
a week’s board in advance.” He added aloud to Johnson, “I should think a
good many fellows would skip their board.”
“No,” said Johnson, “there are not many fellows here who try it and most
of them get caught.”
When the rush of passing dishes was over Scott had a chance to look
around the table. He was surprised to see what a husky, sunburned,
independent looking crowd it was. Two of them, especially, seemed to be
almost an Indian red, and directed the conversation with peculiar
abandon. He was agreeably surprised to see that one of them was the
Hawaiian who had walked down the street with him a few minutes before.
He caught Scott’s eye and smiled pleasantly.
Johnson caught the salutation and looked at Scott with an air of
surprise and added respect. “I did not know that you knew him,” he said
in an undertone, but his remarks were cut short by a peremptory command
from another sunburned face at the end of the table.
“Johnson, you haven’t the manners of a goat. Why don’t you introduce
your friend?”
“Oh,” said Johnson, somewhat abashed. “Fellows, this is my roommate.”
“That’s a fine introduction for him. What’s his name, pinhead?”
Johnson looked wonderingly at Scott for a minute, grinned at the
surrounding company, and burst out laughing. “Blamed if I know his name
yet, I just got him this afternoon, and we have not had the time to
explain the short sad histories of our young lives to each other yet.”
Then to Scott, “You’ll have to introduce yourself, I guess.”
“Scott Burton, forester,” he announced with quiet dignity, and the
sunburned senior acknowledged the introduction for the crowd.
After dinner he talked for a little while with the Hawaiian and a few of
the other men and went back to the room with Johnson.
“How did you get to know Ormand?” Johnson asked.
“Who’s he?”
“Why that fellow you spoke to at the table. Didn’t you know him?”
Johnson asked in surprise.
“He walked down the street with me when I was coming from the
registrar’s office,” said Scott. “Who is he?”
“Gee,” said Johnson. “He is president of the senior class and manager of
last summer’s corporation.”
“What do you mean by last summer’s corporation?”
“Why, when the juniors go up to the woods for the summer they form a
corporation and elect one of the class to manage the business for the
bunch. He bosses the whole crowd. He’s the biggest man in the College
and that other fellow who called me down about the introduction is
Morgan, the next biggest. Funny I did not know your name, wasn’t it?”
“Well,” Scott said, “I should not have known yours if I had not heard
other people talking to you. What class are you?”
“Who, me?” said Johnson. “Why, I am a freshman like you.”
“Then how is it that you know all these people so well?” Scott asked.
“Oh, I went to prep school here, and knew them all last year. I have
credit in a couple of courses,” Johnson added proudly, “and I have field
experience to burn. I do not have to take any German this year or
mathematics either.”
“Neither do I,” said Scott. “Our high school is ahead of the ones here,
and I have taken so much work in the summer that I got credit for nearly
all the work of the first two years.”
“Then you’re a junior?” asked Johnson in a more respectful tone. Respect
for the upper classes was about the only weakness that Johnson allowed
himself in that direction.
“I suppose so,” said Scott; “they told me at the registrar’s office that
I was practically a junior, but would be classed as a freshman till I
had completed my elementary forestry, dendrology and forest
engineering.”
“Been around the country much?”
“No,” said Scott, “that’s one reason why I came out here to College.
I’ve seen every rock in the country around home, but I have never been
away from there.”
“Then you have never seen a real forest,” exclaimed Johnson.
“Only the woodlots on the farms.”
“What sort of work did you do in the summer there?”
“Went to summer school and loafed.” Scott, like most of the boys in the
East, had always considered the holidays sacred to recreation, and had
thought himself particularly virtuous for devoting six weeks of it to
summer school each year. “Do you work in vacation time?” he asked.
“You bet,” said Johnson. “I’ve worked every summer since I can remember,
and every winter, too, for that matter. I’ve paid all my expenses at
school for the past ten years.”
Scott gazed at him in open wonder. “What do you do?” he asked.
“What haven’t I done would be easier. I’ve been ‘bull cook’ on a
railroad construction crew in Montana, and driven teams on a slusher in
Arizona; I’ve picked apples in Washington, and been a ‘river pig’ on the
drive here in northern Minnesota; I’ve carried a rod on a survey party
in Colorado, and pushed straw in the harvest fields of North Dakota;
I’ve tended furnaces, carried papers, and weighed mail, billed express
and smashed baggage during Christmas vacation. Some of ’em were tough
and some of ’em were cinches, but they have all netted me a good bunch
of experience.”
During the careless listing of his roommate’s experiences Scott had
slowly settled back in his chair with a feeling of wondering admiration
for Johnson and an overwhelming sense of his own helplessness. He eyed
Johnson’s thin freckled face, and ran his glance over his slight, wiry
frame, and wondered what he himself, with all his strength, would do if
he had to tackle such problems. It had never occurred to him that anyone
but a born laboring man could do such things. The feeling of contempt
which he had at first for Johnson’s roughness gave way to a kind of new
admiration for his ability and self reliance.
“Do you play football?” Johnson asked suddenly.
“No, I never cared anything about it.”
“Baseball?”
“Only a little.”
“Basketball?” Johnson persisted.
“No.”
“Well, where in thunder did you get that build if you have never worked
and don’t do any athletic stunts?” Johnson was searching for something
to account for Scott’s five feet ten and one hundred and seventy-five
pounds, his heavy shoulders and muscular neck. He had the Westerner’s
contempt for the tenderfoot of the East. He was not at all surprised
that he could not do anything, but was puzzled at his fine physique.
“Oh,” said Scott, “I got that wrestling, boxing and walking around the
country. There was an ex-prizefighter who worked for father and he used
to give me lessons in the barn every evening.”
Johnson pricked up his ears. “A boxer,” he thought. “Maybe the man was
not so helpless after all.”
“You’ll have to box Morgan,” he said aloud, “and if you can do him,
you’ll have to fight for the College on rush day. Will you do it?”
“I’ll certainly try,” said Scott, and the East rose a thousand per cent
in Johnson’s estimation.
The two boys talked on till nearly midnight and finally went to sleep
with entirely new ideas of each other. Unconsciously the prejudices of
generations had been broken down and their views broadened across half a
continent.
CHAPTER III
Scott was gradually settling down in his new surroundings, getting
accustomed to his new associates, who had struck him as being so totally
different from the men he was used to, and becoming familiar with the
routine of the class work.
He found himself at a great disadvantage in competition with the other
members of the class. He had been taught by good teachers, but their
point of view had been different from that of the foresters who had
taught the men with whom he was now thrown. These fellows had been
looking forward to a definite end for several years and all their
training had been with the ultimate object in view. They had a different
view of the subjects from the one he had obtained from the academic men
who had taught him. He found that they had a grip of the subjects and
could apply them in a way that he could not. Moreover, he had a great
deal of extra work to make up and he had been allowed to take it only on
condition that if he was not up to the scratch at the end of the first
six weeks he would have to drop it all.
Not many men could have carried such a burden, and the chairman of the
Students’ Work Committee had told him that he was foolish to attempt it.
Most men would have either fallen short or have overworked themselves;
but Scott did neither. He had always believed in system in his work. He
allotted so much time to his studies and allowed nothing to interfere
with them; he made it a point not to study for an hour in the evening
after supper, and never looked at a book from Saturday noon to Monday
morning. He knew that he was able to accomplish more in the long run in
this way. As most of the student sports were scheduled for Saturday
afternoon he was able to take in most of them and did not become stale.
He had just closed his book one Saturday morning preparatory to going to
lunch when Johnson bounced into the room in high feather.
“Come on, Scotty, let’s go to the football game this afternoon. It’s
only Lawrence, and won’t be much of a game, but it will give us a chance
to get a line on the team.”
Scott agreed readily, the more readily because he had never seen a big
football game. They ate lunch hastily, for it was already a little late
and the game was scheduled a little earlier than usual. The car was
crowded with people going to the field and when they got off the car
they found the streets full of people flocking in the same direction.
Johnson led the way into two good seats where they did not belong and
succeeded in holding them against all comers. The stands were full, for
though it was not considered one of the big games, it was the first game
of the season, and the students all turned out to see their team in
action. It was the basis for sizing up the chances for the team in the
struggle for the Western supremacy. The stands were a brilliant mass of
color and the cheer leaders were performing all kinds of contortions to
wring the greatest volume of noise from the crowd.
As they took their seats the door of the Armory opened and a squad of
players trotted briskly onto the field. There was a restless movement of
the crowd on the big stand and a few scattering cheers from the smaller
stand opposite, but no organized yells.
“Is that one of the teams?” Scott asked anxiously.
“Yes,” Johnson answered, leaning eagerly forward to size each man up as
he took his place.
“Why don’t they cheer them?” Scott asked in surprise.
“That’s the other team,” Johnson answered carelessly.
“I should think that would be all the more reason for cheering them,”
Scott said.
Johnson turned a wondering look upon him, but was prevented from
answering by a deafening yell from the whole stand in which they both
joined heartily. Their own team had appeared.
“How’s that for yelling?” Johnson asked proudly.
“Rather discouraging for the other fellows,” Scott answered.
“Well, that’s what you want to do, isn’t it? Look there, they are lining
up already.”
The referee had called the captains together, decided the choice of
goal, and the two teams were taking their places.
“Their ball,” Johnson commented, intent on the field.
The referee blew his whistle and there was a moment of intense silence
as the blue line charged forward and the ball sailed far out on the
kick-off. It was a splendid kick, clear to the corner of the field and
high. It dropped neatly into a pair of maroon arms and the crowd cheered
wildly.
“Wasn’t that a dandy kick!” Scott exclaimed.
“Now watch them run it back,” Johnson exulted.
But they did not run it back so fast. One of the swift blue ends was on
the man and downed him in his tracks.
“That man’s some fast,” Scott said.
“Yes,” Johnson said, “too fast. They ought to look out for him. They’ll
carry it back fast enough now; that line can’t hold them.”
The ball was snapped, and an attempt made at an end run, but the same
man who had followed the kick downed the man for a loss. An attempt at
center fared no better and the fullback dropped back for a kick. The
ball went out of bounds almost in the center of the field.
Then the real surprise came. The Lawrence team formed quickly, and by a
series of lightning plays swept down toward the Minnesota goal. Nothing
seemed able to stop them. The stand was as silent as the tomb.
“Why don’t they yell?” Scott asked. “Now is the time the team needs it.”
“Who could cheer such an exhibition as that?” Johnson asked in disgust.
Suddenly the stand went wild. A Lawrence runner, rounding the end, far
out beyond the other team slipped in a puddle and fell. The ball rolled
toward the goal line and a Minnesota player fell on it on the five-yard
line.
“That was hard luck,” Scott remarked when the cheering had subsided.
“Hard luck!” Johnson exclaimed. “Who do you want to win this game?”
“Minnesota, of course,” Scott retorted indignantly, “but to win on a
thing like that does not do them any credit.”
“Kept ’em from scoring, anyway,” Johnson answered doggedly.
The ball was kicked into safety once more and the Lawrence team started
on another rush for the goal. Again they seemed irresistible, and only a
fumble on the ten-yard line saved a score. What had started as a
practice game had developed into a real struggle for victory with
Minnesota continually on the defensive.
At the end of the first quarter neither team had scored. Again and again
in the next period, the fast Lawrence team carried the ball through
their heavier opponents only to lose it near the goal line by some slip
of their own. Not once were they held on downs. But fate seemed to be
against them, for the whistle blew at the end of the second quarter with
the first down on the Minnesota two-yard line.
No sooner had the teams left the field for the ten minutes’ rest between
halves than the big University band formed in front of the grandstand
and marched around the field playing lively airs to try to put some
heart into the crowd. It did not succeed very well; the crowd seemed
utterly beaten and without hope.
“Is Lawrence a big college?” Scott asked when the music ceased.
“No,” Johnson groaned in disgust.
“They seem to have a mighty good team,” Scott continued.
“You mean we have a mighty rotten one,” Johnson retorted. “They ought to
bury Lawrence, and if they can’t they ought to be ashamed of
themselves.”
“They are doing the best they can,” Scott said, “and they ought to be
supported. They can’t help it if the other fellows are better.”
“That won’t stop them from getting licked,” Johnson growled.
“What difference does it make if they do get licked?” Scott argued. “You
ought to give the other people credit—” he began, when there was a half
hearted cheer and the teams trotted out on the field again.
“Now let’s see if the ‘old man’ has put a bug in their ear.” Johnson
said, leaning forward with renewed hope.
The game started out pretty much as before, but not so fast. The ball
was creeping steadily down into Minnesota territory when a poor pass
carried it over the head of the Lawrence fullback, he fumbled in trying
to recover it, and a Minnesota man got it. The crowd cheered the poor
pass wildly.
Scott looked around in astonishment. “What are they yelling for now?” he
asked.
“Didn’t you see that pass?” Johnson asked excitedly.
“Don’t see anything to cheer in that, it was just a poor pass such as
you could see on any corner lot.”
“Meant ten yards and the ball to us,” Johnson answered shortly. He had
made his own way in the world and had usually found the other fellow’s
loss to be his gain.
That seemed to be the turning point in the game. The light Lawrence team
had expended its strength in the early part of the game. Their
substitutes, as in most small colleges, were poor, and the overwhelming
weight of the maroon team began to tell. Following up their advantage
they carried the ball steadily down the field, crushing the lighter team
before them. The crowd went wild with enthusiasm. The yelling was almost
a continuous roar.
But the little Lawrence team was game. On their five-yard line they took
a brace and would not yield an inch. The big machine which had carried
the ball surely, for almost the entire length of the field, lost it on
downs, and saw it kicked far over their heads out to the center of the
field. The crowd was still in an instant and there was even a slight
tendency to hiss, but the better element instantly suppressed it.
The third quarter ended and still there was no score.
The teams changed sides amidst a deathlike silence. The next instant all
was wild excitement again. The captain of the Minnesota team had broken
away with a clean forward pass, and was speeding away down the field
with no one between him and a touchdown but the little Lawrence quarter.
Scott yelled with the loudest of them. “Wasn’t that a corker?” he
screamed in Johnson’s ear.
The yelling ended, as suddenly as it had begun, in a groan. The little
quarterback agily kept in front of the big runner, followed his every
feint, and brought him to the ground with a crash.
“Blame it,” Scott exclaimed. “Wasn’t that a beautiful tackle?”
“Beautiful tackle?” Johnson raged. “I wish he had broken his neck.” This
last remark must not be taken to represent the attitude of the majority
of the crowd, but it fairly represented Johnson’s attitude in everything
but his own actions.
The setback, however, was only temporary. The big team gathered itself
together, and carried the ball over for a touchdown. Goal was kicked
just three minutes before time was called, and the game ended with a
score of seven to nothing in favor of Minnesota.
The big crowd jostled slowly out of the gate and it seemed to Scott that
for people who had been so wildly desirous of winning, they were very
silent about it when it was accomplished.
“That’s what I call a good game,” Scott said.
“That’s what _I_ call a rotten game,” Johnson retorted. “They ought to
have beaten Lawrence thirty to nothing, instead of that they barely
succeeded in making seven, and were nearly scored against three or four
times.”
“What has that got to do with it?” Scott argued. “It would have been
just as good a game if we had not won it at all. The good playing is
what you want to see, no matter who does it.”
“Do you mean to say that you would enjoy seeing a good play if the other
people made it and it counted against you?”
“Certainly,” Scott answered stoutly. “I enjoyed seeing that quarterback
make that tackle though it knocked us out of a touchdown. It would not
have been nearly so pretty if he had missed it.”
“That’s one of your Eastern ideas of sport,” Johnson jeered
contemptuously. “You can watch the pretty plays the other people make;
they look better to me when our own team makes them.”
“If that game had been at home,” Scott continued, “every good play those
Lawrence people made would have been cheered the same as our own.”
“Do you call that being loyal to your team?” Johnson asked.
“Certainly. It’s simply giving the other fellow credit for what he does.
There is no team loyalty in pretending the fellows they beat are no
good, and still less in saying that the team that defeated them was no
good.”
That seemed to put the question up to Johnson in a new light. He
pondered over it for a minute and then looked up cheerfully.
“I’ll tell you what it is, Scotty. We play to win and let the other
fellow look after his credit, but there’s some sense in that last. Can
you really see the beauty of the play that goes against you?”
“Certainly.”
“Well,” Johnson laughed, “wait till I see you praising some fellow’s
skill in blacking your eye in some boxing bout. Then I’ll believe you.
Come on, let’s walk home. We’ll have plenty of time before supper.”
There was a little talk at the supper table of the football game, most
of the men taking the same view as Johnson, that it was a pretty poor
exhibition because Lawrence had not been completely overwhelmed, but
most of the time was taken up with a discussion of the coming campfire.
The upper classmen hinted mysteriously of the sacred rites that had been
prepared for the new members.
“Ormand,” Morgan hissed in a stage whisper which could be plainly heard
by every one at the table, “did you feed the goat tonight?”
“No,” Ormand answered in the same tone, “he’ll be more savage if he is
hungry, and besides, he’ll get plenty of green stuff to eat tonight.
“Johnson,” he continued, “if you and Scotty had taken my advice and
paddled each other every night for half an hour for the past two weeks
you would be better prepared.”
Scott could not help feeling nervous, but it did not seem to worry
Johnson.
“You don’t know that we have not been doing it,” he answered flippantly.
“It won’t be the first goat I have ridden, and I don’t believe he can
out-butt the old ram I tried to herd in Wyoming one summer.”
“You’ll have a good chance for comparison, anyway,” said Ormand rising.
“Come on, Morgan, let’s go prepare the torture chamber at the
clubhouse.”
The new men at the table responded with varying degrees of bravado
according to their natures, but a very apparent feeling of nervous
excitement pervaded everyone except Johnson. Nothing could perturb his
cheerful good humor.
“Cheer up, Tubby,” he cried to a stout freshman who sat opposite him.
“They may sting you a little but there is no chance of their striking a
bone. And look at little Steve over there with a face a mile long. Don’t
you know they dasent touch you for fear of breaking your glasses?”
In two minutes he had broken the spell and had them all at ease. The
self-reliance he had gained through his life of hard knocks was
infectious. He enjoyed the influence that it gave him over the others,
and he lorded it over them on all occasions, but always in a way that
pleased them.
“Now,” he said with a patronizing air, “all of you kids go home, put on
two pairs of trousers apiece, and be at the clubhouse at seven o’clock
sharp. Come on, Scotty, let’s go read up a little on the nocturnal
habits of that sportive goat.”
Scott recognized the subtle influence which Johnson exercised over his
classmates and admired his power. He even smiled at the readiness with
which he himself left his dessert half eaten to obey his orders.
The football game had made them late for supper and all those who wished
to join the forestry club had to be at the clubhouse at seven sharp.
They had little time to spare. Scott was at a loss how to dress to do
the proper honor to the rites at the clubhouse and yet be ready for the
campfire. Johnson suffered from no such perplexity.
“Believe me, Scotty, you can wear your dress suit if you want to, but
the ‘sacred rites’ at the clubhouse can, in my humble opinion, be
observed a good deal more appropriately in sweater and overalls.”
Scott finally decided to accept Johnson’s better judgment, relied on
that gentleman’s knowledge of his surroundings, and donned his sweater.
Johnson was already equipped. He cast a longing glance at a sofa cushion
on the couch. “Sorry I haven’t room for you, old fellow, if I had I’d
sure take you along. Five minutes of seven, Scotty, just time to make
it.”
They hurried to the clubhouse in silence. The front door stood open and
a carefully shielded light cast a dim glow on a notice pinned to the
door jamb. They read the notice eagerly.
Follow this string.
Speak only when you are spoken to.
Be good and you’ll be happy.
Beware of the Goat.
Farewell.
A thin cord was tied to the door knob and led away up the dark stair.
They laid their hands gingerly on the string and started carefully up
stairs with nerves on edge. At the first turn on the landing a bright
electric light flashed in their eyes for an instant and left them
totally blinded in the utter darkness. They groped their way along
apprehensively holding to that winding string. There was not a sound to
be heard except the noise they themselves made as they stumbled through
the rooms littered with all the obstructions that ingenious minds could
devise. After what seemed like almost interminable scrambling they
mounted another flight of stairs. More winding through obstructed
passageways, and down another flight of stairs, then another and
another. Scott was beginning to have visions of old medieval dungeons
when his wrist bumped into something cold that snapped with a metallic
click, and he found himself brought to a stop by a handcuff. It was too
dark to distinguish anything, but he could hear the hard breathing of
many nervous people. It seemed to him that he had stood there for an
eternity with nothing to break the silence save occasionally a cautious
step on the stairs which always stopped with the same metallic click.
Suddenly there was a shuffling of many feet and the handcuff led him
slowly forward. Much to his surprise he passed through a door directly
onto the ground outside—he had thought that he must be at least one
story below the level of the street—and found himself in the middle of a
long string of men all walking in single file. They were all handcuffed
to one long rope. This chain gang was guarded by a line of scouts on
either side, and led on by six husky fellows who dragged the front end
of the rope.
Slowly the procession marched up the middle of the street, across the
campus, through the auditorium where a popular lecture was in progress,
and out into the open fields. After a half-mile of winding march in the
darkness they entered a black forest. A little farther and the line
stopped.
“Prepare to meet your fate,” came from a deep voice immediately in front
of them.
More than one man in the crowd trembled so that the links of his
handcuffs clinked audibly. Scott, now that the time had really come,
felt perfectly calm.
After a few seconds’ pause a long screen of burlap dropped from in front
of them and they saw the upper classmen of the club standing in a
semi-circle around a small campfire.
Ormand, the president of the club, stepped forward a few paces.
“Gentlemen, let me introduce you to the new members of our club. And for
you, new members, may your enthusiasm for the club and the College never
be less than your surprise at the present moment. Release them.”
The guards quickly unlocked the handcuffs, and the astonished “victims”
looked uneasily about them, not knowing what to expect. But the upper
classmen came forward to welcome them, and they found themselves really
accepted on an equal footing with the rest. Their stunned expression
brought forth shouts of laughter.
Johnson was the first to recover. “Well, fellows,” he admitted with a
grin, “as I was telling you, I have ridden several goats before and some
of them were pretty rough riding, but none of them ever shook me up like
this.”
The tension was broken, and the reaction turned the crowd of half
stunned men into an hilarious bunch of boys. They danced around the
campfire in dizzying circles, and the fantastic shadows flashed weirdly
through the surrounding forest. At last they settled down in a contented
circle, and the entertainment committee rolled out a barrel of apples, a
barrel of cider, a bushel of peanuts and a set of boxing gloves.
They were all hailed with a shout of welcome, but some of the new
members looked rather anxiously at the padded gloves. Sam Hepburn, the
chairman of the entertainment committee, explained the program.
“Pile in, fellows,” he cried, “and help yourselves. Don’t be bashful. I
reckon you all know how to eat, if you don’t, watch Pudge Manning. But
we must have some entertainment while we eat. Since we have no orchestra
to dispense sweet music, we shall try another form of amusement not
unknown to the ancient Gormans. I have here in this hat the names of all
the old members. Each new man must draw a slip. In addition to the name
each slip has a number on it. Each man must box for two minutes with the
man he draws, and the bouts will be pulled off according to the numbers
on the slips. I’ll pass around the hat. Each man must draw one and only
one.”
The hat was passed quickly around the circle and the drawers examined
the slips eagerly to see what sort of opponents they had drawn. There
were sighs of relief from some and groans of despair from others.
“Now, fellows,” called Hepburn, “the first bout will start at once. Let
the man who has number one come forward and call out his opponent. The
ring will be this circle and the bunch the referee. Step lively now.”
A slight youth with a very scared expression stepped timidly forward and
called in a very faint voice for Pudge Manning, the biggest man in the
junior class. There was a great shout of laughter at the ill-matched
pair. Hepburn put the gloves on Manning and Johnson, who had appointed
himself the second for all the new members, equipped the frightened
little freshman, and tried to brace him up with good advice.
“Kick his shins, son; you can’t reach his face. You have the advantage
of him already, you can’t miss him and he will have to be a pretty good
shot to land on you. Now go for him.”
Johnson’s advice was in itself as good as a circus. It was hard to tell
which was the most ridiculous figure; the huge Manning sheepishly trying
to keep from hurting his little adversary, or the trembling little
freshman fighting wildly with the fury of desperation. The crowd howled
their delight, and when time was called gleefully awarded the decision
to the freshman.
Bout followed fast upon bout and the interest never flagged, for the
combinations were such that they furnished a plentiful variety. Some
were so unevenly matched as to be altogether ridiculous, others were
evenly enough matched but so ignorant of the game that the slugging
match was wildly exciting, in still other cases science showed its
superiority to brute force, but really scientific sparring on both sides
was rarely seen.
Johnson drove the crowd almost into hysterics by an exhibition of
wildcat fighting against a man almost twice his size. With the agility
of a cat he bounded around his big opponent, doing very little damage
himself, but continuously maddening the big fellow with ceaseless
taunts, and successfully wriggling out of reach of all punishment.
Scott looked on doubled up with laughter. He had not seen any very good
boxing, but viewed as a farce it certainly was a howling success. He was
well pleased that he had drawn Morgan, the best boxer in the College,
for he had not had any practice in a long time, and was eager to measure
himself against one of these Westerners who were inclined to look upon
the East with some contempt.
Finally his turn came and he called cheerfully for Morgan as he walked
over to Johnson to be gloved and given his facetious instructions.
Johnson was more serious with him than with most of the others. “You’re
up against the real thing now, Scotty. He can box like a fiend, and has
the strength of a moose. Keep your chin in,” he cautioned in a low voice
as Scott walked into the ring, “and remember your sporting views,” he
chuckled.
The match differed from any that had gone before. Both men were expert
with the gloves, and they were fairly matched physically. Morgan was a
trifle taller, giving him the advantage in the reach, Scott was a little
heavier in the shoulders. They shook hands, stepped back quickly and the
fight was on. Morgan had his reputation to sustain, Scott had his to
make. The crowd rose in a body to give better vent to its excitement.
The two circled rapidly, passing, parrying, sidestepping, dodging; now
almost in each other’s arms, now at arm’s length, and occasionally a
lightning pass, followed by a sharp spat told of a good blow gone home.
Scott found Morgan his equal in out-fighting, but his training with the
old prizefighter gave him much the best of the mix-ups.
Suddenly something happened. Scott invited a full swing from Morgan,
attempted to side-step, slipped on the damp sod, and received the full
blow on the point of his chin. The stars danced merrily before his eyes
and he sat down with a thud. He was up almost instantly. “Good shot, old
man,” he cried to Morgan, and was boxing again with as much vigor as
before.
“By George, he does believe it,” Johnson yelled. No one else knew what
he was talking about, but Scott smiled.
When time was called the match was declared a draw. Morgan shook Scott
enthusiastically by the hand. “Scotty, you are a winner and it will be
up to you to fight in the big fall meet. Why, you are not winded at
all.”
“No,” Scott answered quietly, “the old prizefighter who taught me always
insisted on each lesson going to ten rounds, and I am used to it.”
“Oh, ho! learned from a professional, did you? That accounts for your
not being phased by that blow on the chin, and your strong in-fighting.
I should not stand any show with you in a real fight. I’m winded now.”
All the fellows crowded around Scott to congratulate him and forgave him
his inability to play football in their admiration of a man who could
stand up to Morgan.
“Well, fellows,” Ormand shouted, “that bout was too good to be spoiled
by anything else. It’s half past eleven. Let’s put out this fire and
march home.”
The fire was soon extinguished, and the crowd filed out of the woods
singing familiar songs and yelling fiendishly at every sleeping house
they passed. Slowly it melted away as the fellows came to their various
rooming houses. When Scott and Johnson turned into their house they
heard the singing of the remnant of the band dying away in the distance.
“Scotty,” Johnson said with admiration written in every feature, “you
are the new White Hope of the College. When you took that wallop on the
jaw and praised the man who did it, I believed what you said this
afternoon. Now watch me be your kind of a sport.”
CHAPTER IV
The next three weeks were full of pleasure for Scott Burton, for they
brought him hours of his favorite exercise. Ormand, who had considerable
influence with the student powers at the University, had made it his
business the morning after the campfire celebration to arrange for Scott
to represent the freshman class in the heavyweight class in the boxing
match held each year to settle the supremacy between the under classes.
It was an honor which the foresters had long coveted, and was granted to
them only after Ormand had exhausted all his persuasive powers in his
effort to show them how totally inadequate all the other candidates
were, and how sure his candidate was to win. In his own mind he was not
at all certain of the outcome, for the sophomores had a young giant who
had won the event without an effort the year before, and held the
supremacy in the whole University ever since.
Scott trained like a prizefighter, leaving no stone unturned to put
himself in the pink of condition. He changed his recreation hour from
the hour after supper to the hour before, and that hour was invariably
spent in the boxing room of the gymnasium. Every day he boxed fast and
furious bouts with Morgan, Manning, Edwards, Ormand and any of the other
big fellows who cared to try it. He could wear them all out one after
the other, and he worked incessantly to increase his endurance, for all
agreed that it was his best chance to push the fight at a furious pace
from bell to bell. For there were other men who were as good boxers as
he, but none of them, they figured, with half his endurance or his
ability to stand punishment. He was fast on his feet, could close in on
any of them at will, and once at close range none of them could compare
with him for a moment.
Johnson fussed over him like a mother. He was at the boxing room as
regularly as Scott himself, and never left till he could give his charge
a good rubdown, and escort him to supper, where he watched his diet with
an eagle eye, and ordered away every dessert that Scott really cared
for. He domineered to such an extent that Scott more than once
threatened to thrash him instead of the sophomore, but Johnson always
had his way and tightened up his orders after every encounter.
“Johnson,” he said one day, as he watched a luscious piece of pumpkin
pie going back to the kitchen by Johnson’s orders, “when that scrap is
over I am going to eat your dessert and mine, too, for a month.”
“You may have my dessert for all the rest of the winter if you win,”
Johnson responded earnestly.
“There it goes again,” Scott complained. “What difference does that
make? I may put up the very best fight I ever made in my life and get
everlastingly licked. Then you would want to do me out of my right to
eat your pie simply because the other fellow was too much for me. But if
he happens to be a poor scrapper and I win easily you would cheerfully
let me eat your desserts for six months. That’s queer logic.”
“Some more of your Eastern sporting views,” Johnson jeered.
“Well you ought to give a fellow credit for what he does, oughtn’t you?
If he puts up a perfectly good scrap, give him credit for that. If the
other fellow puts up a better one give him credit for _that_. I am going
to eat your dessert anyway, so there is no use in arguing about it.”
They went to their rooms and straight to work. Johnson had wanted Scott
to stop his studies for a while, but on that one point Scott balked and
insisted on keeping up all his work, for he felt that his ability to
handle it at all depended on his keeping it up-to-date. He was working
hard on a problem when Johnson announced that it was ten o’clock and
time for all prizefighters to be in bed. He emphasized his orders by
blowing out the student’s lamp. Scott fired a book at him, which Johnson
dodged cheerfully and proceeded to go to bed.
“That’s something else I am going to do,” Scott cried with some spirit.
“After the twenty-fourth of October I am going to sit up as late as I
blame please.”
“Um-huh,” Johnson answered, unperturbed. “_After_ the twenty-fourth you
may sit up all night if you want to, but—_after_ the twenty-fourth. You
need not talk too bigity; you may not be able to sit up at all after the
twenty-fourth.”
And so it went from day to day. Scott working as never before, and
Johnson rigidly enforcing his rules, jollying his way through all the
threatened mutinies. In one short week Scott had jumped from an unknown
student to the idol of the College. He realized that if he could win
that match his position among his fellow students would be established.
This idea spurred him on to untiring efforts. Even the girls began to
look after him when he passed, and that embarrassed him, for he had
always been shy about girls.
At last the all-important day arrived. The morning classes had been
dismissed for the occasion. The students assembled on the campus by the
hundreds, boys and girls together, crowded around the little open space
reserved for the events. For the upper classmen it was a festive
celebration to be thoroughly enjoyed. For the under classmen it was a
serious contest, and through the good-natured yelling and cheering there
ran an undercurrent of antagonism, which broke out in petty scraps and
bickerings all through the crowd. The upper classmen were kept busy
exercising their police functions to confine the competition to the
organized contests.
Finally the crowd settled down with the classes concentrated, each on
one of the four sides of the opening. The field marshal announced the
cane rush between the sophs and the freshmen as the first event, and
called for the representatives of the two classes. The chosen men, forty
husky fellows from each class, stepped forward and lined up on opposite
sides. All were dressed in the oldest clothes they could find, and
looked more like a band of strikers than students seriously inclined
toward higher education. The officials brought forward the cane and
placed it in the hands of five select men from each class, carefully
placing the hands so that neither class had an unfair advantage. The
remaining champions were then lined up carefully at equal distances on
either side of the cane. When all was arranged there was an instant of
intense suspense as the referee took a review of the situation before
raising the whistle to his lips.
At the first shrill blast the contestants rushed tumultuously forward on
the little writhing knot of men around the cane. Sophomores tugged at
freshmen to tear them away from the coveted cane, and freshmen struggled
desperately with tenacious sophomores. In an instant they were all
merged into one seething mass of humanity. It was practically impossible
for those on the outside of the crowd to reach the cane, but they fought
as wildly as those in the center. The pressure in the center became so
great that one man was squeezed out of the mass like a grape from its
skin, and rose head and shoulders above the crowd in spite of his best
efforts to stay on the ground. Men on the outskirts vaulted to the heads
of the crowd with a running start to crawl over the tightly packed heads
and shoulders to the center only to be caught by the feet and dragged
violently back to the ground. Frequently tempers were ruffled beyond
control, and the consequent slugging matches had to be stopped by the
officials. Pieces of wearing apparel littered the ground. Sweater
sleeves and pieces of shirts rose high above the crowd. The grim silence
of the contestants contrasted strangely with the wild cheering of the
spectators. It was impossible to tell where the advantage lay, but that
detracted nothing from the enthusiasm. Scott watched the struggle, the
first of the kind he had ever seen, with intense interest, and forgot
for the time that he would so soon be the central figure of just such
another spasm of excitement and frantic cheering. The contestants still
fought on with dogged perseverance, but their efforts were becoming
weaker, and they were glad to stop at the referee’s whistle.
The upper classmen formed a circle around the ragged crowd, and the
judges began their search for the cane. Those on the outskirts were
summarily pushed outside the circle till the group was reached who
actually had hold of the cane. The hands on the cane were counted,
thirteen for the sophomores and ten for the freshmen. The announcement
was received with frantic shouting by the sophomore supporters and the
heroes were welcomed back to the side lines with wild demonstrations.
But there was not much time for such celebrations. The program was a
long one and the officials’ call for the lightweight wrestlers centered
the interest of the crowd on a new event. One by one the events passed
by and the interest began to flag—for it was a sophomore day and the
freshmen seemed wholly outclassed. Decision after decision went to the
sophomores, and at the call for each new event the cheers from the
freshmen ranks grew weaker. They were becoming overwhelmed by the
defeat.
As the freshman middleweight stepped into the ring for the second round
of his drubbing, Johnson, who had been pleading with each man in turn to
do something for the honor of his class, turned to Scott almost with
tears in his eyes. “Now, Scotty,” he said, “you’ll be the next, and
you’ve got to win. This bunch of loafers has lost everything for us, and
a forester must save the honor of the class. There, that wax figure got
knocked down again. That finishes him. Now come on. You’re the last hope
between us and a shut out. Show ’em what a forester’s made of. You’ve
simply got to win.”
The referee had called for the heavyweights, and Johnson, Scott’s
faithful second, was tying on his hero’s gloves. Scott felt a little
nervous, but knew that he would be all right as soon as the first blow
was struck.
Johnson fussed around his roommate like a nervous mother. “Now, Scotty,
everything is ready. He’s a regular moose, but remember the game. Go at
him like a tornado from the very start and he can’t stand the pace.”
With these final instructions Scott walked out to meet his opponent. The
man opposed to him was indeed a giant; he had never boxed with such a
big man, and he saw the last gleam of hope dying in the freshman ranks.
That would have taken the courage out of many men, but it only made
Scott the more determined to save his class’s honor, and bring
everlasting fame to the foresters.
The big fellow shook hands condescendingly with a rather patronizing
air, which maddened Scott. In stepping back from the handshake the big
fellow took a leisurely and rather contemptuous slap at his opponent’s
head, but that was the last chance he had to show his superiority. Scott
dodged like a flash and landed a straight punch in the big fellow’s
stomach. The ease with which he had lorded it over the whole University
for a year had made him careless, but he was a good boxer and he knew
that he could not afford to play with this new man. Scott left him no
time to think it out. He pushed the attack with a fury that brought the
spectators to their feet, and wrung from the freshmen the first real
cheer they had had the heart to give since the cane rush was decided.
Scott rushed his opponent again and again, each time breaking away with
a vicious hook to the short ribs that worked havoc with the big fellow’s
wind—none too good at the first. It was not, however, a one-sided fight
by any means. The sophomore’s superior reach and weight gave him a great
advantage, especially in the out-fighting, and he was not slow in
grasping the opportunities. Scott’s rushing tactics forced him to make
some good openings and it was only his ability to stand punishment that
saved him several times.
During the first round he was rushing in on his opponent when he
received a straight punch in the right eye that landed him flat on his
back. The hopes of the freshman class fell with him, but Scott was up
again like a rubber ball amidst a perfect tempest of cheers, was inside
the big sophomore’s guard almost before that gentleman realized what had
happened, beat a veritable tattoo on his short ribs and was away clear
without being touched. He was fighting as strongly and furiously as
ever, while his opponent was laboring heavily.
But Scott still had to be very careful to avoid those vicious swings.
Twice he received blows on the chin which sent his head back with a
snap, and which would have knocked out a less hardened man. He saw that
his man was weakening and gave him no peace. He had rushed him to the
ropes and was fighting at close range in the hope of getting a chance at
his jaw when the whistle ended the first round.
Johnson received him with open arms, and wrapped the bathrobe carefully
about him. “You’ve got him going, Scotty, if you can keep up another
round like that you’ll get him easy. Can you do it?”
“Yes,” Scott answered, “ten of ’em, if he doesn’t knock my head off in
the meantime. He certainly landed some dandy blows on me.”
“Why don’t you play for his jaw more? You’re just hammering away at his
ribs all the time; you can’t hurt him there,” Johnson remonstrated.
Scott laughed, “You don’t realize how tall he is. I can’t reach his face
unless I’m in close and then I am afraid to reach up so high; it would
give him too big an opening. Those rib blows count in the long run, but
I do not believe myself that they will be any good in a two-round fight.
I’ll have to risk it this time, I guess.”
Johnson was delighted to see that his hero was not winded in the least,
and he watched the heavings of the bathrobe opposite with huge
satisfaction. The freshmen were hopeful once more, and answered the
taunts of the sophomores with some spirit.
At the sound of the whistle Scott shot to his feet like a
jack-in-the-box and met his opponent three-fourths of the way across the
ring. He tried some sparring at long range, but found that he was still
outclassed, even though the sophomore was plainly showing his fatigue.
Several stiff blows about the face showed him that it was not yet safe.
Once more he ducked, charged, and pounded the big fellow’s wind. He
received a blow on the jaw when he thought he was clear out of reach,
but he realized that the old vim was no longer back of it.
Scott decided that the time had come to take the one chance he had of a
clean decision. He rushed his man furiously, and tried for an opening to
the face, but was driven out again without getting it. He noticed that
the sophomore’s breath was coming in labored gasps and rushed him again.
With a terrific hook to the stomach he lowered the big fellow’s head and
landed heavily on his jaw, but the man was indeed a very moose and
withstood the blow though it dazed him a little. Relying on this Scott
took his chance. He offered a beautiful opening which his opponent took
eagerly, throwing all his waning strength into one mighty full-arm swing
for Scott’s unprotected chin.
Few in the audience realized what a risk Scott had really taken in
trying to side-step a man like that, but he himself realized it to the
full and planned it with the greatest care. He side-stepped with the
agility of a cat, felt the glove just brush his cheek, and threw all the
weight of his splendid shoulders into a hook to the jaw. The blow went
true, and the big man wilted in his tracks. Scott caught him in his arms
and was letting him gently to the ground, when he wriggled loose,
staggered to his feet and struck at Scott blindly but savagely. Before
he could fully recover, however, the whistle blew.
Scott stood patiently in the ring waiting for the decision, but not so
the crowd. Yelling wildly the freshmen descended with a rush on the one
champion the day had brought forth for them, heaved him on their
shoulders, half clothed as he was, and swept across the campus through
the crowd of spectators. He remonstrated and fought as hard as he had in
the ring, but to no purpose. They carried him clear across the campus
and out into the street. Scott would have given anything for even his
undershirt. He had objected to stripping to the waist even there in the
ring, but now that the match was over to be exhibited in this way to all
those girls was intolerable. At last it ended. A hundred and eighty-five
pounds is not a light weight to carry even if it is a hero and Scott
managed at last to fight his way to the ground. He was wondering how he
would ever get back to his clothes, even if they had not been carried
off by the crowd, when the faithful Johnson pushed his way forward with
them.
“Now get out of the way,” Johnson commanded the throng of admirers, “and
let me take him home for a little rest.”
“Scott,” he continued as he hustled him to the car, “now you can go home
and sit up all night for the rest of the winter. Yes, and hanged if you
can’t eat my desserts for the next six years.”
“Humph,” Scott grunted good-naturedly, “and all just because I won.”
CHAPTER V
As the boys sat in their room that evening in their pajamas talking over
the events of the day Scott was impressed more than ever with Johnson’s
strange philosophies, apparently gathered from almost unlimited
experience. Johnson was in a very good humor over the results of the
boxing match and Scott thought it a good opportunity to get him to tell
his story.
“Johnson,” he asked curiously, “where haven’t you been? You don’t look
very old but there does not seem to be any place that you have not
worked in all the United States.”
“Well,” Johnson answered, “I have never been to the South or East, but
there are not many sections of the West that I have not seen.”
“How did you do it?” Scott urged. “You said that I could sit up all
night, you know, and I could listen very contentedly to an account of
all your wanderings. They must be interesting for I suppose you beat
your way everywhere. Come on, let’s have the whole story,” and he
settled himself down to listen.
Johnson, who loved to have an audience for his adventures, was in his
glory. He had had adventures galore and they lost nothing in his telling
of them.
“If you really do not want to sleep for an hour,” he said, “I’ll tell
you about them, but there is no use in trying to do it in less. It
covers a great many years in spite of my young and boyish face.
“You asked me to tell you about my work. Well, that began when I was six
years old. My father was a teamster in Duluth, and I was the oldest of
eight children. The old man did not believe in any idlers in the house,
and one morning when I was about six he kicked me out the front door and
told me not to come back till I had earned something.” Johnson had never
been taught any family pride and made no attempt to shield either his
family or himself.
“There are a good many things I have forgotten since then, but I
remember perfectly well what a pickle I was in that morning. I had had
too many of those kicks to try to go back so I paddled away right up to
the main street howling like a good fellow. Nobody paid any attention to
me till I ran into a newsboy.
“‘Hello, sonny,’ he said, ‘what’s the matter with you? Lost a million on
the races?’ I told him my troubles and he handed me a bundle of papers
and told me he’d give me a cent for every ten I sold. ‘Don’t quit
crying,’ he said, ‘keep it right up. That ought to sell them if anything
will.’
“I made five cents out of it that morning and went home happy. The old
man came in to dinner, took the money for my board and told me to get
some more that afternoon. The newsy stocked me up again and I was such a
little kid that lots of people bought from me. Well, I kept at that
paper business for a long time, but the old man kept taking all of my
money for board and it was not encouraging. At last I got wise enough
not to take home all I earned and began to get ahead a little.
“When I was not selling papers I took to running errands and finally
became a regular messenger boy. I learned to read the papers while I was
selling them. I tell you I learned things on that messenger job. A
messenger boy on a night shift sees everything in a town except the
inside of the churches. One night about two A. M. I took a message away
up town. It took a long time to get anybody up, but finally an oldish
man came to the door. He looked at me a minute without taking the
message I was trying to give him, and then pulled me into the house by
the back of the neck.
“‘What are you doing out at this time of night?’ he asked sternly.
“I was sassy and told him that it was his fault for getting a message at
that time of night.
“He took my number, and I thought for a while that he was going to have
me fired, but he was not that kind. He was a Catholic priest. When he
turned up at the office the next afternoon I was scared. He simply
collared me and led me away. He took me to one of the big hotels and
right up to the proprietor. ‘Here he is,’ he said. Then he turned to me.
‘You’re going to be bellhop here from four o’clock in the afternoon on,
and in the daytime you’re going to school. I’ll come here in the morning
with you and see that you get started.’
“Well, that suited me fine. I had always wanted to go to school. He
started me in in the morning and kept tab on me as long as I stayed
there. When my old man found that I had a good job he tried to get me
back home, but the priest settled him and I have not been home since. By
the time I had reached the eighth grade I had worked in about every job
there was in Duluth. But it was in the bellhop job that I got my hunch.
A couple of foresters stopped there one evening and sat talking where I
could hear them. Their talk showed me what I wanted to do. I talked to
one of them and found out something about it.
“That meant that I had to go to the University, and if I went to the
University I had to have some money. Then I had heard those fellows say
that what a man wanted was experience in the woods and with men. That
summer my wanderings started. I learned at the employment agency that
they needed men on a construction crew in North Dakota. They booked me
and I went. I drove team on a slusher for two months. It was a tough
outfit, but they did not have anything on me there, and I learned to
handle a team. I had never had anything to do with one before. When the
harvest started I skipped the crew and went to hauling water for a
threshing crew. They paid twice as much.”
“Had to work about twenty hours a day, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but I did not mind that. That fall I entered the high school. When
summer came times were pretty hard and work was scarce. I jumped a
freight and beat my way to the Pacific Coast. The brakeman happened to
kick me off in the apple region of Washington—I did not have any more
money to tip him—and I got a job there packing apples. Paid pretty well,
but the Chinks were a dirty lot to work with. When the apples were all
packed I beat my way up to the Puget Sound district and got another job
in a lumber camp cutting wood for a donkey engine. That was some hard
work but I learned a lot about the logging. I had a fierce time trying
to get home. I got kicked off so many times that I finally had to pay my
fare back from Missoula. Got back a month late for school then.
“Back in school again I still held onto the bellhop job. I knew that if
a man was going to get along well he had to be a good mixer. I learned
that at the hotel. Gee, it was tough. I had such a poor start at home
that every summer I lost nearly all I had gained in the winter. What
little manners I have are only smeared on the outside and they keep
cracking off.
“The next summer I shipped to Colorado to work in the mines. That did
not last long. It paid pretty well, but I had to work on the graveyard
shift from eleven at night till seven in the morning, and I could not
stand being shut up all the time. So I wandered down into the southwest
part of the state, and worked in a lumber camp there. Great sport
working up on top of a mesa nine thousand feet above sea-level, trying
to swing a five-pound ax when you hadn’t the breath to lift a paper
weight. You could puff with all your might there but the air did not
seem to be any good; the more you puffed the more you got winded. I got
used to it after a while. There were some queer duffers in that camp,
‘lungers’ who had come out for their health. One fellow was a school
teacher from Philadelphia. We worked together on a saw crew, and he
undertook to teach me Spanish. Before the summer was over he had me
chattering like a greaser. I managed to teach him a little Swedish. The
combination was fierce.
“I beat my way home through Kansas City, and was a month late for school
again. The old priest offered me a job as a sort of secretary. Said it
would help to give me a little culture, and as that was what I was after
I took it. It was great experience and he saw to it that I was not
overworked. He was certainly a dandy. That spring he gave me a letter to
some friends of his up north of Lake Superior and I worked on a summer
logging job.”
“That was great luck, wasn’t it?” Scott commented.
“Yes, I thought so at first. Those people were very good about giving me
a job, but I never came so near earning my money in my life. I was ‘bull
cook’ and messenger boy. They had me up at daybreak, which is shortly
after two o’clock in that country in the summertime, and kept me going
till dark, about ten. I had to cut the wood for the kitchen stove and
keep the whole camp supplied with water, sweep out all the buildings
every day and do anything else that blamed cook could think of. He had
the indigestion so badly he could not see straight—most of those camp
cooks have from ‘lunching’ so much between meals—and it had ruined his
disposition. The only rest I got was when he sent me out to the woods at
noon with the men’s dinner. I usually stayed out most of the afternoon
watching the logging. The boss was onto the game, but knew what the cook
was and did not kick. The cook did, though. I used to be so sore
sometimes when I had been out a little later than usual that I would eat
supper standing up. But when fall came I knew something about summer
logging, and more about the northern lumberjacks, especially cooks.
“The last year of the high school with the job as the priest’s secretary
to help out was a cinch. Everybody knew what a rough kid I had been and
helped me along. That summer I made the longest jump of all. There are a
lot of people in Duluth who are interested in copper mines in the
southwest, and one of them offered me a job as timekeeper. That took me
down into Arizona near the Mexican line. The office work kept me so busy
that I did not have a chance to see anything, and the thought of being
in that new country without seeing things was too much for me.
“I jumped the job at the end of the first month and struck down into
Mexico. My greaser talk came in handy then. I finally picked up a job as
timekeeper on a railroad construction crew. That was great, for they
were just putting the finishing touches on a road, and moved fast. I saw
lots of the country.
“I had one pretty strange experience there that scared me badly at the
time. One of the engineers who was superintending the job was an
American and a dandy fellow, but he was pretty sharp to those Mexicans;
used to make them work harder than they liked. One day he kicked a
fellow who refused to dig out a grade stake for him. The greaser did not
do anything at the time, but when you insult one of those fellows you
ought to kill him right there, for he’ll lay for you.
“That afternoon I was asleep on a flat car while the train was running
around the side of a mountain to a new work station, when I heard
someone jump down onto the flat from a box car. I opened one eye and saw
that it was the greaser who had been kicked. He glanced at me, thought I
was asleep, and started to climb onto the next box car behind. I didn’t
think anything of it till I saw that he had a knife in his hand. That
woke me up pretty quick for I knew how they fought. As soon as he was up
the ladder I started up after him to see what was going on.
“When I peeped over the edge of that box car there was the greaser
sneaking slowly up on the engineer, who was asleep on his back. There
wasn’t any time to lose and I yelled like an Indian. I never saw
anything so cool as that engineer. He opened his eyes with a jerk,
rolled over once to dodge the knife, jumped to his feet, and knocked
that greaser off the box car down the side of the mountain with one
blow. He did not even look to see where he landed. He saw me staring
over the edge of the box car with my eyes hanging out on my cheeks, and
said, ‘Good boy, kid.’ With that he lay quietly down on his back again.
I didn’t sleep for a week but it didn’t seem to bother him any, or
anybody else. There was never anything said about it.”
“Didn’t the courts investigate it?” Scott asked in surprise.
“No, a greaser does not count there.
“When we finished the line we were away down in Southern Mexico; it was
time for college to begin and no way to get back. I made my way across
country to the nearest seaport and found a steamer just about to sail. A
greaser there said she was bound for New Orleans, and I stowed myself
away in the hold.
“It was stuffy in that old pit and I thought we would never get to New
Orleans. My grub began to give out and I lived on half rations for four
days and on nothing for two. I had just finished the last of my water,
and had decided to try to get out when we docked and the hold was opened
up. I managed to sneak out in the night and hid in the warehouse. I did
not know much about what New Orleans looked like, but I did not think so
many of the people there were Spaniards. Then I found out that it was
Buenos Ayres instead of New Orleans. That pesky ship had been sailing
the wrong way.”
“That was certainly a good one on you,” Scott laughed.
“Yes,” Johnson bragged. “Fortune has had many a good one on me, but
nobody else has.
“Well, I was too late for college then, so I stayed to work in the
warehouse awhile, and took a trip back into the country. The place
looked pretty good to me and I came near staying there, but I had been
working too long to get to the University to let it go. So I took a job
on a sailing vessel and reached New York about February 1. I beat my way
West with the idea of entering the University at the beginning of the
second semester, but they would not let me.
“You know how I worked around College all last spring, carried a rod in
a survey party in Wisconsin all last summer and have been trotting up
and down this blooming hill to lectures all fall. Now I reckon I have
talked you to sleep, so I’ll go myself.”
Scott did not speak for a minute, but it was not because he was asleep.
The very carelessness with which Johnson related his wonderful
achievements, and the utter lack of conceit in his almost superhuman
efforts to rise in the world, added to the fascination of it. Scott was
thinking what a bed of roses his life had been compared with Johnson’s,
what a tremendous handicap he had been working under, and yet how little
he had the advantage of Johnson. Even that little advantage was
temporary, for a man with that experience of life would soon distance
him when he finally started his real work.
“By George, Johnson,” he said, starting up suddenly, “you’re a hero.”
But the hero made no answer, for true to his word he was already asleep.
Scott lay awake for a while thinking it over. He wondered what his
father would think of Johnson as a chosen companion. Judged on the basis
of family as was the custom at home Johnson would be rejected but he
felt in his heart that Johnson had certainly earned a place in the world
and finally went to sleep convinced that if he could not get his ten
thousand acres without discarding Johnson he would go without it.
CHAPTER VI
From the moment that he out-boxed that big sophomore, thus saving the
honor of the class and bringing everlasting glory to the foresters,
Scott’s reputation was established. From an unknown stranger passing
quietly and unnoticed from class to class, he had become the lion of the
College and one of the “popular” men of the University. Men he had never
known hailed him familiarly on the street and in the corridors; girls he
had never met smiled at him frankly. A reporter tried to get an
interview with him for a big daily paper. Clubs, societies,
associations, fraternities, organizations of which he would never have
had any knowledge if it had not been for that fateful boxing match,
opened their doors to him and invited him cordially to enter. After the
quiet life he had led in the little village, with his limited
acquaintance and Dick Bradshaw for his only intimate friend, this new
life opening before him thrilled him and tingled through his blood like
old wine. He remembered his father’s injunction to mix, to study men and
learn human character; his new life would give him the opportunity to do
it.
He thought he knew now what his father had meant by “responsible
companions,” and felt that the fulfillment of that part of the condition
for the ten thousand acres was as good as accomplished.
He accepted many of the invitations, took an interest in many of the
student activities opened to him, and began to drift more and more into
society. His after-supper hour of recreation stretched to two, three,
and even four hours, till it looked as though he would have to carry out
the threat he had made to Johnson that he would sit up all night
studying after the match. Many of his new amusements were expensive, and
he soon found himself exceeding his allowance. At last the theater
parties, fraternity dances and other diversions became so frequent that
he found it impossible to get in the hours of study he had prescribed
for himself.
He wrote to Dick Bradshaw of his triumph in the championship match and
the consequent honors and civilities that had been heaped upon him. He
wrote to his father of his wide acquaintance, of his active
participation in the life of the University as a whole, and the great
success he was making. Incidentally he asked for an increased allowance.
In short, Scotty’s head was rapidly being turned by his sudden rise to
the position of popular idol. He knew in his heart that he was acting
foolishly, and would have condemned his own actions if he had taken the
time to think seriously about them, but he was too busy and too
hilariously happy to think about them at all.
This had been going on for about a month when an impending examination
in a subject that he had been sorely neglecting forced him to put in a
quiet evening’s study with Johnson. Such evenings had become exceedingly
rare of late, and for the first time in his life he found that intense
studying for a long time was irksome, in fact he found it hard to
concentrate his mind enough to study intensely at all.
About eleven o’clock he yawned, looked longingly at the bed and closed
his book with a bang. What was the use of studying so hard, anyway, the
examination would take care of itself, he had never failed in one in his
life. Johnson, who had missed Scott sorely in his long lonesome evenings
of study had been watching him furtively with an expression, half
pitying, half contemptuous. He had come to admire Scott intensely, and
he hated to see his hero falling so rapidly, and for the objects he had
always considered so trivial. He thought that Scott would probably
resent any criticism from him, but he was still loyal. He had trained
Scott up to that fight and if possible he was going to train him down
again. He was no coward and grasped the opportunity to put the
disagreeable business through without delay.
“Quitting already?” he asked casually, as Scott slammed to his book.
“Yes,” Scott answered with another yawn, “I’m going to bed. I’m sleepy
and sick of the stuff. Guess I know enough to pass anyway.”
“Scotty,” Johnson asked bluntly, “how much allowance have you?”
Scott looked up in surprise, for it was the first time that Johnson had
ever asked him such a question, and he did not see what he was after.
But he answered frankly. “Forty dollars a month, but I’m running shy.
Did you want to borrow some?”
“No,” Johnson answered somewhat proudly, “I earn all I need. Bronson has
five hundred a month, Swanson six, and Edwards all he can use.”
These were some of the men Scott had been going with but he could not
see the point of Johnson’s remark.
“What’s that got to do with it?”
Johnson came out with it like a man. “Just this, Scotty. Those fellows
all have dollars to your pennies and they are going a pace that you
cannot stand. They don’t care whether they get through College in four
years or forty. If you try to keep up with them you will soon be in debt
up to your ears, and as soon as all your money’s gone they will drop you
like a hot cake. You’re not in their class.”
“Not in their class!” Scott answered indignantly. “My family is as good
as, or better than theirs, any day and that’s what counts. It does not
matter home whether you have money or not as long as your family is all
right. You can pick all the millionaires you want for company.”
“It may be all right there,” Johnson answered quietly, “but it won’t
work here. If you have money it does not matter whether your father was
a garbage man or the President of the United States; but believe me, you
have to have the money.”
“It has not worked that way so far,” Scott answered defiantly, “and when
it does I guess I’ll know it without being told.”
“And in the meantime you are getting in debt deeper every day and that
with your father’s money.”
“Is that your business?” Scott cried angrily. It had caused him some
compunction to ask his father to increase his allowance when he knew the
poor doctor could ill afford it, and the shot hurt him.
“No,” Johnson sighed, “it’s none of my business, and I knew I should be
unpopular for butting in, but I had to warn you. A man who comes from
Massachusetts to Minnesota on an allowance of forty dollars per month
and takes the amount of work that you are taking to save a year’s
expenses is not in a position to run with a bunch of millionaires and
flunk in all his studies. If you are behind in a single study at the end
of the first eight weeks you’ll have to drop all that extra work, and at
the rate you have been going you will be behind in a good deal more than
one. I’m through now. Think about it before you get too mad,” and he
rose to go to bed.
“I’ve never flunked in a subject yet,” Scott answered haughtily. “I can
take care of my studies by myself and I do not consider that you can
give me many points on my social activities.”
“If that’s the way you feel about it,” Johnson said with quiet dignity,
“you’d better go room with someone your equal. I am neither a
millionaire nor a society leader.”
“It’s too late tonight,” Scott said angrily, “but I’ll get out fast
enough in the morning.”
“Good hunch,” Johnson said with apparent indifference, though it really
cut him deeply. He was not angry. He had foreseen all this before he
spoke at all. He knew it was the best thing for Scott and he was willing
to swallow all these indignities for his sake. He longed to tell Scott
how much he cared for him, but that was out of the question under the
circumstances. He knew that Scott would come to his senses and thank him
some day, but in any event he felt that he had acted the part of a true
friend. He crawled into bed with a deep sigh of regret, nearer to a sob
than he had come for many years.
Scott sat before the table for some time, his chin on his chest, and a
scowl on his face, sullenly flapping the cover of his notebook. He felt
bitter against Johnson, for he knew in his heart that Johnson was right,
and the truth always cuts deeper than anything else. He thought how his
father, already worried over his request for increased allowance, would
grieve if he should fail in any of his studies, and he thought of his
mother’s advice. Already there were some things that he did not care to
write her.
The flapping of the notebook cover fanned a yellow envelope out from
between the leaves. He had taken it out of his post office box and
dropped it in his notebook without reading it. He tore it open idly and
glanced at it. The next instant he was sitting bolt upright reading with
unbelieving eyes the following terse note:
Committee on Students’ Work
11/1/11
Your record for the first six weeks’ work shows that you are
behind in three subjects. Report to this office at once or
your registration will be canceled.
Scott gazed at the paper half dazed. Coming as it did on top of
Johnson’s harangue it brought him to his senses with a sudden jerk. It
was the first time in his life that he had ever fallen short in his
studies, and his hurt pride rose triumphant over his social aspirations.
What Johnson’s loyal advice had failed to do—probably never would have
done—this blow at his student’s reputation did instantly. Johnson had
only aroused him to stubborn anger; this cold-blooded sentence forced
him to think and use his reason.
Where was he going anyway? What did the pleasures and associations which
had loomed so big to him in the past few weeks amount to? Why did those
men seek his company when he knew that they spoke always contemptuously
of other poor men as good as he? His head had been so turned by the
flattery that he had imagined it was on account of his sterling
qualities.
He viewed it through the glass of cold reason now and the truth dawned
on him, burst forth so clearly that he wondered why he had not seen it
before. He remembered how one of the men who disliked dogs had paid five
hundred dollars for the prize winner at the Minneapolis show and he
shivered as he realized the truth. He was the prize dog in the
under-class boxing match. The humiliation of the truth, and he knew now
that it was the truth, angered him beyond reason at first, and then
filled him with disgust at his own weakness.
And how about the responsible companions he had been priding himself on
a short time before? He knew that Johnson had judged them aright and he
knew his father’s judgment would be the same. Moreover, he recognized in
that little yellow envelope the first symptoms of another obstacle that,
unless quickly overcome, would put that magnificent chance at a forest
estate far beyond his reach.
He realized then the true loyalty of Johnson. He knew how it must have
pained Johnson to say what he had said, and how it must have hurt him to
have his friendship misconstrued. What one of those millionaires would
have done as much for him, the prize pup, or would even have thought
twice whether he was disgracing himself or not? He thought how his
admiration for Johnson had been slowly dying under the new influences,
and remorse almost choked him. He strode quickly over to the bed to
apologize, but Johnson slept so peacefully that he did not have the
heart to wake him after the pain he had already caused him.
He took up his notebook resolutely and began to study. At five o’clock
he slipped quietly into bed encouraged by the feeling that he was once
more well prepared for an examination. But sleep did not come at once.
He lay for almost an hour wide awake and wondering how he could ever
have been so foolish as to let a little flattery run away so completely
with his common sense. More especially he longed to apologize to
Johnson. Dear old Johnson whom he had so shamefully neglected for the
past month. Not only had he neglected him, but had actually begun to
look down on him. He saw him in his true proportions again now and
longed to tell him how much he looked up to him. Scott was no cad and he
was anxious to confess to Johnson the extent of his fall. At last he
fell into a restless sleep. Only after an hour of this tossing about did
the sleep become profound.
When Scott finally awoke with a start it was to find Johnson gone. He
had just time to make his examination if he went without breakfast. He
tumbled into his clothes and ran all the way to the recitation hall. He
went at his examination in dendrology with his oldtime certainty, and
repaired straight to the Students’ Work Committee. He found that he was
not by any means alone in his disgrace. The room was crowded, some
contrite, some indifferent, some defiant. Case after case was discussed
in the chairman’s office and disposed of. At last his own turn came. The
chairman looked at him inquiringly.
“Burton,” Scott answered to the implied inquiry and turned red to the
very ears.
The chairman picked a card from the case in front of him, glanced over
it and looked him in the eye searchingly. “Well, Burton, your record
shows that you are behind in dendrology, forest entomology and forest
engineering. What’s the matter?”
Scott blushed violently, but confessed frankly. “I lost my head and
tried to do too much society. I neglected my studies. I think I have
waked up now.”
“A wholesome confession is good for the soul,” the chairman laughed.
“Report to me one week from today and remember, if you are below in a
single study at the end of another six weeks, you’ll probably have to
drop all that extra work and maybe some more besides.”
The chairman rang for the next victim, and Scott blushed his way out
through the crowd. He felt tremendously relieved. He knew that he could
make good in that work and registered a vow that that committee would
never have to call him up again.
This trying ordeal over he hurried back to the room to find Johnson. The
room had a rather desolate look and Scott was wondering what was the
matter with it when he spied a note on the table. He read it half dazed.
Since you did not carry out your promise to move, I moved
myself. I have some self-respect.
Johnson.
It was Johnson’s one great short-coming, lack of tact, and Scott’s
longing for forgiveness turned once more to anger. He was blinded to the
kindness which had prompted Johnson to warn him and forgot the insults
with which he had received it. He could see in it now only an
impertinent interference in his private affairs and railed against
Johnson as a mucker who would not accept an apology even when he did not
deserve it. He forgot that Johnson knew nothing of his change of heart,
and felt bitter against him. All thought of apology had vanished.
He was still in this frame of mind when Greenleaf came into the room.
“Hello, Scotty,” he said, “I met Johnson moving his belongings a while
ago. Said you and he had a falling out. They have sold the house where I
am rooming and are going to turn me out. Do you want a roommate?”
“Sure,” Scott said promptly, “I’ll help you move in now.”
So the door was closed to Johnson’s return. The new arrangement gave
Scott little chance to think it over. Had he thought the matter over
calmly he would probably have sought Johnson out and apologized to him
at any cost to his own pride, but he did not let himself think about it
and harbored his unjust bitterness.
Greenleaf was a different type from Johnson. His father was a well-to-do
lawyer who could very readily have allowed his son ample spending money
and would have done so in the East, but preferred to follow the Western
custom and make the boy earn his pocket money. Consequently Greenleaf,
although blessed with a comfortable—even a luxurious—home had spent most
of his summers working at any kind of a job that he could get. He made a
very congenial roommate, but Scott missed in him the breadth of mind and
keen reasoning powers which he had admired so much in Johnson.
CHAPTER VII
The days slipped quietly by in the routine of work as of old and Scott
was surprised to find how much more he really enjoyed himself than he
had the previous month. The satisfaction of work well done more than
paid for the loss of the amusements—for every classroom failure had cut
him like a knife. His second meeting with the Students’ Work Committee
had no terrors for him now. He took to the Committee special reports
from all his instructors and they were above reproach. The chairman
smiled good-naturedly. “Did some plugging, eh? That’s the business;
you’ll find it pays better than society. Plenty of time for that later.
Keep it up and you need not come back.”
Thanksgiving was approaching rapidly, bringing to Scott the first pangs
of homesickness he had felt. Every Thanksgiving that he could remember
he had sat down to a bounteous dinner in the old home and the prospect
of celebrating the day in a boarding-house was not very bright. He had
had an invitation to go home with Swanson, but had promptly canceled it
when he realized that he was invited in the capacity of the prize pup.
He was gloomily thinking over the prospect when Greenleaf burst into the
room. He put his foot in Scott’s lap, jumped lightly to the table, and
landed in his chair on the other side with a crash. The jar shook the
entire house. Scott thought he had gone crazy, but Greenleaf beamed at
him in perfect contentment.
“What are you going to do Thanksgiving?” he asked eagerly. “Going to
gorge yourself at that millionaire’s?”
“No,” Scott laughed, “I canceled that for fear they might make me eat in
the barn with the other prize stock. I am going to gorge myself all I
can at the boarding-house, but I hardly expect to injure myself there.”
“Cancel that too. I have a scheme worth ten of that. We have Thursday
and Friday off. Saturday we have but one class, which we can cut with
impunity. Let’s you and Morgan and Ormand and me, take a hike down the
river to Wabasha. Morgan has a dog tent that will hold the four of us if
it is put up as a lean-to and we can sleep wherever night catches us, as
long as it is not in a town. We can collect all kinds of specimens for
dendrology and have a whale of a time.”
“I thought you were going to work,” Scott objected.
“So I was going to work, but didn’t you see me come in just now? I don’t
come in that way every night, do I? I just received a check from the
state for some fire-fighting that I did so long ago that I had forgotten
it, and, by jingoes, I am going to celebrate.”
“That would certainly be a great stunt,” Scott agreed, “and I don’t know
of anything I’d rather do. I am crazy to have a look at the geology of
that river bottom. Will the other fellows go?”
“Sure, I saw them both and they are in for it. They know the trees, the
insects, and the fungi, not to mention some sylviculture, and methods of
estimating. You know the rocks and geology, and I know every bird and
beast that moves in these parts. I tell you it will be great!”
“Where shall we get our meals?” Scott asked.
“I have a camp frying pan and a teakettle, and we can buy what grub we
need at the stores we pass. Maybe we shall have some game, too, Ormand
is a dandy with that little Stevens pistol, and may catch something
sitting around loose. Tomorrow we’ll get everything ready and the next
day we’ll start good and early.”
Scott’s homesickness vanished with the fancied smoke of the promised
campfires. He had never really camped and the prospect of a Thanksgiving
dinner in camp was very attractive. He hurried out to borrow a pack sack
from Manning, and eagerly put in all his spare time the next day in
minor preparations. He was tremendously excited, but did not know
exactly what to do. Greenleaf was no less excited over his unexpected
holiday, but went about the preparations of his kit with the
thoroughness of an old prospector. Ormand and Morgan came in the evening
to discuss the final plans and hold a consultation over the equipment.
They had left the purchasing of the supplies to Greenleaf. Ormand
lounged on the bed and Morgan lay comfortably back in the easy chair,
while Greenleaf, pencil in hand, read over the list of supplies. Scott
felt his helplessness on such an occasion, and sat quietly back in a
corner to listen.
“I’ve figured out the supplies for the whole trip,” Greenleaf began,
“but I thought we could get just half of it now and stock again at Red
Wing.”
“Sure,” Morgan assented. “No use in our carrying any more than we have
to. Some of it we might as well get all at once, but we can restock on
the heavy stuff.”
“Let’s hear the list,” Ormand grunted from the bed.
“Twelve pounds of flour,” Greenleaf started.
“Cut it out,” came in a chorus from the others.
“We’re not running a logging camp in the backwoods,” Morgan objected.
“We can carry bread and save piles of trouble.”
“Well, if you’re really going to camp,” Greenleaf contended, “you ought
to cook everything you need.”
“Fudge,” Ormand cried. “We are going out for pleasure, not to see how
much work we can do. That would be a freshman trick.”
Greenleaf, overruled but entirely unabashed, proceeded with the list.
“Eight pounds of bacon, two of oatmeal; two of sugar; six pints of
condensed milk; two quarts of beans.”
“Eight cans,” Morgan corrected, “but it would be great fun to have a
bean hole if you would run ahead—half a day to start the fire.”
“Right you are,” Greenleaf conceded. “I forgot that we did not have a
cook and a pack mule. Two pounds of butter, one of salt, a quarter-pound
of tea. How is that for grub? Oh, yes, twelve loaves of bread for Morgan
to tote.”
“Yes,” Morgan said, “I’d rather tote it any day than try to eat your
biscuits. Add two pounds of pancake flour and a can of syrup.”
“How about lard?” Scott ventured.
“Don’t need it when you have the bacon,” Ormand objected, “but you’d
better add two pounds of cheese and a box of matches. Yes, and you’d
better take one can of tomatoes, so we can have the can for a lantern.”
“Now for the dishes,” Greenleaf said. “One frying pan; one teakettle;
four tin cups; four spoons; two canteens.”
“One tomahawk,” Ormand added.
“Do you call that a dish?” Greenleaf jeered. “One pair of blankets
apiece will be enough for us, and Morgan’s dog tent will complete the
outfit.”
“One Stevens pistol and two boxes of cartridges,” Ormand added.
They all thought silently for about five minutes, but could think of
nothing else.
“Well,” Ormand said, rolling leisurely off the bed, “you buy the stuff,
Greenleaf, and bring it here, this is the nearest place to the carline.
We’ll be here at six tomorrow morning, divide up the packs and take the
car to the Indian Mounds. Good night.”
The two seniors gone, Greenleaf devoted a few minutes to revising the
list and picking out the things for immediate purchase. At last, after
many alterations, it seemed to suit him. With one last critical glance
at it he bounded out of his chair and started for the door.
“Come on, Scotty, bring your pack sack and we’ll get this grub. Then
we’ll go to bed and get a good sleep. If you have never been in camp you
probably will not sleep much the first night, and better get all that’s
coming to you now.”
With the aid of the list the purchases were soon made at the corner
grocery and the “grub” piled in one corner of the room. It looked to
Scott like a rather small supply for four men for four days, but he felt
that the others knew what they were about, and was satisfied to trust to
their judgment. All the other duffel was collected in a heap ready for
division in the morning. Then they went to bed.
By a quarter of six they were dressed for the hike, and the other
fellows had arrived. The packs were soon satisfactorily arranged and
they hurried to the carline. It was a long ride to the Indian Mounds but
they reached there by seven o’clock, slipped on their packs and hurried
away down the river bank in search of a suitable place to get breakfast.
They soon located a place in a small opening where an eight-inch stub
had been broken in half by its fall.
Morgan made the fire in record time. With Scott’s help he laid the two
pieces of the tree-trunk side by side with about three inches between
them. That was the self-burning fireplace. A handful of dried leaves, a
bunch of small twigs, a match, and the fire was ready for the kettle.
Scott thought it only the beginning of a fire and was busying himself
collecting a wagon-load of dried limbs for fuel when Greenleaf came up
with the kettle full of water and set it over the diminutive blaze.
“How long do you think it will take to boil there?” Scott asked
sarcastically.
“About five minutes,” Greenleaf answered cheerfully, missing the
sarcasm.
Scott saw that he was sincere, and decided to time it rather than chance
showing his ignorance by disputing it now. In the meanwhile Ormand had
unpacked the oatmeal, sugar, a can of milk, the tin cups and spoons.
“How about pancakes?” he called.
“Too late this morning,” Morgan answered, and the pancake flour was left
in the pack.
Scott was watching the fire with considerable interest. Greenleaf sat
patiently beside it, occasionally poking tiny twigs in between the logs,
but never on any account overfeeding it. In a few seconds over the
prescribed five minutes the water began to boil. Greenleaf immediately
removed it from the fire, dropped into it a small bag containing a
heaping teaspoonful of tea, and getting two of the canteens, which Scott
had looked upon as superfluous baggage, considering the number of houses
they would pass, leaned them carefully against one of the logs with
their uncorked mouths up. Five minutes later he fished out the little
bag and poured the tea into the canteens, which he corked immediately.
No sooner was the tea out of the kettle than Ormand rinsed it and poured
into it a cup of oatmeal and three cups of water which he had already
brought to a boil in the frying pan. He put the kettle back on the fire,
dropped in a pinch of salt, and proceeded to trim a good stiff, green
stick. With this he began to stir the oatmeal vigorously, at the same
time feeding the fire with the other hand.
“Anybody want any tea before he has his oatmeal?” Greenleaf asked. They
all did. The smoking tea was poured into the tin cups, a can of
condensed milk punctured in two places with a nail which Greenleaf
produced from his pocket—“I always carry a nail,” he explained, “a round
hole is so much easier to plug,”—and the tea was adjusted to every
individual taste. Ormand stopped feeding the fire long enough to manage
his tea with one hand, but never left off stirring for a second. They
all sipped their tea contentedly until Ormand announced that the oatmeal
was “done.”
It was then dealt out into the teacups, sugared and plastered with the
undiluted milk. The cooking being over Morgan piled some larger sticks
on the fire and they sat around it comfortably. Scott was very much
surprised to see how very full a cupful of oatmeal made him feel.
Breakfast over, Morgan rolled the two logs apart so that by the time the
teacups and the teakettle had been sand-scoured and rinsed out in the
little stream the fire was almost out. A pot or two of water on the
dying embers, the cups strung on the individual belts, and the party was
ready to move. The most astonishing part to Scott was the perfect
harmony of all the actions, and the promptness with which each one
performed his part when he knew that they were not acting on any
prearranged plan. He was to have a still more striking exhibition of
this freemasonry of the woods when the little camp was pitched for the
night.
Ormand took the lead and the four filed away down the river. Very little
was said. Each man was wriggling himself into harmony with his pack and
too full of the sheer joy of being once more in the open to care to
talk. The houses very quickly ceased to obtrude themselves and Scott was
surprised to see how soon they were in practically uninhabited woods.
The flat river bottom was here very narrow and the cliffs rose almost at
right angles to a height of one hundred and fifty feet. Frequent streams
crossed their path, emerging from miniature gorges in the cliffs, and
hurrying across the narrow strip of bottom land to the river. Trees
there were in plenty, many of them species which Scott did not expect to
find at all in such places.
At the end of an hour and a half of steady walking Ormand declared that
it was time for a rest, and dropping his pack at the foot of a big elm
tree, sat down beside it. All the others followed his example and they
were soon comfortably settled in a little hollow protected from the
wind.
“Great day for a hike,” Morgan exclaimed. “Just about cold enough to
make it pleasant. The buds are all well formed so that you can identify
things, and the leaves gone so that you can see something.”
“Yes,” Ormand agreed, “you can see our Thanksgiving dinner running all
around us. Did you ever see so many rabbits?”
Greenleaf produced a bunch of twigs he had collected along the way.
“Here’s where you fellows take an examination in dendrology. Of course
you know all these species from their buds, or think you do, and now
we’ll see about it. Scotty and I are not supposed to know anything yet
except the conifers, but we’ll see if you can outguess us. Here, for
instance,” he proceeded in the tone of a man with a megaphone on a sight
seeing automobile, “is a small twig on which there are five perfectly
good buds. Mr. Morgan, you will please elucidate.”
Morgan examined the twig carelessly and handed it to Ormand, who passed
it on to Scott.
“Elm,” Morgan announced confidently. The others nodded assent.
“Sure,” Greenleaf jeered, “any jay knows that. But now for this neat
little fellow.” He handed over a somewhat similar looking twig, but more
slender, and with sharper buds standing well out from the twig. Morgan
examined this one much more carefully, bit it, tasted it, bent it,
passed it on. The others repeated the performance. When it had completed
the rounds Morgan declared himself for white birch. Ormand immediately
disagreed with him, and, after considerable hesitation, declared himself
for blue beech.
“The buds are too big,” objected Morgan.
Scott was completely at sea.
“Very good, very good, gentlemen,” Greenleaf jeered, “but I broke it off
an ironwood tree.”
The twig then went the rounds once more and was readily identified by
the green on the buds.
“Humph,” Greenleaf grunted, “seems pretty easy when I have told you what
it is.”
This became the favorite amusement at every stop that was made, and all
along the line of march the identity of every tree concerning which
there was any doubt, was settled to the satisfaction of everyone. Scott
soon learned the trees well enough to take part in the discussions, and
added to the interest of the stops by quizzing the others on specimens
of rock he had collected, or explaining the physiography of the country
through which they were passing. On the present occasion the stop was of
brief duration. They planned to celebrate Thanksgiving in the usual
manner with a big dinner in the middle of the afternoon and no more
hiking that day. With this object in view they had elected to camp about
two miles below Hastings, which they reached at half past two.
Scott was anxious to see how such a tiny tent as they were packing could
possibly be made to accommodate four good-sized men. His curiosity was
still further aroused by the eagerness with which the others seemed to
be looking for a large fallen tree. A shout from Ormand brought the
party to a halt.
“Here she is. Just where we want her, too.” The “she” referred to a
large rotten log lying parallel to the river bank and some thirty feet
from it.
Ormand began singing out orders like a major general even before he had
slipped out of his pack. “Morgan, you build the fire and get the kettle
on. Greenleaf, you and Scotty put up the tent and make the beds. I’ll go
get the turkey.” And he disappeared in the bushes.
Greenleaf immediately took charge of the operation. “You unpack the
tent, Scotty, while I cut the poles.” Scott busied himself with the pack
while Greenleaf went circling through the neighboring woods eying
critically every sapling he passed. An occasional sound of chopping
announced the discovery of the sought-for pieces. In ten minutes he was
back with two pieces, each three and a half feet long and forked at one
end, a long slender pole, and two heavier poles about twelve feet long.
Scott buttoned the two halves of the dog tent together and watched
Greenleaf chopping off the brush and smoothing the ground on the south
side of the log. When this was completed to Greenleaf’s satisfaction,
and he was very particular about it, he stretched the straight edge of
the tent—what would ordinarily have been the front—tight along the log.
He then produced from his pocket three twenty-penny spikes which he
proceeded to drive through the brass eyelets into the log.
He and Scott stretched the tent out flat in a horizontal position and
pushed the two forked sticks into the ground just outside of the front
corners. On these two forked sticks the slender pole was laid and the
front corners of the tent tied to it, thus keeping the canvas taut. The
heavy poles were then pushed butt first through the forked sticks, under
the canvass, over the slender pole, over the log, and shoved firmly into
the ground behind the log. The flaps which usually form the back of the
tent were then extended to their full length and tied to the ends of the
heavy poles. In just fifteen minutes the little lean-to was completed
and as steady as could be desired.
They collected a big pile of dead leaves, which they spread evenly on
the ground under the canvas for a mattress, and spread the blankets over
them. In the meanwhile Morgan had built a fire similar to the one they
had used in the morning and had the kettle boiling merrily. He had also
collected a big pile of green wood for the night fire.
Just as they finished their work Ormand bounded into camp with two
rabbits he had shot with his twenty-two pistol. The tea was made as
before and another kettle of water put on immediately. Greenleaf was in
favor of boiling the rabbits in the teakettle, but Morgan insisted on
stewing them in the frying pan. Two cans of beans were punctured and
placed in the fire to warm. Scott spread out the other stores and in an
hour from the time they had found the log they were seated around their
Thanksgiving dinner. Some more critical guests might have found fault
with it, but for them it could not have been improved. A bag of apples
which Scott had bought on his way through Hastings nobly topped off the
feast.
The meal over they repaired to the tent to enjoy themselves. As the
evening was rather cold they heaped leaves at the end of the tent to
keep out the wind and built a good big fire in front of it. Under that
little flap of canvas it was warm as toast. In this cozy little retreat
they spent the evening telling yarns and discussing the plans for the
rest of the trip. When the last of the apples had been disposed of they
remodeled the fire for the night, and rolling in their blankets they
were soon lost to the world. In spite of all the predictions for a
sleepless night for Scott he was the first one asleep and the last one
to wake up in the morning.
CHAPTER VIII
Greenleaf rolled the others out in the morning while it was still dark
and breakfast was disposed of in short order. It was a repetition of the
morning before except that pancakes and bacon were added to the menu. As
soon as the dishes were rubbed clean in the sand from the river bed and
the packs made up the party was again on the trail.
They made good time the second day in spite of the slight soreness in
their necks and backs from the unaccustomed packs, light though they
were. By night they had covered twenty-five miles and camped within
sight of the lights of Red Wing. Scott was delighted with the active
part he was already able to take in the preparations for the night. The
wind blowing steadily in their faces all day had made them very sleepy.
Within an hour after they had finished their supper they were all asleep
in their blankets.
[Illustration: By night they had camped within sight of the lights of
Red Wing.]
Saturday morning they felt better than ever—for the second day of a
walking trip is always the hardest—and started out in splendid spirits.
Entering Red Wing just as the grocery stores were opening they tarried
only long enough to replenish their food supply. The boys were jealous
of every minute they had to spend in town. The cliffs were on the west
bank of the river now and they looked far out across the broad bottom
lands of the Wisconsin shore to the hills in the distance. Later in the
day they came to Lake Pepin and enjoyed the change of scenery. Scott
explained the geological significance of the great lake in the course of
the Father of Waters and it took on a new interest to them.
In the evening they were well within reach of Wabasha and knew that they
could “take it easy” the next day. They lounged around the fire in
luxurious ease for several hours spinning yarns before they piled the
fire with green wood for the night and turned in.
Early morning found them tramping gaily along the river bank, their
packs lightened of nearly all the provisions and their minds happy in
the freedom of movement which came with the third day of the walking
trip. They felt primed for any adventure and it was not long till they
had one which furnished them with more excitement than they had
bargained for.
They had stopped to throw stones at a bottle which was bobbing down the
current when Greenleaf, who had spent one spring on the “drive”
(floating the winter cut of logs to the mill), discovered a couple of
logs hung on the shore near them. He had learned after many a ducking,
to ride a log in the water, and seizing a pole lying on the shore,
succeeded in shoving off the log into deep water and jumping on it. It
was a dangerous proceeding for without the long spikes, or driving
calks, in the shoes a log is very hard to handle, especially when it has
been hung up along the shore for a long time and become coated with a
layer of mud. But Greenleaf had had plenty of training in this business
and with the aid of the long pole rode the log down the swift current as
steadily as though it were a mud scow. The others kept pace with him
along the shore cheering vociferously. At last Greenleaf tired of the
fun and yielded to the entreaties of the others to let them try it.
Ormand had ridden logs a little the summer before while his class was at
Itasca Park and the ease with which Greenleaf rode that particular log
piqued him into a desire to show his skill. He knew it was a ticklish
undertaking and one not likely to add much to his credit but nerve was
not among the things he lacked and he was willing to take the chance.
When Greenleaf jumped ashore Ormand grasped the pole boldly and sprang
onto the log with apparent confidence. He landed squarely on the center
of the log, which, propelled by his momentum, glided smoothly out into
the stream. His success astonished him more than it did the others who
did not know how little experience he had had. Had the log been straight
and had fate not doomed it to strike a snag in the river Ormand might
have landed successfully with a brilliant reputation as a riverman. But
it was decreed otherwise.
As soon as the log floated out of the eddies near the shore it was
caught by the current and turned down stream, but it was still working
out toward the center of the river. Ormand did not like this for he knew
that his success so far was due almost entirely to luck, and he did not
want to tempt providence too far. He began paddling with the pole in an
attempt to work the log back toward the shore. He was making a little
progress but his work with the pole had a tendency to make the log turn
slowly over in the water. He moved cautiously to keep on top and was a
little surprised when the log stopped twisting as though one side of it
were weighted. The other boys on the shore were cheering and keeping
pace with the log, each eager for his turn to come. Just as Ormand was
beginning to have hopes of making a graceful landing the center of the
log touched a snag which was fast to the bottom of the river. The log
twisted slowly a few inches in the same direction as before and then
suddenly whirled over like a thing bewitched. Ormand was not looking for
the sudden change of speed. His feet were jerked from under him and he
fell backwards into the river. A shout of laughter arose from the boys
on the shore for they knew Ormand was a good swimmer and considered it a
huge joke to see him ducked.
Scott alone had noticed that Ormand’s head had seemed to strike the log
as he fell and when he did not see him come up immediately he dived into
the river without hesitation much to the surprise of the others. Scott
was a splendid swimmer and even encumbered with his heavy shoes and his
clothes he covered the fifty feet between the log and the shore in a few
powerful strokes.
“Have you seen him?” he called to the boys on the shore.
“No,” yelled Morgan, now thoroughly scared, “he has not come up yet.”
Scott dived beside the snag and came up almost immediately with Ormand
grasped firmly by the collar. He swam straight for the shore with his
burden.
Greenleaf’s experience on the drive helped him now. “You help them out,”
he called to Morgan, “while I build a fire.” He dashed back to the
timber at the edge of the grass swamp and collected some wood.
In spite of Scott’s best efforts the current carried him quite a way
down the stream. It was hard work and he was glad when Morgan relieved
him by grasping the unconscious Ormand and, dragging him out on solid
ground, lent him a helping hand. Together they carried the limp body to
the fire.
Greenleaf, who had seen several such cases on the river, immediately
took charge. “First we must get the water out of him,” he said, and
turning Ormand on his face he grasped him around the waist and raised
his body.
“Pull his tongue out, Scotty,” he said.
It was not easily done but Scott finally succeeded with the aid of his
pocket handkerchief. By gently shaking Ormand, Greenleaf succeeded in
getting most of the water out of his lungs.
“Now turn him on his back,” he said, “and we’ll start him breathing.”
The boys obeyed feverishly. Greenleaf then placed a foot on either side
of the inert body and grasping a wrist in either hand raised the arms
slowly to a perpendicular position and then lowering them onto the chest
by flexing the elbows pressed them down firmly. He repeated this motion
slowly and regularly while the others obeyed his directions to take off
Ormand’s shoes and rub his feet. Five minutes passed in this way—it
seemed hours to the anxious boys—and still there was no sign of life.
“Fellows,” Morgan sobbed imploringly, “he can’t be dead, can he?”
Before anyone could answer the question a little shiver passed through
Ormand and he heaved a gasping sigh. Morgan and Scott were so delighted
that they wanted to throw themselves on him.
“Get out of the way,” Greenleaf commanded sternly, “and heat up a couple
of those blankets I put there by the fire.”
Both of them grabbed the blankets, eager to be of some help.
Ormand looked around in a dazed way and groaned, “What’s the matter with
my chest, Greeny?” he asked feebly; “it feels as though somebody was
sticking a knife in me.”
“You’re all right,” Greenleaf said cheerfully, “but you had a pretty
narrow squeak. Be quiet now while we wrap you in these hot blankets.”
Together they rolled Ormand in the hot blankets and Greenleaf fed him
spoonfuls of hot tea that he had kept from lunch in his canteen.
For a while it did not seem as though Ormand realized what had happened
to him, but after a while he raised his hand slowly to the back of his
head and a light broke over his face.
“Now I remember,” he said. “I fell off that log and broke my head on the
way.”
“Yes,” Greenleaf said, feeling the bump gently, “you cracked it on the
way, all right, but you cracked it a good deal harder on the log.”
The reaction from the strain they had all been suffering brought a laugh
out of all proportion to the joke.
“I can’t see what threw me so quick,” Ormand said; “it was turning so
slowly that I thought I could control it.”
“Didn’t you know she was crooked?” Greenleaf asked in astonishment.
“No,” Ormand said, “I did not notice it.”
“Well,” Greenleaf exclaimed, “you sailed out there into the stream so
well that I thought you were an old hand or I would have told you. She
was as crooked as a dog’s hind leg and floated pretty solidly belly
down. When you started paddling it turned the bowed part way up and she
stayed that way till she struck that snag. That forced the bow clear
over and she went down the other side with a whoop. Those crooked ones
are the deuce to ride; even the old hands seldom tackle them.”
“I don’t know much about it,” Ormand confessed, “but you did it so well,
Greeny, that I wanted to show off. It would probably have fixed me if it
had not been for you fellows. Well, I feel all right now,” and he tried
to get up.
“No you don’t,” Greenleaf said determinedly, pushing him back into the
blankets, “you were pretty nearly drowned, and unless you are careful
you’ll have pneumonia, and you must not leave those blankets till you
are plumb dry.”
“Was I really that near it?” Ormand shivered.
“Seemed to me you were unconscious about an hour,” Scott said.
“Scotty was the only one who had sense enough to know that you were
hurt,” Morgan said. “He dived right in as soon as you went overboard
while the rest of us were laughing our heads off.”
Ormand looked his thanks to Scott and shivered again to think how near
to death he had been.
In about three hours all the clothes were dried out and Greenleaf
consented to let his patient move slowly with two assistants. They made
their way to Reeds Landing, which was close by, and took the train back
to the city. Their pleasure trip had narrowly escaped a very tragic
ending, but even Ormand, after a few days, declared it had been a grand
success.
CHAPTER IX
Once more settled into the routine of college work the time passed
rapidly. Scott began to wonder what he would do with himself during the
Christmas vacation which was now close at hand. He had for some time
imagined that some of the fellows who lived near there would take pity
on him, a stranger from a distant land, and invite him to spend the
holidays with them. He knew he could rely on that at home. But the time
was now close at hand and no such invitation had materialized. The
reason for it, when he found it out, astonished him more than ever. He
found that none of them had any idea of spending that time loafing at
home. The senior class was going to the lumber woods the day after
Christmas, and all the others, rich and poor alike, were going to work
at some job or other.
The thought seemed ridiculous at first, but as he noticed the
self-reliance and independence of the men around him and recognized
their ability to care for themselves anywhere, at any time, it began to
look more reasonable; instead of looking down on them for their
eagerness to earn money he began to admire them for their dignity. It
occurred to him that it would be a novel experience to try a job for a
while himself. He was ashamed to think how ignorant he was of such
things and how helpless he should be if he were really suddenly thrown
on his own resources where he would have to find a job for himself. Any
of his classmates could find a dozen jobs while he was trying to think
where to look for one. He was about decided to try his ability to
support himself, when this problem, like most of the practical problems
which had confronted him since he left home, was settled for him by his
roommate.
That young gentleman sauntered into the room one afternoon about three
days before the holidays began and seemed to be in a particularly
cheerful mood. With considerable show he pulled a strip of paper from
his pocket, stretched himself luxuriously in his chair with his feet
protruding from under the opposite edge of the table and cleared his
throat loudly. “Now, young man,” he began, in as deep a voice as he
could command, “what do you intend to do this Christmas vacation? Are
you going to work for an honest living or loaf and grow fat
ignominiously?”
“Well,” Scott responded, falling in with his humor, “I was going to ask
your advice about that, sir.”
“Very good. Then my advice to you is that you work. If you loaf you will
have to loaf alone, which will soon become more tiresome than working,
unless you want to fall back on your old friends, the millionaires,
which would be degrading. Work during the holidays and buy a canoe for
Itasca with the earnings. How’s that?”
“Fine,” Scott exclaimed. “Do you think I could earn enough for that? I
am pretty green, you know.”
“Never mind about your color,” Greenleaf assured him; “most of the men
who work extra for the holidays are more or less of that shade. You
won’t be noticed. That point settled, now let’s see what kind of a job I
can give you. I have been looking into the matter a little, and have a
list of vacancies here from which we can choose something agreeable.”
Scott was very curious to see what the nature of the jobs would be. In
his own mind he had pictured such positions as temporary clerkships in a
bookstore, a bank, or wholesale house; private secretary to a railroad
president, or some kind of investigational work for some ambitious
professor. There his imagination had failed him.
“First,” Greenleaf continued, eying his list, “there is an extra
salesman wanted at the Palladium.”
Scott gasped audibly.
“That,” Greenleaf said critically, doing the choosing for both of them,
“we’ll not consider, because they pay only a dollar and a half per day
and keep you standing up half the night.
“Next there is the job of carrying extras for the postman. That is no
good because they do not pay any more than the other and it is likely to
run out before the holidays are over. Cold job, too.
“Then there is a billing job in the express office. That is some fun and
they pay two-fifty, but there is only one opening there and it is inside
work.
“Next, writing tracers in the freight office, two-fifty, but a dog’s
life and too much brain work.
“Next. Working on the sewer gang. Two dollars but too many ‘hunyacks’ to
work with. Too hard work any way when you are not in training for it.
“Next. Work here at the Station at fifteen cents per hour. See too much
of the place now. I want a change of view for my holiday.
“Last. Trucking in the transfer shed at twenty cents. That looks to me
like the best shot. Outside work, plenty of exercise, a chance to work
extra if you want to, and we can both work together. How does that
strike you?”
Between the character of the jobs, so different from what he had
imagined, and the marvel of wondering how Greenleaf ever got in touch
with so many different lines of work, Scott was too astonished to give
an immediate answer.
“Not much variety in the winter time,” Greenleaf apologized. “Oh, here’s
another one. Driving an extra delivery wagon for the Kings’ Palace.
Two-fifty, but that’s probably gone by this time. Mean job, anyway,
especially in the winter, and too long hours. No, I’ll go down and
telephone the transfer shed to hold two jobs. Are you game?”
“Sure,” Scott answered faintly, and Greenleaf popped out on his errand.
While he was gone Scott spent his time in wondering what kind of a job
he had gotten into, for he had never heard anything about a transfer
shed, and had no idea what Greenleaf had meant. Before he had been able
to figure out any satisfactory solution Greenleaf returned.
“It’s all right,” he cried; “they said they’d save us two trucks, and
said we could come down Friday morning at 7 A. M. I tell you we’ll get
some lively work there.”
Scott, who was ashamed to confess his ignorance, kept a discreet silence
except to confirm any of Greenleaf’s statements which seemed to need
confirmation. He turned the matter over continually in his own mind, but
having nothing to work on never came to any conclusion.
At last the vacation began and the two boys presented themselves, or
rather Greenleaf presented them both to the foreman at the shed. They
were assigned to a westbound gang and directed to study the signs on the
platform till it was time to begin work.
The transfer shed was located in an enormous freight yard amidst a
network of forty or fifty tracks. The shed itself consisted of a large
warehouse with offices on the second floor and, extending from either
end of it, a covered platform some twenty feet wide and about a hundred
yards long. Its floor was of heavy planking, the splintered condition of
which seemed to indicate heavy traffic of some kind. It was on a level
with the floors of the box cars which were standing four rows deep on
either side of it. Iron skids were laid from the platform to the
car-sills, forming a gang plank.
Stuck in the posts nearest the gang planks on one side of the platform
were four tin signs bearing the names of the cities in the West, or such
mystic signs as “1st <DW37>. Way,” “Valley Way,” “East Local,” etc. Scott
noticed that all the cars on that side were empty, while those on the
opposite side of the platform seemed to be loaded to the roof with every
conceivable kind of freight. He had not yet figured out the significance
of all this but he studied hard and soon had a pretty good idea of their
general location on the platform. He had also mastered the fact that
when he found there were four signs connected with each skid, that the
top sign referred to the car on the first track, the lowest one to the
fourth, etc.
Just then there was a great rumbling noise in the direction of the
warehouse and a swarm of men, each pushing a two-wheel truck, burst out
onto the platform and assembled in little knots around the doorways of
the loaded cars. One man with a tally board in his hand stepped out of a
car some distance down the platform and beckoned to them.
“You belong to five,” he shouted. They nodded assent.
“Get two trucks out of the warehouse, and get a move on you,” he
growled, as he turned again to the gang of men who were loosening the
tangle of freight in the doorway of the car. The tone of voice rather
galled Scott, but he had chosen his job and knew that he must accept its
conditions. Some of the trucks in the warehouse were pretty badly
battered up, but the boys soon found two with smooth handles and easy
running wheels. When they came out the work had started in earnest, and
men were dodging in and out of the cars, some with loads, some with
empty trucks. All seemed to be in a tremendous hurry.
As they approached the car where gang five was working the man with the
board asked them if they were old hands. They said that they were not
and asked what they should do.
“Take things where I tell you and keep on the jump. Hang the ticket I
give you on the nail to the left of the door where you leave the stuff,
and be sure it’s the right car. Those tickets are collected from time to
time—Fargo [he yelled at a passing truckman, and handed him a small slip
of paper]—and if you’ve left anything wrong you’ll be stuck for the
freight. You’re six,” he said to Greenleaf, “and you’re seven,” to
Scott.
Scott took his place in the line and soon found his truck loaded with
small boxes piled mountain high.
“Fifteen for Moorehead,” the loader called.
“Right,” came the echo from the check clerk, the man with the board. He
was seated beside the car door, and as Scott passed him screamed
“Moorehead car,” and shoved a slip into his outstretched hand.
Scott found that the management of a two-wheeled truck was a good deal
more difficult problem than he had ever imagined it to be. If he let the
handles get an inch too low the burden became almost beyond his strength
and twice he raised them so high that he was lifted bodily from the
ground in spite of his violent efforts to stay down. It was a question
of balance, and some of the men around him seemed to have mastered it
perfectly. Some walked steadily and easily along with a load that would
have filled a horse-cart, others tore past with a barrel or large box
not only perfectly balanced but carrying them along with one foot on the
axle of the truck and their bodies suspended from the truck handles by
the armpits. The trucks seemed to shoot here and there, even almost at
right angles into a car door, without any effort on the part of the
truckman or without his so much as touching his foot to the floor. Every
time Scott’s truck ran over a chip or struck the edge of a skid, his
handles showed an almost uncontrollable tendency to throw him in the
air, and several times he narrowly escaped spilling his load in that
way. When he finally reached the Moorehead car safely a storeman met him
and showed him where to dump his load. He stuck his slip on the nail
with the others and ran back to the car. He found that by continually
running with his empty truck he could just about make up for his
slowness on the outbound trip, and maintain his turn in the gang. It was
a disgrace to lose a turn.
Greenleaf had done a little trucking in the warehouses around Duluth and
in half an hour was racing with the best of them, and was on joking
terms with every man in the gang, except the gruff check clerk, who had
been raised to that position temporarily, and was afraid to joke for
fear of losing his dignity.
It was marvelous to see the way these men could handle loads of any
weight and any shape on those little two-wheeled trucks. Nothing seemed
to be too heavy, nothing too cumbersome to be balanced on a truck and
wheeled away by one insignificant man. Hogsheads of tobacco weighing
twenty-six hundred pounds were wrestled onto a truck by five or six
husky men, and, once on securely, were trotted out unassisted by one
consumptive looking Austrian.
At last Scott thought they were stuck on a crate of glass some ten feet
long, four feet high and six inches thick which stood on edge against
the wall and seemed too heavy to be moved by human force, but, he soon
found, to his own humiliation, that he was mistaken. The loader, or
caller, broke up with his steel freight-hook the cleats which held it,
sized up the situation and called to Scott: “Break that out of there.”
Scott knew what that meant from watching the others. He stepped forward
and with his foot on the axle of the truck drove the sharp blade deep
under the edge of the crate. He then threw all his weight on the handles
in an attempt to raise the load on the blade. The crate bobbed up a
little but dropped back with a bump and jerked Scott violently up in the
air like a cork. He tried three times with all his might but never got
the box more than an inch from the floor.
At this point the caller interfered in a most humiliating manner.
“Better put some bricks in your pocket, boy,” he jeered. “Get out of the
way and let a man get hold of that truck.”
That was a pretty hard thing to bear quietly from a man twenty pounds
his inferior in weight, but Scott thought he would soon be vindicated
because he did not believe that any man could budge that crate.
The caller drove his hook into the side of the car by way of hanging it
up, grasped the handles of the truck and with a few quick jerks moved
the crate out a foot or more from the wall. He then blocked the wheels
with a chip of wood, placed his foot carefully on the axle, and grasping
the handles tightly threw himself far forward over the crate. For one
second he poised there and then threw himself violently backward with
every ounce of impetus his muscles could summon to his aid. The handles
went down within two feet of the floor and there seemed to hang in the
balance. It was against the ethics of the shed to help him and all the
men watched him struggle slowly and laboriously up between the handles
at the same time keeping them down. With one final wriggle he gained the
ascendancy and forced the handles to the floor.
“Here, Ole,” he called, “run your truck under there and get her
balanced.”
Ole placed his truck, two men helped the caller let his handles slowly
up and the great crate balanced serenely on the other truck.
“Here’s your truck, kid.” Then seeing the chagrined look on Scott’s
face, “You’ll get on to it some day; it takes practice.”
Scott’s boxing training and endurance stood him in good stead. He was
able to put in three hours of extra work even the first night. Later on
as he learned the tricks of the trade the work became easier, and he
began to enjoy it. There were all classes of men and all nationalities
represented in the ten gangs at the shed, Swedes, Norwegians, Austrians,
Finns, Poles and one gang of real Southern <DW64>s. It was a problem
worth while to study the characters of these different races; to compare
the slow sullen plod of the Scandinavian with the carefree cheerfulness
of the <DW64>s, to see the contempt of the Irish foreman for all the
races of slower wit. It was a liberal education in itself.
He soon learned the workings of the shed and became interested in its
methods. The cars rolled in there from the Eastern cities loaded with
all kinds of merchandise for all the points of the northwest. The
waybills for these cars were sent to the office in the second story of
the warehouse where the clerks abstracted them, and wrote out on large
sheets of paper the names of consignor, and consignee, and descriptions
of the consignments. These abstract sheets were then taken by the
foreman as fast as the cars came in and placed on the clips on the
platform. Here the check clerks took them in charge.
A gang usually consisted of a check clerk, a caller and five truckmen.
The caller read the directions on the freight and loaded it on the
trucks, always selecting for any one load boxes which went into the same
car. The check clerk checked them off on his abstract and told the
truckman where to take it. It was the duty of the check clerk to know
every point in the territory and how to reach it.
Scott had started the work with the idea that any educated man had an
advantage over any other man not similarly educated, and could excel him
at his own work. One day’s experience on the truck handles had very
effectually shown him his mistake. He began to realize that a man who
had spent several years rolling a truck was quite as much of an expert
in his line as a doctor was in his, and that no man could tell him much
about it. It was depressing at first, but as he became more expert
himself he began to find that he could outdo these men in many ways on
account of his better head work. He soon began to enjoy the work in the
capacity of a master workman.
All this was extremely interesting to Scott and he felt that he was
acquiring invaluable experience. Christmas passed almost unnoticed save
that Scott’s box from home furnished them many a grateful lunch when
they returned to their rooms at night tired but happy in thrashing over
the day’s doings.
But that was not all. There was plenty of fun and humor at the shed as
well as elsewhere. One afternoon Scott thought he noticed some freight
in the Willmar car which did not belong there. It was the mistake of the
check clerk or the caller. No one liked the check clerk, but the caller
was popular, and Scott decided to tell him about it.
“Charlie,” he said when he returned to the car, “I think you called some
of that stuff wrong. I saw some of your stuff up there in the Willmar
that I did not think belonged there.”
Charlie was master of a rough-edged sarcasm and he spared no one. Work
was a little slack and he settled down to rub it into Scott.
“You _think_ I made a mistake. You _think_ it don’t belong there. What
right have you got to think? Don’t you know that there is a man upstairs
who is paid eighteen hundred dollars a year just to sit at his desk and
think? He does all the thinking for this place. You just flap your ears
like a little jack-ass and push that truck.”
The sally was met by howls of laughter and Scott was obliged to join in
them. All the rest of that day whenever he looked at all pensive Charlie
broke into his meditations with, “Say, boy, you been thinking any more
lately?”
Another source of amusement which originated with the <DW54> crew, but
soon spread to the whole shed, was the popular method of settling all
disputes and rough houses. No sooner did two men start to tussle than
some enthusiast in the crowd, sometimes one of the combatants if he felt
sure of victory, would yell, “Get a board.” That was the invariable war
cry. There were always plenty of people to carry it out and as if by
magic a husky man would appear with a bed slat. The presence of that bed
slat reversed the ordinary methods of wrestling completely. It was no
longer the object to come out on top, for the top man got the full
benefit of the bed slat laid on with no gentle hand. The agonized
expression and bodily writhing of the victim who saw that descending bed
slat out of the corner of his eye were the delight of the crowd. The man
who could stay underneath with the seat of his trousers glued fast to
the platform was the successful combatant in the eyes of all concerned.
It was not a position easily maintained, for the exertions of the other
man under the stimulus of the bed slat became almost superhuman.
Scott had been anxious to try his strength at this game with some of
these strong laborers, but he had been slow to make their acquaintance.
The day before he left the shed he had his opportunity thrust upon him.
There was a big Swede there, the bully of the shed, who was acknowledged
to be the “best man” at the bed slat game. He was consequently always
looking for trouble and had gotten the better of nearly everyone there
at some time or other. Scott had often wondered what his skill could do
against this man’s strength.
The clash came unexpectedly. Scott shot out of a car door with his empty
truck just in time to crash into a truck loaded high with small boxes.
The impact dumped the top-heavy load, and fifty cobbler outfits were
scattered the width of the platform. Almost before he knew what had
happened he felt himself raised bodily from the ground and the big Swede
was bellowing the war cry in his very ear. He felt absolutely helpless
in that iron grasp. Hardly had the echo of the war cry died away when
there was a swish and the inevitable bed slat landed with a crack like a
rifle.
The tears sprang to Scott’s eyes, but all the feeling of helplessness
was gone. With one frantic wrench he freed himself from the big Swede’s
arms. He dodged the next blow of the menacing slat, grappled his
opponent around the knees and brought him to the ground with a crash. He
had downed his man, but with the wrestler’s instinct, and unmindful of
the rules of this new game, he had fallen on top of his opponent. Crack
came the relentless slat. There was no time to lose. He was free and
could have ended the scrap by leaving his opponent but that would have
been to acknowledge defeat, which he was not willing to do without a
fair trial. With one wild dive he secured a crotch and body hold on his
untrained opponent; but the man was too big—he could not turn him over.
Just then the bed slat descended again with a vicious spat. That gave
him the needed strength. One agonized heave toppled the big fellow heels
over head and Scott fell neatly under him. Flat on his back with the big
Swede pinned helplessly above him he listened to the cracks of the slat
mingling with the yells of the crowd and smiled as he foiled the
heavings of the mighty frame with his skill.
A half dozen cracks were enough. The big fellow howled for mercy, and
Scott arose the hero of the shed. The forty-five dollars he earned that
vacation was the pride of his life, but if he had been given his choice
he would have preferred to repeat that triumphant moment when he lay on
his back on the platform and listened to the tune of that slat.
CHAPTER X
Of all the Christmas vacations which Scott could remember he recalled
none that had left him such real sensations of pleasure as that three
weeks of hard labor in the old transfer shed. It formed almost the only
theme of conversation between the two boys for the next two weeks. A
month ago Scott would have laughed at the idea of his being able to
learn anything at such a place, yet hardly a day passed now that he did
not feel that he had been helped by his experience. Moreover, he took a
very different interest in the laboring men he saw and seemed to look at
everything from a different point of view.
He buckled down to his work with a better will than he could have done
after a period of idleness and had the satisfaction of seeing his extra
courses rapidly coming to a successful close. The mid-year examinations
came bringing terror to the unprepared, but Scott took his Saturday
afternoon and Sunday off as usual, and waded through the examinations in
the regular routine of his work. He came out of them with flying colors,
and found himself a full fledged junior with the privilege of taking
part in all the activities of the class.
The most important of these class activities at this time was the
formation of the famous Junior Corporation for the management of the
camp at Itasca. A camp meeting was called at which Ormand and Morgan,
the officers of the last year’s Corporation, explained its organization
and workings. Ormand explained the object of the Corporation.
“You see, fellows, it’s like this. That camp is twenty-seven miles from
the railroad. There is no boarding house within striking distance of the
place, so somebody has to run the cook shack. If an outsider came in to
run it he would have to charge big money in order to make any profit; if
the school ran it the fellows would always be kicking on the grub; if
the fellows run it themselves they can make it cost what they please and
have nobody but themselves to kick if they don’t like it. It has always
worked out first rate. We kept board down to two dollars and eighty
cents per week last summer, had good grub and entertained lots of
company.
“Of course it means some work. The school supplies a good cook shack and
all the equipment. You will have to elect some good man manager to
attend to all the business, and another good man secretary to keep the
books, pay the bills and help him out generally. Then the rest of you
must back them up in everything they do. Hire your own cook, buy your
provisions wholesale and buy your own cows.”
Morgan then explained the organization of the camp crews and the rules
of the game as well as he could.
With this information as a guide the new officers were quickly elected
and the organization completed. Merton was elected manager and Scott,
secretary. Before his experience at the shed Scott would have been
afraid of this responsibility, but he had more confidence in himself now
and welcomed the experience.
The next few weeks were indeed full ones for the new officers. They
levied an assessment of twenty-five dollars from each member of the
class to meet the immediate expenses, held long conferences with the
former officers, making up grocery lists and collecting details of
information which would aid them in handling the various contingencies
which might arise in the course of the summer. They signed a written
contract with the director of the College defining their duties and
privileges. They carried on an extensive correspondence in an effort to
locate a suitable cook and find two cows which would answer their
purpose. After holding a protracted meeting with the representative of a
wholesale grocery company they placed an order for what seemed to them
an inexhaustible supply of provisions.
In the bustle of preparation various lines of private enterprise were
brought to light. One man had constituted himself a special agent for a
certain shoe concern and took orders for all styles of boots, puttees
and moccasins. Another was appointed to purchase compasses and all other
needed equipment of a like nature; while still another canvassed the
class for sweaters, flannel shirts, mackinaws, and riding breeches.
Scott added to his official duties the selection and purchase of a canoe
which he paid for with the money he had earned at the shed. It was a
busy time for everyone and the fever of expectant excitement pervaded
the entire class. The tang of spring was in the air and these young
savages were yearning for the freedom of the woods.
Two days before the appointed day of departure came the annual banquet
of the Forestry Club to speed the parting juniors. It was regarded
somewhat as a sacred rite because it was the last meeting of the year
when all the classes could be together. By the time the juniors would
come down from the woods the seniors would be scattered to the four
corners of the country and there was no chance of getting them all
together again after that. It was also the time when the embryo orators
of the different classes aired their wit in after-dinner speeches. Men
had been known to keep jokes secret for a whole year for the sake of
springing them publicly at the banquet.
A committee of the Club had made all the arrangements. A hungry crowd
some forty strong assembled at the hotel and, as is customary on all
such occasions, starved for almost an hour waiting for the banquet to be
served. It was a very good banquet and tasted all the better for the
delay—maybe that is the reason all banquets are delayed—but everyone was
more interested in what was to come afterward than in the dinner itself.
The professor of engineering was in the chair as toastmaster, the
director of the College was present and so were all the popular
professors. It was rather an honor for a faculty member to be invited if
he was not a member of the Club—for it was an independent organization
and invited none out of mere politeness. This was pretty generally
understood and few who were invited failed to appear. One or two
outsiders who had earned the friendship of the Club were also there.
As the last waiter closed the door behind him the toastmaster arose and
solemnly proposed that they should all sing “Minnesota.” Every man was
on his feet in an instant, for it was traditional that the “Foresters
had more spirit than all the rest of the University put together,” and
they never neglected to show it at every opportunity. The song had the
desired effect; it struck fire which melted all formality and welded the
crowd into one homogeneous whole. There were no longer any class
distinctions; the faculty were stripped of their dignity. The
toastmaster grilled everyone unmercifully. The faculty told all the
jokes they could think of on the students and on each other; the
students “slammed” the faculty unrestrained. Everyone had the best kind
of a time. When the toastmaster finally resigned his seat it was close
to eleven o’clock, and there were many under classmen among those
present who were already looking forward to the meeting of the next
year. There was more than one senior who went home rather sadly thinking
that it was the last of its kind for him.
It had been a revelation to Scott. His relations with the faculty had
been wholly of the classroom, and he had formed the students’ usual
opinion of them as a type. That night he had seen them act like human
beings and he began to wonder if some of them were not almost human
after all.
The fifteenth of April, the day set for the departure, arrived at last.
The train left the Union Depot at nine in the morning, and the boys were
eager to reach the depot. The car stopped and they hurried into the
station where they found a wild and woolly looking group assembled in
the corner of the waiting room. They could not wait to get to the woods
and were nearly all attired in true lumberjack fashion, only the pallor
of their faces betraying them. They hailed the new arrivals with that
exaggerated hilarity that only a crowd of college boys can display. And
that hilarity instead of subsiding grew steadily with the arrival of
every new addition. They joked each other continually, riled the grouchy
baggage man almost to madness and “joshed” every porter who showed
himself.
When the train came in from St. Paul the crowd surged boisterously
forward sweeping everyone before it. Most of the people recognized the
joyous buoyancy of youth, and knowing how useless it was to oppose it,
yielded good naturedly enjoying it by a sort of reflected pleasure, but
a few resented it wrathfully, thereby making themselves ridiculous. On
they rushed across the platform and took possession of the smoking car.
CHAPTER XI
That trip to Park Rapids was a memorable one to the boys, as well as to
everyone else on the train. Most travelers consider it a dull and
tiresome ride but the boys seemed to find a source of never-ending
enjoyment in the sameness of the little towns along the road and the
long stretches of prairie, broken here and there by patches of jack
pine. The almost unbroken series of practical jokes which they played on
the trainmen and on each other made the miles slip pleasantly by for the
other passengers. It was all done in a good-humored spirit of abandon
that angered no one.
The dinner which they devoured at Sauk Center amazed some of the invalid
ladies who watched them, but it was only a vague foreshadowing of the
meal which they would eat in that same room on the downward trip when
their appetites had been whetted by four months of strenuous work in the
woods. With a cheer for the town which had fed them so well they boarded
the little branch train which was to take them to their destination and
resumed their old amusements. At Wadena they welcomed wildly a stray
member of the class who had come across on the N. P. to join them. They
immediately proceeded to work off on him all the gags which had been
developed earlier in the day.
As they neared Park Rapids the spirit of restlessness pervaded the
crowd. No sooner had the wheels stopped turning than they boiled out
onto the platform amidst the crowd of citizens who had made their
regular daily pilgrimage to see the train come in. They lost no time at
the station, the baggage could be taken care of in the morning, but
swarmed away up the street to the hotel. They selected a cheap hotel—for
no matter how much money a man might have at home it was part of the
game to keep down the expenses of that trip to the minimum.
Their duffel disposed of, Merton, as manager of the corporation, hurried
away to interview the storekeepers to arrange for a shipment of eatables
by the stage in the morning and to make an agreement with them for such
emergency supplies as they might require through the summer. Scott, with
a feeling of pride in his new responsibility, searched the livery
stables for two teams, one to haul the baggage and another the groceries
they had shipped tip from St. Paul. The others scattered in all
directions to explore the town, to sound its resources and locate some
amusement for the evening. They returned to the hotel for dinner, a
little disappointed, with nothing to report but a moving picture show
and a bowling alley.
The whole party was early afoot in the morning to take advantage of the
6:30 breakfast, for there was a big day’s work ahead of them. The former
classes had established the precedent of walking to and from camp, and
no class now dared fall short of that standard. A twenty-eight mile walk
was a big undertaking for men fresh from the classroom, but it had to be
done to maintain the class prestige. The people of the town expected it
of them and even the stage driver, who had become reconciled to the loss
of the fares, took a certain pride in their independence and recited the
exploit times without number to the summer boarders who later chanced to
be his passengers.
It was found that three of the boys had set out the night before to
spend the night at the Fairview Hotel at Arago, half way out, and
complete the journey in the morning. Three of the others, inexperienced
and not yet imbued with the spirit of the thing, waited for the stage.
Four of the remaining ones took the road immediately after breakfast,
while Merton and Scott hurried away to get the wagons started. By
seven-thirty the two wagon-loads of duffel and groceries were on the
road, and the two boys walked gayly on ahead, full of the joy of the
open. It was also a precedent that the walkers should reach the camp
ahead of the stage and they swung to their work with a will.
The twenty-eight mile walk, such a marvel to those who never walk
themselves, was uneventful. At the Lodge, on the south end of Lake
Itasca, Scott and Merton overtook the other four walkers, and the six
then finished the journey together.
“So that is Lake Itasca,” Merton observed rather thoughtfully, as they
followed the road along the hills on the east shore, “the source of the
Father of Waters. I remember seeing pictures of it in my geography.”
“Sure thing,” Bill Price answered quickly. “So do I. I recognized it as
soon as I saw it.”
“Well, this is something like a forest,” said Scott, admiring the dense
stand of pines stretching down the hill to the water’s edge. “I began to
think down there below Arago that the whole country was just covered
with brush.”
“I wonder where the stage is?” Merton mused looking back over his
shoulder, and they quickened their pace perceptibly.
“No matter now,” Scott answered. “We could outrun him from here if we
had to.”
“Be easier to pay him to stay behind us,” Bill suggested.
In this way the last three miles passed rapidly and a sudden turn in the
road brought them in sight of the camp not more than two hundred yards
away. They had heard so much of it from the seniors and seen so many
pictures of it taken at all possible angles that they recognized it at
once.
“There’s the cookshack up on the hill,” Merton shouted, “and there’s
smoke coming out of the chimney, too. That looks good to me. I could eat
a porcupine right now, quills and all.”
“There’s the library straight ahead,” said Scott. “I wonder where the
other buildings are?”
“There’s the barn,” Bill called, “and here’s the foreman’s house right
beside us. Gee, doesn’t that lake look fine from here? I wish it was
warm enough for a swim.”
A shout showed that they had been sighted from the camp and they
answered with an Indian whoop. They piled eagerly down across the campus
and were welcomed enthusiastically by their classmates who started out
the night before and by Professor Mertz, who had come up the previous
week to get the place in shape.
They all sat down on the library porch and made a preliminary survey of
the campus. The lake shore, not over a hundred feet away, stretched
north and south; across a quarter-mile of shining water the opposite
shore, part birch, part swamp, part pine. The roof of the boathouse
peeped over the bank directly in front of them, the big log bunkhouse
loomed up to the north, and hidden in the trees to the south were the
four small cabins of the faculty. It was a beautiful picture even then,
but nothing to what it would be when the trees were in leaf and all the
vegetation green.
“Looks pretty fine,” Merton said, “but, what’s more important, how do
you like the looks of the cook?”
“Fine,” came the chorus; “he moved in as naturally as though he had
always belonged here and has a hand-out waiting for you now.”
“’Nough said,” cried Bill, and they all arose as one man. “Let’s go
_see_ the cookshack.”
The cook, who had held despotic sway over many a lumber camp, was
waiting for them in the doorway and greeted them cheerily. It was hard
to realize that he had never seen any of them before.
“Not much in the way of chuck, yet,” he apologized, “but I got some
flour at the store, and there’s bread and butter and cheese and the
teapot is on the stove.”
The newcomers dropped into the benches without more ado and ate
ravenously.
“Looks like five dollars a plate to me,” Morris chuckled between bites.
“I could die eating like this.”
“Chances are pretty good that you will,” Bill purred, “you put in more
time at that than anything else.”
“When’s the grub coming?” the cook asked anxiously.
“There is enough on the stage for a couple of meals,” Merton answered,
“and a good two-horse wagon-load will be here a little later.”
The cook looked immensely relieved, “Good, there ain’t nothing makes me
nervous like an empty pantry.”
They had just finished eating when the stage hove in sight. It was a
good three-quarters of an hour behind them. Of course the three boys on
the stage had to have a “handout,” so they all ate some more.
Merton pulled out his list of groceries and consulted with the cook.
“Jansen, here’s a list of the stuff we have coming on the wagon. You’d
better look it over and see whether we have forgotten anything. If we
have we can send for it tonight and have it on the stage tomorrow. There
are only eggs, and a little butter to get. I want to arrange with some
of the settlers tomorrow about supplying us with those things. Have to
have some potatoes, too, and we have a couple of cows coming tomorrow.”
Jansen looked the list over with approval shining in every line of his
face. “Fine,” he exclaimed, “we can live high on that, but you’d better
order some beans pretty soon and some more ginger. I’m strong on beans
and ginger bread. You can’t run a camp without ’em.”
“Come on, fellows,” Price called from the doorway, “let’s go have a look
at the bunkhouse. I want to select my suite.”
They all trooped down the hill through the pines and across the tennis
court towards the bunkhouse.
“This tennis court looks good to me,” said Morris. “I expect to put in
many a good hour here.”
“All right,” Merton answered cheerily. “We’ll appoint you a committee of
one to smooth it up, patch up the backstop and mark it out. There’s
nothing like having work that interests you.”
“Gee,” exclaimed Burns, “those big upper porches look cold enough now,
but I’ll bet they make dandy places to sleep this summer. You can lie
right in your bunk and watch the moonlight on the lake.”
They filed through the door and stood looking admiringly around them.
The whole ground floor, twenty-four by thirty-six feet, was one big club
room with a big fireplace opposite the door and plenty of windows. The
furniture was built of pine two by sixes, crude but massive and well
suited to the log building. In the city the place would have looked
rough enough, but there in the backwoods it looked like a castle and the
fellows immediately adopted it as such.
“Isn’t this great?” Scott said. “When we get a good big fire whooping up
that chimney and our library here, it can rain all it pleases.”
“Yes,” Bill said, “and I’ll bet more than one mosquito will dull his
bill trying to bore through those tamarack logs. I’m going to file my
claim on this big morris chair right now, and I’ll put on those gloves
there on the wall with any man who wants to dispute it.”
The crowd wandered upstairs. It was the same as the downstairs save that
there was no fireplace and the only furniture was some twenty steel
bunks with wire springs. Big double doors on each end opened onto
twelve-foot screened porches.
“Me for the outside, right now,” said Merton, proceeding to drag one of
the bunks out onto the north porch.
“Well,” said Scott, “I’ll join you. It may be a little cold at first but
we get the pick of the locations if we get out now. There’ll be a rush
for it the first warm night. Better take the west end, the sun will not
get in on you there so early in the morning.”
“Long head,” Merton answered, dragging his bunk across. “Get a better
view of the lake, too. Isn’t that great? There’s the post office up
there and the ‘town site’ the fellows used to laugh about. Let’s go see
Professor Mertz and find out what there is to be done.”
But they did not have to look for Professor Mertz; he was downstairs
waiting for them. He smiled at their enthusiasm over their new quarters.
“Well, fellows,” he began sociably, “I see that you recognize the
possibilities of this place for having a good time, and you are not
mistaken in it. You’ll have the time of your lives. But I want to call
your attention to some of the other features. You must remember that
this is the University and everyone will judge the University by what
you do here. Think every time before you do anything, what effect it is
going to have on the school. Its reputation here depends on you
entirely.
“There are five boats in the boathouse; three of them are for your use;
two of them, the cedar ones, are reserved for the faculty. The scow is
for general use, but no one runs the engine except Professor Roberts,
Mr. Sturgis or myself. The old tub of a sail boat you can rig up if you
want to. It is not much good, but the fellows usually manage to get some
fun out of it. Whether you are in a boat or swimming, be careful. You
may think that you are too old for that warning, but two men have been
drowned in that lake in the past four years, and they were both as old
as you are. Never go swimming alone and never ‘rough-house’ in a boat.
“Next, be careful about fire, both around the buildings and the woods.
The woods are very dry now and a match thrown down carelessly may mean a
fire which will cost several hundred dollars to put out. You will
probably have a chance to fight one somewhere before long and then
you’ll understand. Never throw down a match until it is out completely.
“Another thing. Don’t peel every birch tree you see. It will be a big
temptation at first to get bark for postal cards, etc., but don’t peel
the trees along the roads or trails. It destroys the looks of the woods
and is disgusting to woodsmen. When you want some bark find a tree in
some out-of-the-way place—there are thousands of them—chop it down and
peel the whole of it. This is a park, you know, and we do not want to be
accused of vandalism.
“Lastly, remember that you are responsible for the camp. We furnish you
with a good equipment and it is up to you to see that the camp is kept
in shape, the buildings clean and everything orderly. We’ll help you all
we can, but remember that it is _your_ camp.
“I won’t preach to you any longer. You can have tomorrow to get things
straightened out and get your bearings. The next day we’ll have a
dendrology excursion to catch these trees here before the leaves come
out. If you want me you’ll find me in that third cottage.”
The professor chatted awhile before he walked away to let the boys
adjust their own affairs—for it was the policy of the camp to interfere
with them no more than was absolutely necessary; it helped to develop
their independence. On this particular occasion chance deprived them of
very much choice in the matter, for hardly had they started a discussion
of detailed organization than a rattling of wheels announced the arrival
of the wagons with the supplies.
“Talk about your quiet places in the backwoods,” Morris exclaimed, as he
ran out with the rest of the crowd, “there’s something doing every
minute. You no sooner finish one thing that you have never done before
than another turns up.”
“Yes,” Bill retorted sarcastically, “always something new. You’ll have
to unload a wagon and then the first thing you know you’ll be eating
supper.”
With so many zealous workers the baggage was soon unloaded and stowed
away in the bunkhouse; the provisions were neatly arranged under the
cook’s directions on the shelves of the little storeroom in the back of
the cookshack.
Scarcely had they finished admiring their work when a terrific din broke
forth on the other side of the building, a vibrating, metallic clatter
that must have startled the deer a mile away. When they tore around the
corner to investigate they found the cook grinning from ear to ear,
belaboring with an old ax a four-foot circular saw, which was hung from
the corner of the building on an iron pipe.
He stopped, panting. “There, I’ll ring her like that fifteen minutes
before mealtime and then just three hard taps when the meal is ready.”
It was certainly an effective gong. It had first been used in that
neighborhood as an instrument of torture, by a crowd of settlers in a
charivari party for a newly married couple some two miles to the north.
The distinctness with which it was heard on the school ground on that
occasion had been sufficient proof of its efficiency and it had
straightway been appropriated by the students.
The ravenous boys forgot their lunch of only two hours before and did
full justice to the supper with a will that did the old cook’s heart
good. Then as the night was pretty cold they adjourned to a roaring fire
in the bunkhouse and soon to a welcome bed.
CHAPTER XII
All the next day the boys were busy as badgers making garden, sawing
wood for the cookshack, fixing up the tennis court and putting the camp
in shape generally. The gangs were well organized for so early in the
season and did their work quickly. Merton and Scott, who had scoured the
country to the northward in search of eggs and butter reported a supply
sufficient for the first half of the summer at least. They also brought
back with them two cows which they had purchased through correspondence
with the foreman. Night found them feeling very much at home, with much
of the preliminary work completed. Professor Mertz had kept a friendly
eye on them all day, showing them better methods in their work, running
the gasoline engine for the woodsaw and helping them out of difficulties
at every turn, but interfering very little with their plans.
The rest of the week was devoted to their real introduction to the
forest. At eight o’clock in the morning with their lunches on their
belts they set out with Professor Mertz, sometimes on foot and sometimes
in the scow, but always with the assurance that they would get all the
walking they wanted before they returned to camp. Occasionally a road or
trail would take them where they wanted to go, but more often they
plowed through the untracked forest, through densely tangled alder and
hazelnut brush, across spongy tamarack swamps or grass meadows, into the
fragrant thickets of balsam second growth or over the open pine ridges,
skirting the shores of lakes or clambering over piled up windfalls. The
only rests were when Professor Mertz waited for some of the stragglers
to come up for general consultation on some new species, often one with
which they had all been familiar in the classroom, but failed to
recognize in its new surroundings. Hour by hour these strangers became
less frequent and they greeted old friends enthusiastically. It was
fascinating work, and led them on mile after mile almost without
realizing how far they were going till they found themselves at four in
the afternoon some five or six miles from home, with a race for supper
ahead of them. Most of them were well used to walking but they had done
the greater part of it on roads or pavements, and they found this cross
country work a very different thing. It was only pride and nerve which
kept them up with the long strides of the professor as they “hiked” back
to camp; they all admitted being tired.
When Scott thought that the park was little more than twenty thousand
acres in extent, and that all their hikes had covered but a very small
portion of it he began to realize what a really princely estate he would
have if he could only fill those conditions.
Among the other things that they had seen on their trips, especially
when they were on the lake, were the numerous columns of smoke, thin
gray lines in the early morning expanding toward mid-day into great
black storm clouds which fanned out over the whole sky and cast a gloom
over everything. To the inexperienced boys the columns seemed always to
be in exactly the same location, but the woodsmen could see them
advancing, retreating, sidestepping, like trained fighters, and, knowing
the country as they did, could explain almost every movement. They
watched the fires unceasingly, for it was so dry that only a high wind
from the right direction was needed to bring any one of them down on the
park with a terrific sweep that would be hard to stop. The older men
prayed for rain to relieve the unheard of drought and put a stop to the
fires, but the boys longed for a chance to try themselves against those
great smoke-breathing monsters.
One evening when they had returned late from a long tramp, Scott was
thoughtfully watching a great black formless mass standing out against
the western twilight and thinking regretfully that it must be ten miles
away. There was no wind and the great wavering column boiled upward till
it seemed lost in space.
“Fire, fire, everywhere,” he murmured, “and not a spark to fight.”
“Yes,” said Morris, “and from the way the fellows talked last year you’d
think that they did nothing else but fight fire.”
The foreman, who was passing by the porch, heard the remark and stopped,
leaning up against the screen.
“Don’t you worry yourselves about not getting any fire-fighting
experience,” he said. “Two of the patrolmen ’phoned in this afternoon
that the fires in the north and west were bad ones. If the wind comes up
from those directions they’ll need all the men they can get.”
“Do you think there is any chance of a wind?” Merton asked, eying the
sky inquiringly.
“If we don’t have one in the next three or four days,” the foreman
answered, “it will be the first chance it ever missed.”
“Three or four days,” Scott grumbled in disgust; “the fires may all be
out by that time.”
“Don’t you fool yourself,” the foreman answered him. “Those fires are
not in the habit of going out of themselves even in three or four weeks.
Nothing short of a week’s rain or an army can put them out now.”
“I’ll bet if it does blow it will be from the south,” Bill grunted;
“there’s a conspiracy to do us out of part of our rightful education.”
As the foreman moved off chuckling, he called back over his shoulder:
“The wagons are all packed ready to start, and I’ll bet pop for the
crowd that we’re on the fireline somewhere in thirty-six hours.”
“Done,” yelled a half-dozen voices at once.
“Better sleep while you can,” the voice called back, “you won’t get much
at the fire. Good night.”
“Good night.”
“Sort of a poor bet,” Bill mused, “because he is the man who can order
us out; but I’m willing to pay up all right for the chance, if we have
to go ten miles to find the fire.”
“Well,” Morris yawned, “I guess he’s right about the sleep, anyway, and
I’m going to turn in.”
Everyone else seemed to be of the same opinion and they filed off to
bed. In half an hour the chorus of snores rolling up from the upper
porches bore witness to the fatigues of the day’s hike and complete loss
of interest in the fire situation. The stillness of the forest—really
made up of the countless small noises of the insects, birds, and roaming
night-walkers of the animal world—settled over everything. Not a leaf
stirred. Even the columns of black smoke which rolled up incessantly on
the horizon thinned out to a wavering gray streak as the dampness of the
night cooled the ferocity of the fires.
In spite of the stillness and the favorable prospects of a peaceful
night a faint light still glowed in the office and the foreman, ready
dressed, slept on a couch beside the telephone. About midnight the
lonely call of a timber wolf brought an answering hoot from an old owl
in a neighboring swamp, and as though in recognition of these gruesome
sounds of life a shiver passed through the leaves of the aspen trees. It
must have penetrated to the marrow of their limbs for they continued to
shiver more and more violently long after the reverberating echoes of
the night calls had died away. Here and there little ripples appeared on
the surface of the glassy lake. A dull roar to the southward, like the
groan of a mighty monster would have caused the city man to murmur
“Thunder,” and roll over for another nap, but to the foreman who sat up
wide-eyed in his couch at the first rumble, it spoke of the winds in the
pines and no gentle breeze at that.
“If there are any fires in the south, Jones will have his hands full.
And so will we,” he added, “if this wind keeps up and they don’t get her
blocked before morning. Well, I’m glad that it’s not from the north or
west.” And with that, after a long look out of the window behind him he
went back to sleep.
Already those menacing columns of smoke were answering to the call of
the wind. They no longer wandered hesitatingly upward in hazy fashion,
but bent sharply to the northward, stretching their covetous arms over
the doomed forest. The smoke rapidly increased in volume and blackened
the whole sky, while here and there a dull red glowed fretfully on the
horizon. The dew was keeping down the flames, but the wind was fanning
the glowing coals to a fury which needed only the help of the drying
morning sun to cause them to leap away like a cyclone over the whole
ill-fated woods. Under ordinary conditions such a wind storm could only
precede a rainstorm, but the drought had lasted so long that every
particle of moisture seemed to have dried from the atmosphere and the
dry wind seemed only to evaporate the dew and make the ground more dry.
Scarcely had the foreman picked up the lost thread of his dream when the
telephone bell rang long and violently. He was on his feet in an
instant.
“Hello.”
“Yes—Oh, hello, Long.”
There was a long pause as he listened. “Coming around east of Brown’s,
is she? That’s bad, isn’t it?—Can we head her north of Mantrap?—Think we
can. Well, I have the wagon here all loaded and we will leave here in
half an hour with fifteen men. We ought to be down there in two hours.
You scout her out till we come.
“Yes, I’ll bring ’em, good-bye.”
He hung up the receiver and slipped across the hall to call his wife.
“Come, Mamma, the fire is coming in at the southeast corner and we’ll
have to go down. You call the men and get the grub ready while I go call
the boys.”
His wife was too accustomed to this sort of thing to be surprised; in
fact, she had been prepared for it for several days. Sturgis, leaving
the house as she started to call the men, hurried over to notify the
boys and Professor Mertz, who inquired the particulars and promised to
join them at once.
A few minutes later a prolonged, “Tur-r-r-r-rn out” almost raised the
boys from their beds. A medley of answers came from all parts of the
upper regions of the bunkhouse: “Aye-aye, sir,” “What’s up?” “Who is
it?” “What happened?” “Is it a fire?”
“Yes, it’s a fire at the southeast corner of the park, and I want every
man I can get. The wagon will leave in fifteen minutes. Some of you go
up to the cookshack and bring the grub you find there down to the barn.”
He knew from the cries of joy and the general bustle that there would be
no delay on their account. He grinned to think what a different
reception his call for the next fire would meet. He hurried away to the
cookshack where he found Mike, awakened by the shouts, already up and
waiting for him.
“Where is she?” Mike asked cheerfully.
“Southeast corner,” Sturgis answered briefly, “and the whole outfit will
have to go. We’d better take all the bread and cooked stuff you have on
hand and they’ll probably want some more by tomorrow night. We’re liable
to be down there some time if this wind keeps up.”
“Aye-aye, it’s a bad one,” Mike assented, with a glance at the clear
sky, “and no sign of rain.”
“No,” Sturgis answered dolefully; “looks as though it had forgotten how.
Some of the boys will come up for that stuff,” he added as he moved
away.
The boys were so eager for the “fun”—as they called it—that they lost no
time in arranging niceties of dress. Some of them were already
scrambling up the hill towards the cookshack.
“This is some wind,” Scott grunted, as he panted up to the cookshack
door. “I wonder what they can do with a fire on a night like this?
Hello, Mike, when did you get up?”
“I got up with the wind,” Mike answered. “You can’t fight fire without
grub, so I knew they would be after me. There’s the stuff on the floor.”
“We _may_ come back sometime, Mike,” Bill said reproachfully, looking at
the small mountain of provisions.
“Yes,” Mike said serenely, “some of you will be back here tomorrow
afternoon for more grub. I fought forest fires before you were born, and
I know how much good victuals they can burn up. The wagon will be
leaving you if you stand here talking too long.”
By that time most of the boys had assembled. They took the hint, also
the supplies, and hurried to the barn in wild excitement. At the wagon
they met Professor Mertz who looked over the group with a grin.
“What have you with you?” he asked.
“Grub,” was the prompt answer.
“Well,” Professor Mertz continued, “all of you go back to the bunkhouse
and get your sweaters, coats, blankets and hats—soft felts if you have
them. I know that you want to travel light and think that because you
are going to a fire you’ll be plenty warm but if you do happen to get a
rest down there it will be cold. You may be gone a week and what little
sleep you get you’ll want to be comfortable.”
When the boys came back Professor Mertz hauled out a bag of lemons and
tossed one to each. “Here’s where we hand you each a lemon,” he said,
“but most of you won’t know how big a one it is till you get home. Keep
those till you need them. If you get dry when you can’t get to water try
a suck. It’ll taste pretty good then.”
They all clambered into the two wagons—one of them had just arrived from
the post office in response to a telephone call—and the expedition
started.
The boys were in fine feather and sang lustily every song they could
think of. For a long time after they had started, broken fragments of
the songs floated back on the high wind. When they passed the Lodge they
set up a mighty shout which made the few summer boarders who had
ventured into the woods so early in the season, think that they were
about to be the victims of an Indian massacre.
The thing which impressed all the boys most was the apparent lack of
hurry. They were used to seeing the fire engines tear up the city
streets at full speed and the slow plodding of the work horses seemed
the height of foolishness. Merton took advantage of his position on the
seat with Sturgis to inquire into the matter.
“Couldn’t we make better time walking?” he asked.
“Oh yes,” Sturgis answered, “you could make quicker time, but you’d
better save yourself for work later on.”
At last there came an exultant shout from the boys. A long line of fire
was visible on a ridge to the southward. The singing ceased and all was
suppressed excitement which one moment expressed itself in silence, the
next turned into a babel of wild speculations. The fire had appeared to
be very close when they first sighted it, but as they mounted hill after
hill and obtained new views it seemed to get no closer till a man
suddenly appeared in the road to tell them that they had arrived.
The air was loaded with smoke which made the eyes smart uncomfortably
but there was no other sign of the fire. The smoke intensified the
darkness so that in spite of the breaking day an object could not be
distinguished ten feet away. The boys piled out in the darkness eager
for orders and were somewhat disappointed when Sturgis told them to
build a fire and sleep if they could. “We’ll size up the fire and be
back as soon as we can tell what to do.”
There was a murmur of disgust from the crowd and Bill voiced the general
sentiment. “Humph, I thought we came down here to put out a fire, not to
build one.”
The three men moved off into the woods, the lanterns bobbing weirdly
over the uneven ground. The boys watched them dolefully out of sight.
“They say Diogenes hunted for an honest man with a lantern,” Bill mused,
“but that’s nothing to those three guys going out to look for a fire. It
must be a whale of a fire.”
The forest was full of strange noises which would have spoken volumes to
an old woodsman. Every few minutes a sharp rending sound followed after
a pause by a dull boom told of some old dead stub, the lonely silent
sentinel of two or three centuries, undermined by the fire and hurled
crashing to the earth by the wind, triumphant at last after so many
defeats. The roar of the wind through the waving needles told of the
violent struggle which the growing pines waged continuously with that
same wind which would in the end hurl them down as it had just hurled
down the deadened stub. A hissing roar like great skyrockets
occasionally painted a vivid picture of a noble spruce turned into a
torch for the sport of the flames. Violent snapping of the twigs and
brush told of some woods creature driven from its home, and in its
confusion making short terrified dashes broken by long intervals of
shivering, startled listening. All in between these strange noises the
absence of the insects silenced by the wind and smoke, seemed to produce
a weird, unnatural stillness.
The boys had shivered around the fire for more than an hour when Sturgis
appeared suddenly. “Well, I guess we’ve found her. Jones reports that
she has already jumped him to the east of here and we’ll have to hustle
to head her off. She’s in the park by now.”
They tumbled into the wagon again, and the big farm horses, whipped into
a lively trot now, jangled back up the road the way they had come. Even
yet no great amount of fire was visible.
At a sharp turn in the road where there was a considerable clearing, a
scene was revealed that stunned them with a realization of the true
state of affairs. The clearing was bounded on the east by a wall of
flame, a bloody red, streaked here and there by the black resinous
smoke. The brush was burning violently with a dull roar, and every few
minutes the flames rushed with a hiss to the tops of the scrubby jack
pines. At the north end the smoke streamed out under pressure of the
wind almost parallel with the ground, a sooty black slashed here and
there with disconnected tongues of red flame which leaped far ahead of
the main body of the fire and licked eagerly at the resinous tops of the
pines. It was a sight to send cold shivers up the back of the bravest
man, and the boys gazed at it in awestruck silence.
On the left side of the road and within the park another fire crackled
and snapped across a half-mile of front. It was seemingly entirely
separated from the other fire a quarter-mile to the eastward, but a
careful observation revealed a narrow trail of blackened stubble where
an offshoot of the original fire had skimmed a corn row, jumped the road
and started another conflagration in the dense brush within the park.
Already it was beyond any hope of immediate control.
Sturgis drove into the brush beside the road and stopped. He waited for
the crew to assemble before giving his simple directions.
“Here’s where you have to do it, boys. That fire has to be stopped today
or this whole park will be wiped out clean. We cannot do much with it in
the daytime without backfiring and we can’t backfire till we get a
fireline to work from. I figure that we have enough lead on it now to
make a break across the front of it before it gets here. It will be due
here before very long. Every man must do exactly as he is told or he
will run the chance of being burnt up. We’ll start in here at this road
and run a trench to those lakes. Franklin has already gone across to see
how far west it reaches. From the other end of the lakes we’ll have to
trench on around it. It means many hours of hard work and it’s up to you
fellows to show what you’re made of. We’ll eat a little lunch and start
in.”
The lunch was hastily pulled from the wagon and gulped in silence. The
boys were at last convinced that something serious was really going on.
In ten minutes they picked up their tools ready to start. Sturgis strung
them out rather close together on a line leading to the lakes and
himself disappeared into the brush to the westward.
For a while the boys worked in silence digging their little trenches and
spreading the dirt on the leaves on the side toward the fire. When no
immediate signs of the fire appeared they began to relax a little and
call to one another.
“Do you really believe that fire can burn clear up here by this
afternoon?” Scott called to Merton who was working next to him.
“Search me,” Merton called back. “Sturgis and Dan seem to think so and
they must know. Doesn’t seem possible, does it?”
“No, not if we can judge by the way it was traveling this morning.
Still, it was going some on the other side of that clearing.”
They had just about finished the ditch assigned them when Sturgis
appeared again with Dan and two of the men.
“You haven’t any time to lose, fellows. Start the backfire there right
at the edge of the trench. Then watch it like a hawk to see that no
sparks blow over on you.”
He lighted a handful of leaves with a match and thrust them into the
litter to start the fire in the brush. It was not a difficult task. The
dry leaves and brush ignited readily and the fire spread rapidly. By
picking up bunches of burning leaves and carrying them a little farther
along the line the fire was soon spread over the entire distance from
the road to the lakes. It ate back slowly against the wind and sparks
were continually jumping the narrow space across the little break. Nor
were they as easily handled as they had been in the early morning. Every
spark which landed started a fire immediately and several times fires
were started in dead pinetops which required the whole force to put them
out. Dan and the men aided in the work where they were needed.
The boys found it hot and exciting work. The lack of sleep the night
before, the ride in the springless wagon and the early morning work were
beginning to tell on their untried muscles. Gradually as the front of
fire crawled back farther from the trench fewer sparks were carried
across and they were enabled to devote part of their time to putting out
the dead stubs and wiping out every trace of inflammable material in the
burned area.
The backfire had burned some hundred feet from the trench and yet there
was no sign of the approach of the main fire other than the thick pall
of smoke which the wind drove down close to the ground. It irritated
their nostrils and stung their eyes, especially the smoke from the
hardwood brush in the backfire, till the tears streamed down their
faces.
Scott found himself enjoying a few minutes rest near Dan. “It seems as
though this backfire would burn up more of the forest than the other
one. Couldn’t you start it closer to the main fire?” he asked.
“You ain’t any too far away from it now,” Dan answered. “Listen.”
The crackling of the backfire near at hand made it hard to distinguish
more distant sounds, but Scott could hear a dull roar which seemed to
dominate everything like the base viol in an enormous orchestra and it
was apparently growing rapidly louder. The dull boom of falling trees
became more and more frequent. Suddenly, as he listened, this indistinct
roar swelled to a terrific burst of thunder. It was like to nothing he
had ever heard before, and yet in it he recognized the elements of a
great fire, the same sound that he had heard in a big fireplace, but
magnified so tremendously that it was almost beyond comprehension. His
instinct was to run, run anywhere, no matter where, but he stood there
too terrified to move.
[Illustration: His instinct was to run ... but he stood there too
terrified to move.]
“Ain’t she going some now?”
The calm voice close beside him brought him to his senses and the sight
of Dan gazing unmoved at the opposite hill reassured him. He shuddered
to think how near he had come to disgracing himself and laying himself
open to the everlasting jibes of Bill Price. He felt the blood coming
back into his pale face and was thankful for the soot which covered it.
He tried to look unconcerned, but the frequent bursts of ever increased
fury on the other side of the hill made him start in spite of himself.
“Will that little line of burned brush stop such a fire as that?” he
asked as calmly as he could.
“Nothing would stop it up there,” Dan answered, “but she’ll slow up some
when she gets to the top of that hill. How about starting the backfire a
little closer to it?” he grinned.
Before Scott could answer the taunt the fire burst over the entire
length of the ridge in front of them with one mighty, deafening roar and
the red flames shot a hundred feet in the air. It was a sublime sight,
those red flames shooting wildly up through the dense pall of black
smoke but Scott would have felt more comfortable a mile or two away. The
scant two hundred yards to the top of that ridge seemed as nothing in
the face of that raging conflagration. A deer maddened with fright and
blinded by the smoke, bursting through the backfire and dashing close to
him in its flight, almost threw him into a panic.
“Poor chap,” Dan murmured, looking after the fleeing deer, “he’s safe
now, but the wolves will be eating many a roast partridge and quill pig
back in there about next week.”
The rush of the fire died as suddenly as it had started. Only for a few
minutes the flames raged furiously along the brow of the hill, then it
dropped down to the ground and became a mere brush fire, crawling slowly
down the <DW72> to meet the backfire which was already creeping close to
the foot of the hill. Ominous crackling, snapping and booming told of
the destructive work going on beyond the ridge, but the mighty initial
rush of the flames was over. The blast of hot air made the sting of the
smoke almost unbearable, and it hastened the burning of the backfire. It
swept up the hill with a speed and roar which would, a few minutes
before, have seemed marvelous but now in comparison with that fury of
the main fire driven by that furnace heat seemed but a paltry bonfire.
The fronts of the two fires met, consumed whatever was within their
reach and died away to a few smoldering logs.
Sturgis appeared once more, this time from the direction of the road
where he had been scouting to the eastward to see what progress the fire
was making outside of the park. He addressed himself to Dan.
“That fire that just came up over the hill crossed the road from the
eastward just north of Alcohol Lake away ahead of the fire we saw in the
Park. Good thing we did not try to head it farther down. The fire on the
other side of the road is still a half-mile south.”
“What made her go so much faster inside?” Dan objected.
“Don’t you remember that tangle of dead brush and slashings between here
and Alcohol?” Sturgis asked. “That’s what did it. They have been burned
up on the outside. You take Pat and Phil and see that the fire does not
cross the road behind us. Let Phil take the teams up to the Lodge. I
think maybe you can stop that outside fire at the turn of the road. It’s
four o’clock and she’ll begin to run a little slower before long.”
“Leave that to us,” Dan answered confidently; “she’ll never get in
behind you.”
“All right,” said Sturgis, “I’ll get the boys together over there at the
lake for lunch and by that time Franklin ought to be back.”
Scott went out with Sturgis to the wagons to get the lunch and they
carried it over to the little lakes, collecting the fellows as they
went. It was a tired, hungry crew that sat around the campfire and
swapped adventures.
“When I saw that fire this morning,” Bill Price said, “I thought those
fellows last year were telling us some fairy stories, but when I heard
them feeding the lions over back of that ridge and saw the fireworks on
top of the hill I concluded they had never been to a forest fire. How
did you fellows feel over there in the brush when that little inferno
stunt was pulled off?”
Scott did not mind telling his sensations as long as he had not yielded
to them and he found most of the others had felt about the same way.
“Strange,” Bill said, “all you fellows felt like running. Such a thing
never occurred to me, but,” he added, with a grin, “I pulled up a
four-inch sapling trying to keep from jumping in this lake.”
“I wonder if we’ll be going home now?” Greenleaf asked, as he stretched
wearily out on the flat of his back.
“No,” Scott said, “Sturgis sent the wagons up to the Lodge just before
he came over here.”
“I suppose we’ll have to patrol this line all night,” Spencer grunted.
“Where’s Sturgis now?”
“Went west again.”
“Holy mackinaw!” Bill exclaimed. “That man has walked just one thousand
miles since morning. _I’m_ going to sleep.”
CHAPTER XIII
But just then Franklin came in with Sturgis.
“Pretty dry out that way,” he grinned, helping himself to an enormous
slab of bread and a big hunk of cheese.
“How far west does the main fire extend?” Sturgis asked.
“Within about forty rods of Deming Lake.”
“Deming Lake!” Sturgis almost shouted. “That means that it may get on to
section thirty-six.”
“Almost there now,” Franklin answered cheerfully. “We can stop it on
that row of lakes if it just don’t come around from the southeast on the
other side of them. That’s going to be the big trouble.”
“We’ve _got_ to stop it,” Sturgis gritted between his clenched teeth.
“If that fire ever gets into that young growth on thirty-six Professor
Roberts will never forgive me.”
“The only way you can do it,” Franklin assured him cheerfully, “is to
clean things up here tonight so that you won’t have to waste men on
patrol and fight her face to face down there in the morning.”
“I guess you’re right,” Sturgis assented, “and we’d better be getting at
it. You take the boys and start cleaning up from the south end of the
lake here and I’ll go see what Dan is doing with the fire across the
road.
“We’ve stopped the first rush now and there is no more danger tonight,
but the wind is a little southeast and if the fire gets around us to the
west and breaks away in the morning we’ll be worse off than we were
before and all our work wasted. Now we have to clean up the edges of
this fire for two miles. Bury the fire along the edges, cut down all the
stubs which may throw sparks, and throw back into the fire all burning
logs and rotten stuff.”
“Two miles,” Bill Price exclaimed, “and here I’ve been dreaming of home
and mother. Come on, boys, for every one that dies there’ll be one more
vacancy for the under classmen.”
They filed away around the lake and were soon scattered along the front
of the fire intent on their gruelling work. The wind had gone down and
the fire no longer ran readily, but it burned too fiercely to permit of
close approach and they were forced to resort to the slow, tiresome
process of trenching and allowing the fire to burn up to it. It was
comparatively easy to keep it from crossing. Then they were able to go
back and complete the cleaning up. As each man cleaned up the little
patch assigned to him he passed on to another ahead of the foremost man.
And so they worked one weary hour after another, slowly crawling along
that crooked line. It became so dark and the line of the fire was so
crooked that the boys had no idea where they were or where they were
going. Each man was practically isolated in the darkness. Occasionally
it happened a man toward the end of the line who had been delayed by
some refractory stubs found himself deserted and became completely lost,
unable to find the other workers.
At last at one o’clock they were allowed to rest and they fell asleep by
the campfire like one man. At three o’clock Sturgis called them again.
They had to be shaken individually, some even required repeated
applications, to bring them to their senses. Slowly they scrambled to
their feet, still half asleep, groaning with the aches and pains which
shot through their wracked bodies. They saw the men up and going
silently about the morning preparations, realized that they had been
favored with all the extra time there was for sleep, and choked down
their troubles in silence. No one seemed to have anything to say, not
even Bill Price, but it was the dogged silence of determination, not
sullenness. The meager breakfast was soon over for they were running
short of provisions, and they were ready to work once more.
“Are we working again or yet?” Bill asked musingly.
“Sorry I could not let you sleep longer, fellows,” Sturgis apologized,
“but we can cover rods now to the feet we can make when the sun gets up.
Dan will keep the men here to make breaks between the lakes and backfire
as soon as it’s dry enough. The rest of us will go down to the south end
of Josephine and see what we can do there. It’s a race for the north end
of Niowa and we must win.”
The wind was already on the rise. On the rise and from the east, the
worst possible direction. Sturgis placed his scattered line of workers,
urging them to greater efforts, and took the trail he had come down that
morning to rob Dan of two of his small force. They had already completed
their short breaks across the narrow necks and were waiting for an
opportunity to start the backfires.
“Can you do it with one man, Dan?” he panted. “It’s a race down to
Nimashi Lake, and every man counts there.”
“I can try it,” Dan answered simply.
With his two recruits Sturgis hurried south once more, harried the poor
weary workers to frenzied efforts and took up his own position at the
south end of the line. Already the wind had fanned the fire to a heat
that made close work impossible and they had to resort to the slow work
of trenching and backfiring. There were still two hundred yards to go.
Slowly the men began to come around from the rear to take up the new
positions in front, and the gap was narrowed. Even at that it looked as
though it would be impossible to head it at the lake, but at the last
minute five men came up from the rear, Scott among them, and under
Franklin’s lead fought the fire face to face. Clothes were burned and
eyebrows singed, but they fought desperately. They beat the fire out of
the last grass strip between the hill and the lake in one grand
triumphal rush.
For the time that fire was safe. The reaction on the overworked boys was
almost immediate. With one accord they lay down wherever they happened
to be and went to sleep. Sturgis looked at them enviously. He had worked
harder than they, and on considerably less sleep, but he knew that their
apparent victory over the fire could be turned to a complete defeat by
the passage of a single unwatched spark across that narrow fireguard.
Only a weary patrol of the entire fireline for the rest of the day would
make it safe.
He turned away with a weary sigh. “I guess it’s up to you and me and
Dan, Franklin, to patrol this thing. I never saw a better working bunch
of boys, but they are not used to it, and they are all in.”
“Well,” Franklin grinned, apparently as fresh as when he started, “the
fire’s almost all in, too, and I guess we three can handle it.”
They had just started to trail away northward over that weary stretch of
line, leaving the boys asleep where they were, when Professor Mertz, who
had gone home the night before, strode over the brow of the hill with a
big pack sack on his back.
“By George, Mertz,” Sturgis cried gratefully, “you’re the best-looking
man, with that pack on your back, that I’ve ever seen.”
“How’s the fire?” Professor Mertz asked anxiously.
“It’s all over but the shouting,” Sturgis assured him, “if we can just
keep awake long enough to patrol it for the rest of the day. It was
pretty hot down there by that lake, but the boys fought like good
fellows and stopped her. It can’t get by below.”
“Where are the boys?”
“Sound asleep right where they dug the last shovelful of dirt. They hit
the ground and were snoring before the dirt fell.”
“Pretty tough one for a starter,” chuckled the professor. “You fellows
look pretty tired yourselves. I brought five men down with me and put
them to patrolling above here. Guess they can handle it all now. Dan was
in a pretty tight hole back there.”
The strain relieved and the necessity for keeping at it removed, Sturgis
and Franklin sat down with a thud, and would probably have joined the
boys if the sight of the pack sack had not kept them awake. The
professor soon had the coffee boiling and the supplies spread out
temptingly. Getting the boys awake was a harder task, but the mention of
something to eat aroused even the most weary and they fell to with a
will.
It was agreed that the fresh men should be left to maintain the patrol
until six o’clock that night, and all the rest should go back to camp in
the wagon. It was a tired crew, but they kept their spirits buoyed up by
the feeling that they had won a great victory and made good. They tuned
up for the Lodge and sang lustily in answer to the cheers of the summer
boarders who turned out to see them go by. The songs heralded their
approach long before they reached the camp, and all the non-combatants
were out to welcome them. They presented a begrimed and bedraggled
spectacle, but they were supremely happy.
“Do I win that pop?” Sturgis called after them as they trailed away to
the bunkhouse.
“You sure do,” Bill Price shouted back, “and I’ll bet you another case
that I can sleep till tomorrow noon without waking up even to eat.”
Scott remembered how the fire swept roaring up that hill and dreamed all
night that he was fighting just such fires sweeping up the mountain
<DW72>s of his own forest in New Hampshire. The fact that he might never
get that forest made them seem none the less real.
CHAPTER XIV
For the next few days the adventures of that fire were the sole subject
of conversation. Hazen, the official historian, devoted all his spare
time to writing up the details in the official scrapbook and they lost
nothing of their vividness in the process. It was wonderful, now that it
was all over, to see how they had enjoyed that gruelling work on the
fireline. Scott wrote home an account of the fire which perfectly
confirmed his parents in their belief in the woolliness of the West, but
left them undecided as to whether the fire had been a catastrophe
narrowly prevented by almost superhuman efforts or a harmless scheme
devised for the amusement of the students. Such were the views of the
fire, now that it was past history and the frequent rains precluded its
repetition, but it was a notable fact that throughout the remainder of
the summer no one was heard to wish for another.
The ground had thawed out sufficiently for the nursery work and the boys
were spending their days busily in the seed beds.
The novelty of the work in the nursery had made it interesting at first,
but otherwise it was not very fascinating, and on the fourth day it was
getting monotonous. Each crew of two had thoroughly spaded up a bed four
feet wide by fifty feet long and had bordered them with boards on edge,
which Professor Mertz required to be set with excruciating exactness.
The boys declared that he could smell the slightest deviation in one of
those boards.
The beds thus prepared had then to be covered with a layer of carefully
prepared manure and that in turn covered with a layer of well sifted
sandy loam. The dirt sifting soon became monotonous and monotony in that
crowd necessitated some side line to keep up the interest. Fourteen
ingenious minds were looking for some opportunity to put a little spice
into the mechanical labor.
Morris straightened his long angular frame stiffly, stretching his tired
arms over his head and gazing straight into the zenith in his effort to
relax every muscle he had been straining over that sand sifter. The
action exposed very prominently a leather thong attached to the ring of
a large silver watch. The chance for a joke seemed slight, but it was no
time to neglect the slightest opportunity. Bill Price grabbed the thong
with the quickness of a cat and was surprised to find how easily the
watch slipped from Morris’s pocket to his own.
Several saw the transfer and prepared to elaborate the joke. Hazen,
working on the next bed, took a stretch. “Gee, but this is a long day.
What time is it getting to be, Morris?”
Morris felt confidently in the accustomed pocket for his watch. His
fingers fumbled there persistently for a minute before he realized that
the watch really was not there. At the mention of the time all within
hearing had looked up: they were all interested in the time.
Morris felt doubtfully in his other pockets. He was the legitimate butt
of many of the camp jokes, and a wink from Price told all the others
that something was up.
“I don’t know,” Morris answered hesitatingly, “I’ve lost my watch.”
“Lost it?” Price exclaimed. “When did you have it last?”
“Looked at it just a little while ago.”
“Haven’t been away from here, have you?” Hazen asked.
“Only down to the dirt pile.”
“Must have fallen out of your pocket when you were leaning over the
bed,” Greenleaf suggested.
“Don’t see how it could fall out on this bare ground without my seeing
it,” Morris objected. “There is nothing around here to hide it.”
Bill Price was equal to the occasion. “Perhaps you covered it up in the
beds. You’ve been sifting sand over them. Might have dropped right under
the sifter,” he suggested.
“Yes, that might be,” Morris acknowledged, ruefully looking over the
broad expanse of beds. “It’ll be pretty hard to locate it.”
“I should think you could hear it,” Merton said, “it can’t be covered
more than half an inch.”
Morris grasped at the possibility. “By George, that’s right,” he said.
“You’ve only sifted these four beds, haven’t you?” Price asked
encouragingly.
“Yes,” Morris answered after thinking a minute, “only these four here.”
While the rest of the fellows gagged themselves or rolled ecstatically
in some out of the way corner, Morris jack-knifed his gaunt length over
the bed and, with his ear close to the ground, occasionally scooping up
a little loose sand, weaved his way slowly up the long bed. The
lowliness of his head and the extreme length of his thighs caused him to
present a most remarkable figure. This queer position coupled with the
set expression of intent listening threw the boys almost into
convulsions.
Slowly he went up one bed and down the other without varying his
tiresome procedure in the least.
“Reminds me of a spring robin looking for worms,” Merton said. “You’ll
see him pull one up in a minute.”
“If you can’t hear that watch there,” Bill Price called sympathetically,
“go out in the brush and hear a wood tick.”
“Why don’t you give him that watch, Hazen?” Greenleaf called across from
another bed. “He’ll break his back in a minute.”
But Morris was not the man to leave a thing half done. He covered those
four beds conscientiously, and rose with a groan only when he was sure
that the beloved watch must be hiding elsewhere.
“Seems queer where it could have gotten to,” he mused. “It ticks pretty
loud, and I could have heard it if it had been there. The only other
place it could be is in the sand pile. You fellows be careful how you
shovel in that pile.”
He returned to his job of sifting dirt over the bed, but kept an eye on
the sand pile and shouted wrathful warnings every time anyone went near
it. Of course they all took occasion to go there as much as possible and
jabbed the shovel around recklessly.
Price was working with Morris. One of them brought the dirt from the
pile while the other sifted it onto the beds. They shifted frequently,
for the sifting work was very tiresome. Price watched his opportunity,
slipped the watch into a shovelful of sand and dumped it carefully into
the screen. Everyone stood at attention. Two or three shakes of the
screen and the silver twinkled through the sand.
Morris’s face beamed at the sight of it. Amidst profound silence he
examined the watch minutely. “Not a scratch on it,” he announced
innocently. “I don’t see how it escaped, the way you fellows have been
jabbing around that sand pile. I remember feeling it drop now, but I did
not realize what it was at the time.”
For a moment it looked as though there would be a general outburst, but
the fellows all changed their minds and decided to keep it for the next
year’s banquet.
That joke livened up the crowd and before the effects of it had worn off
Professor Roberts arrived to take up the work of forest mensuration. The
boys welcomed the change because it took them into the woods on all day
expeditions. They packed their lunches, slung them on the back of their
belts, and felt that they were good for all day no matter where they
were called upon to go. Sometimes they traveled all day on foot, more
often they took the scow to some distant point on the lake before
striking into the woods, but no matter how they started they were always
certain of new adventures.
One day as they were returning pretty tired from section 36 a fox
terrier that had joined the camp as a volunteer was poking busily around
all the bunches of brush looking for excitement. Scott watched him in
disgust as he ducked into one clump after another with undiminished
energy and rose frantically on his hind legs in his vain efforts to
follow some little chickadee into a neighboring tree.
“That dog makes me sick,” Scott remarked to Price in deep disgust. “He’s
been trying to fly all day and he hasn’t been three feet off the ground
yet.”
“Couldn’t do much better yourself,” Bill answered drily.
“Well,” Scott retorted, “I should at least know it by this time. Why
don’t he hunt something his own size instead of chasing those pesky
little bunches of feathers? If he were any good he would scare up some
real game instead of wasting his energy on those things.” The dog had
picked out Bill for his temporary adviser, as far as a fox terrier
permits himself to be advised by anyone, and Scott was attempting to use
him for a club to get a “rise” out of Bill.
Just then the dog made two or three stiff-legged bounces in the brush as
though in an apparent endeavor to see something on the ground beyond.
“By George,” Bill exclaimed, “if he tackles that porcupine he’ll have
something more than his size. Come here, you crazy Jehu, and let that
pincushion alone.”
“Don’t worry,” Scott assured him, “no animal will touch one of those
things.”
But a fox terrier is governed by no laws, natural or otherwise. The
porcupine had chattered his teeth defiantly and the dog, heedless of the
warning shouts, flung himself upon the first game he had found that
could not fly. The porcupine uttered a plaintive whimper, turned his
back on the dog with astonishing agility and struck him full in the face
with one blow of his powerful tail. The dog did not wait for more. With
one astonished yelp he jumped into the brush regardless of direction or
obstacles and continued his course due east at a terrific pace as far as
they could see him.
“Running a pretty good compass course,” Bill remarked. “He ought to be
showing up over there in the west pretty soon; it won’t take him long to
go around the earth at that rate.”
“Poor little chap,” Scott muttered. “I wonder if any of those quills got
him in the eye? There must have been a dozen of them in his face.”
“A dozen,” Bill exclaimed. “Ask him. I’ll bet he thinks there are a
thousand.”
“If he comes back to camp we can pull them out for him,” Scott said.
“Yes, but if he runs like that for an hour it will take him a week of
ordinary travel to get back.”
In the meanwhile the porcupine had turned quietly to his own peaceful
pursuits, chattering and whimpering up a young pine tree and stopping
for a nibble or two at the bark as he went. He had apparently forgotten
the existence of the dog and cared not a rap of his prickly tail for
anything else alive.
But the dog had by no means forgotten him.
When the boys arrived in camp a half-hour later they discovered a white
patch lying beside the pump in a puddle of water.
“Look there,” Scott exclaimed, “there’s the dog. He looks sort of
tired.”
“Probably ran a hundred miles,” Bill commented. “Let’s see if he has
shaken all those quills.”
The dog, lying in a position of exhausted prostration, paid no attention
to them. Tired out as he was he held his head wearily up from the
ground.
“Gee, look at those quills,” Scott cried excitedly.
“Has more in his head than the porcupine,” Bill said. He stepped forward
and tried to pull out one of the quills. With a yelp of pain the dog
snapped at him viciously. “They won’t pull out and they must hurt him
worse than tight shoes. I wonder how we can get them out?”
Just then Professor Mertz appeared with an armful of gunny sacks and a
pair of pliers. “Do you fellows want to take a hand in a surgical
operation?” he asked.
“Sure,” Bill said. “We saw how he got ’em in, and now we’d like to see
how you get ’em out.” He told the story of the brief, one-sided battle.
“He certainly has his share of them,” said the Professor. “His eyes seem
to be swollen shut, and it is little short of a miracle if there is not
a quill in them. We’ll do our best for him, but he’ll be a pretty sick
dog even if it does not kill him.”
As Professor Mertz talked he slipped several layers of sacking under the
dog’s body and wrapped him in it, securely binding his legs to his body.
The dog, seeming to realize that someone was trying to help him,
submitted quietly.
“Now you fellows wrap a lot of this sacking around your hands so that he
cannot bite you and hold him as still as you can while I try to get at
those quills. He’ll probably fight pretty hard.”
When the dog was securely pinioned Professor Mertz cautiously fastened
the pinchers on a quill in the dog’s nose and pulled. With a yelp of
pain the dog snapped wildly and made a desperate struggle to get away.
The boys were surprised to see how hard the quills pulled till a careful
examination showed the dozens of little barbs turned viciously backward.
The operation was repeated again and again. A close examination
discovered an almost innumerable number of quills. Some of them pierced
the under jaw and protruded into the mouth, some which struck the roof
of the mouth poked their vicious points through the skin on top of the
nose, still others pierced the lips and tongue, while countless others
stuck up in the face and ears like pins in a crowded cushion. Overcome
by the pain the dog ceased his struggles and only emitted a plaintive
whimper as the venomous little barbs were drawn.
“Don’t you know that hurts?” Scott said, as he watched how the skin was
drawn to a point on the extraction of each quill. “I don’t see how he
can stand it.”
Price was silently counting the quills. “Ninety-six,” he announced as
Professor Mertz drew the last visible barb. “Just think of it.
Ninety-six in that little space, and with one slap of that clumsy tail.”
By that time most of the boys had come in and were standing around in a
wondering group listening to the oft-repeated story of the encounter,
and marveling at the number of quills. The poor dog seemed to have given
up completely. He no longer made the slightest move or demonstration. He
apparently had no interest in anything. His face was swollen till his
eyes were completely shut and the blood trickled freely from the dozens
of little punctures. Professor Mertz bathed the fevered head and gently
carried the patient over to a quiet corner of the shed.
“Now,” he said, “you boys want to be careful how you touch him for a
week or two. I have pulled out all the quills in sight, but there are
probably some others in his flesh which will gradually work to the
surface and if you should happen to strike one of them in patting him he
would probably bite you—for they make a nasty sore.”
For the next week Bobs was a pretty sick dog, and seemed to take very
little interest in life. For a while they thought he must die, but he
gradually improved and when it was possible to examine him carefully it
was found that both his eyes had escaped injury. The boys were very
careful of him. As Professor Mertz had predicted, every now and then
during the next three weeks a gingerly inspection brought to light the
points of quills in locations which showed that they had worked
mercilessly through the flesh for some considerable distance. It was at
least a month before he became once more his old light-hearted self and
even then Bill Price could throw him into a violent fit of trembling by
chattering his teeth like a porcupine.
CHAPTER XV
The thirteenth of June found everything running smoothly at the camp and
the boys having the time of their lives. The crews were well organized
and taking good care of the work assigned to them. Of course there had
been many cases of neglect and carelessness but they had been overcome
in one way or another and the boys felt quite proud of their management.
The cows were milked regularly, the woodpile replenished to the
satisfaction of the cook, the camp kept in good order and the class work
zealously performed.
All of these things were of importance, for on them depended the annual
trip to the White Earth Indian Reservation. The former classes had all
gone and no one wanted to see the custom broken. The president of the
corporation had made formal application to Professor Roberts for three
days’ absence for the whole class and preparations for the trip were
busily under way. Pack sacks were being stuffed with all the necessary
provisions and bedding, and through it all a running discussion of the
plans for the celebration made the whole camp vibrate with heated
argument. Lacking other forms of amusement an argument was always
welcome. Many a time an argument on predestination, or some other
equally abstract question, developed oratory which could be heard half a
mile away.
The object of the trip in question was the annual celebration of the
Peace Festival on the White Earth Indian Reservation, commemorating the
treaty of peace between the Sioux and the Chippewa tribes. Years ago the
forests of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota had been the hunting grounds
of the Sioux till the Chippewas, driven westward by the warlike Five
Nations (who had in turn been driven out by the Whites) forced them out
into the open prairies. For years the Sioux, returning to the forests to
avoid the severity of the winter on the plains, had clashed savagely
with the Chippewas. Finally a treaty of peace had been made and every
year they celebrated that peace at White Earth with horse races, canoe
races, war dances and other festivities.
“Have you fellows decided yet how you are going?” Merton asked, stopping
in the door of the lecture hall, where a half-dozen fellows were fussing
over their preparations.
A confused babel immediately broke forth. “No,” Bill announced
complacently, “nobody has decided anything but me; I’m going to stay
home to take care of the ‘caows.’”
“Well,” Merton continued, “I’m going to start right after lunch, and
I’ll be glad of all the company I can get. The rest of you may decide
what you please.”
“When do you expect to get there?” Bill asked.
“Tomorrow noon,” Merton answered confidently.
“Yes, you will,” Bill answered contemptuously. “It’s fifty good country
miles.”
“Yes,” Merton said, “fifty-five of them. I’m good for it.”
No one was willing to back down, so no one answered him, though each one
had his own private opinion about it.
True to his word Merton wriggled into his pack sack immediately after
lunch and called for volunteers. Scott was the only one ready to join
him at once, and those two swung off up the road, leaving the others
still hovering around undecided.
“Good-bye, fellows,” Merton called back to them. “We’ll see you at White
Earth if you ever get there.”
“Don’t you be sarcastic,” Greenleaf called after them, “we’ll be there
to welcome you.”
The two boys trudged on steadily; not very fast—for the road was too
long ahead of them—but at a pace which would land them many miles on
their road by nightfall.
“If we only knew the road,” Scott said, “it would not be so bad; but
there is no telling how far we shall have to walk to get there.”
“No, and they say there are no settlers in that country except Indians.
They _could_ tell us the way, but most likely they won’t.”
“Someone was telling me,” Scott said, “that there is a lumber camp over
there somewhere with a logging road running where we want to go. I hope
we can strike it.”
“That would help some.”
They had no trouble for the first eight miles. The road lay straight,
though exceedingly rough, before them; but at that point they came to
the first obstacle, a fork in the road.
“The more traveled one ought to be it,” Merton suggested, and they took
it without more ado—for there was no use in wasting time in choosing
when they had no possible way of determining the right course. For half
a mile they had followed the rough winding road when they came to a
tumbledown cabin and there the road stopped.
“Might have known that if we’d stopped to think about it,” Merton
growled, as they immediately retraced their steps. “This fellow makes
all the travel there is on that road, going to the store.”
They soon reached the main road again—if such it could be called. Scott
blazed a tree with his tomahawk and wrote the directions on it. “Might
as well save them the trouble,” he explained, “even if it does help them
to catch up with us.”
For nine miles more they jogged on steadily and were beginning to think
that things were not as bad as they had been painted when they came to
another fork where the road split up into two indistinct tracts, neither
one of them sufficiently plain to justify anyone in following it with
the hope of ever reaching a town however remote. They had not seen a
soul since they left camp and there certainly seemed very little chance
of their meeting anyone on either of those roads.
“Neither one of them looks good to me,” Merton grunted. “Let’s eat some
lunch and then toss up for it.”
It seemed the only thing to do, and in a few minutes they were eating
hungrily. They had brought a canteen with them, and it was well that
they had—for they had not passed anything, even at the tumbledown cabin
which looked like good drinking water.
“There is one thing sure,” Scott said; “we have been traveling pretty
steadily westward and must be north of where we want to go. Then we want
to take the south road.”
“Yes,” Merton assented, “and if we get out there five miles or so before
we find that we are wrong we’ll beat it across country to the northwest
till we strike the right road instead of coming back here. We can’t lose
much that way.”
“No,” Scott agreed, “nothing but ourselves.”
“Well,” Merton said, looking apprehensively down the road, “let’s be
going. We don’t want those other fellows to catch up with us here and
think we’re stumped on this fork in the road.”
They scrambled to their feet and set out briskly, for, as Scott
explained, if it was the wrong road they wanted to find it out before
dark, as it would not be very easy to travel across country through the
woods in the night. The road did not get any better or any worse, nor
give any other signs of its ultimate destination. They had been
traveling in this way for two hours when they heard a dog barking ahead
of them, and soon they spied a small shack.
“Now for some Indian talk,” Merton exclaimed disgustedly.
He was not disappointed. In the doorway of the rickety old shack sat an
old man, smoking an old blackened clay pipe, his eyes fixed on them in
watery indifference. He must have been very old, Scott thought he looked
at least a thousand. His face was a mass of deep-cut wrinkles forming
the precipitous cliffs and mountain valleys of a bold relief map. His
palsied head shook violently and his scanty white locks fluttered
nervously against the high cheek bones. No one but an Indian could have
looked so old.
Merton addressed himself to the old man but had little hope of getting
an answer. “Can you tell us whether this is the road to White Earth?”
The old man’s expression changed not a particle, but he gurgled almost
inaudibly, an incoherent stream of Chippewa. It did not enlighten them
much, but it produced some effect, for a girl suddenly appeared in the
doorway behind him and looked them over curiously. As Scott looked at
her his poetic visions of beautiful Indian maidens faded away.
“_That’s_ not Minnehaha,” he mumbled; “that’s a cinch.”
She was thin to emaciation, and unspeakably dirty. One eye was
apparently closed with a loathsome disease, giving her face a sinister,
leering expression. She did not look like a promising subject, but
Merton tried her.
“_Bojou, bojou_,” he used the greeting of the old French _coureurs des
bois_. “We are trying to get to the Peace Celebration at White Earth.
Can you tell us whether this is the road?”
The old man mumbled some more Chippewa. The girl stared at them
sullenly. Scott took out half a dollar and looked at it thoughtfully.
The girl’s good eye caught the gleam of the silver instantly. “Frazee
camp, ten mile. Straight trail,” she exclaimed, pointing to a faint
track leading on westward from the house, and thrusting her hand eagerly
over the old man’s shoulder for the money. Scott dropped it into her
hand quickly, lest she should touch him, and with another exchange of
“_Bojou_” they took to the trail again. Anybody but an Indian living in
that unfrequented place could not have resisted the temptation to watch
them on their way, but the girl turned indifferently into the cabin and
the old man did not so much as turn his eyes to look after them.
“It’s about ten to one that she’s stringing us,” Merton said cheerfully,
“but this is about as near right as we can go now and it will be great
luck if we do strike that camp.”
“It’s only half past eight,” Scott said, “and we ought to make the camp
tonight if it is there. There’s a good moon. Wasn’t that girl a fright?”
“That’s the way most of them look around here. They nearly all have
trachoma. I have seen some pretty ones, but mighty few. Let’s hit it up
a little. We don’t want to get to that camp too late, or we can’t get
in.”
The pace became too hot to permit of further conversation, and Scott
amused himself revising his Indian ideas and speculating on what the
Celebration would be like. The spectacle at the cabin had changed his
expectations. The long June twilight made the road plain before them
till ten o’clock and by that time the moon was high in the heavens. By
eleven o’clock they were beginning to think that the sight of that half
dollar had led the “beautiful Indian maiden” to invent a lumber camp for
the occasion, when they heard the snort of a locomotive at no great
distance ahead of them.
“There, by George!” Scott exclaimed. “She was honest, if she was
homelier than sin.”
“The next question,” Merton said, “is that locomotive going or coming?”
The sound had ceased, and they hurried forward to investigate. They
found that it was only the “swipe” cleaning out the engine. They could
see his figure flitting here and there around the engine in the dim
light of a lantern. He heard them coming and stopped to see who it
was—the camp had been asleep for two hours. When he saw their packs he
took them for lumberjacks looking for a job.
“Nothing doing here,” he growled, without further greeting. “The camp’s
full up, and the boss has a waiting list.”
“He’s lucky,” Merton commented. “We’re not looking for jobs. We’re
trying to get to White Earth. Will there be any train out in that
direction in the morning?”
“Five o’clock,” the man growled, “if I can get this old teakettle
cleaned out by that time. Where did you come from?” In the daytime he
would probably have ignored their existence, but the loneliness of the
night and his curiosity made him sociable.
“Itasca Park,” Merton answered. “How near will the train take us to
White Earth?”
“Some hike,” he said, ignoring the question. “Going to the Peace
Celebration, I suppose?”
“Yes, we just want to see the doings. How near did you say the train
would take us?”
He seemed loath to answer them. “’Bout eight miles,” he finally
answered. “Reckon you fellows must be tired if you have hiked from
Itasca. You can sleep there in that shack if you want to. I’ll call you
in the morning.”
It seemed to the boys that they had hardly closed their eyes when they
were awakened by the engine and found it broad daylight. The man had
forgotten to call them, and they had just time to crawl onto the caboose
when the train pulled out, lurching along over the uneven track. The
little Shaw engine with its upright cylinders and geared connections
made a noise which would indicate a tremendous speed, but the train
barely crept along and they were an hour and a half going the fifteen
miles to the junction where they had to walk once more. As they had
eaten their breakfast in the caboose they started out at once on the
road the brakeman showed them, and by nine o’clock they came within
sight of the Peace Celebration.
A small rolling prairie lay before them, completely surrounded by forest
and surrounding a very pretty little lake. The festivities had not yet
started, but it was a lively scene, nevertheless. The tepees and wigwams
of the Indians were scattered over the whole plain in most picturesque
fashion. Indian braves in full regalia strolled leisurely about or sat
smoking contentedly in front of their tepees, while here and there the
booths of the squaws displaying all manner of Indian baskets, beaded
belts and moccasins presented bold patches of color. Many visitors
thronged the camps, bargaining for souvenirs and asking foolish
questions of the Indian chiefs who never answered them. It was a
peaceful scene, and would have served as a model in point of order for
many a white man’s fair. The Indian policemen did their work well,
patrolling the camp continuously on their moth-eaten little ponies.
“Well, Scotty,” Merton cried. “Here we are, at nine o’clock in the
morning. We sure were lucky. Those other fellows can’t get here before
noon, anyway, and they’ll be all in. That train was the clear stuff.”
“Yes,” Scott said, “fifteen miles is a pretty good lift, even on a train
like that. Let’s pick out a place for a camp and fix things up.”
They selected a site on a little knoll on the shore of the lake, where
they soon had their dog-tent up and were sitting as comfortably in front
of it as any chief in the tribes. They commanded a pretty good view of
the whole field and could tell from the movement of the crowd what was
going on.
As they learned from one of the policemen that the program would not
open till the afternoon with pony races, foot races, canoe races and a
big parade, they decided to content themselves with a general view that
morning and wait for the other fellows.
At eleven-thirty they saw them coming straggling in along a road from
the north and hurried to meet them.
“Where have you been all the forenoon?” Scott called tauntingly.
“I suppose you have been here all of five minutes,” Morris sneered, “or
are you on your way home?”
“No,” Merton said, “we’re not quite ready to go home, but we _have_ been
here two hours. We came over from the lumber camp on the logging train.
What time did you leave the camp?”
“We did not see any camp,” Morris answered sullenly. “We have not seen a
soul since we left home.”
They had taken the north fork of the road, which carried them north of
the camp, but had the virtue of being five miles shorter. They had put
up for the night in a deserted log cabin on the edge of a swamp, where
they had been eaten up by the mosquitoes, and had been walking since
five o’clock that morning. It was a rather peevish crowd, and the luck
of the others in getting a lift on the logging train did not improve
their temper. While they talked they walked over to the camp, put up the
rest of the tents and cooked dinner. An hour’s rest set them all up, and
they were ready for anything the afternoon might bring forth.
The program opened with the grand parade. It was quite an imposing
sight. There were some three hundred Indians of the two tribes. They
formed at opposite ends of the grounds, rode solemnly forward till the
columns met, and joined forces in one big parade. The two oldest chiefs
rode side by side at the head of the procession, decked in all the
extravagance of paint and feathers that the savage mind could invent. To
them it was a solemn occasion—for they could remember the times when
they had opposed each other in bitter strife—and they sat their ponies
in stately dignity. The lesser chiefs followed, and the young bucks
brought up the rear. They slowly circled the entire grounds amidst the
cheers of the onlookers.
The procession finally came to a halt on a little knoll which commanded
a view of the lake on one side and the level race track on the other.
Here the chiefs seated themselves solemnly in a large circle supported
by a larger circle of braves. One of these brought the ancient peace
pipe, lighted it at the fire in the middle of the circle and handed it
to the oldest chief. The old man puffed solemnly a few times, and handed
it on to his neighbor. At last the circuit was completed and the sacred
rite was ended. The far-away look in the eyes of the older chiefs showed
that their thoughts were wandering back to the bloody scenes of their
early days and that they were counting again the scalps they had taken
in those relentless fights.
These rites ended, the young men hurried away to prepare themselves for
the contests to come. As an athletic exhibition it was really pathetic.
The competitors were in miserable physical condition; the half-starved
ponies ran in a listless way, and the foot racers would have stood very
little show in a high school track meet. The canoe races were slow, for
the men who took part in them were so accustomed to letting their squaws
do the paddling that they made a poor showing.
“It takes all the glamour of romance to throw any interest into that,”
Scott remarked. “We enjoy it because they are real Indians, but I’ll bet
they would not stand a ghost of a show in our Fourth of July
Celebration.”
“We ought to have brought along one of the oxen and entered him in the
horse race,” Steve whispered.
They had wandered down one of the streets to look over the baskets and
bead work when an unearthly hubbub broke out on the knoll they had just
left.
“Something doing now, fellows,” Merton yelled, as he led the crowd back
in the direction of the sound at full speed.
“Sounds like a cross between a dog fight and a heron rookery,” Bill
muttered, as he slowly overhauled Merton in the race. Their dash had
caused a veritable stampede of all the visitors in the street, and long
before they reached the scene of the disturbance they were leading a
fair-sized mob.
At the edge of the knoll they stopped short and gazed on the scene in
amazement. Everything was peaceful enough, but prancing around the fire
with a weird, halting step were the braves of the tribe, daubed with war
paint and chanting their wild war song. It was a most monotonous
performance which went on unceasingly without the slightest change, but
there was a certain fascination about it which kept everyone silent for
some time. Unconsciously the onlookers rehearsed in their minds the
scenes of Butler’s raid and imagined these savages lashing themselves in
this way into blood-thirsty fury. Or possibly some of those old chiefs
looking on so grimly were in the force which destroyed Custer’s little
troop. The same people watched and watched and then came back to see it
again.
All evening as the boys wandered from booth to booth bargaining with the
squaws for beaded moccasins and belts, or danced in the pavilion they
could hear that monotonous “Ki yi, ki yi, ki yi, ki yi,” pervading
everything. And late in the evening when they went to bed in their
little camp that dull drone which had at one time caused so many
sleepless nights put them to sleep.
In the morning they continued their shopping. It was a good-natured
crowd composed of people from all over the country with some from the
cities, and two troops of boy scouts. The boys found the squaws shrewd
bargainers, with a thorough knowledge of the value of money and a pretty
good idea of the white man’s craze for Indian trinkets. Nor were they
all as ugly as the one Scott and Merton had seen at the little cabin.
Some of them were strikingly handsome and their richly beaded, bright
garments added much to their barbaric beauty. It was a good deal
of fun arguing with them.
Immediately after lunch the boys packed their duffel and started for
home, for Merton had learned that the logging train went east about
three o’clock. Their trip home was uneventful. They spent the night at
the lumber camp and came in sight of the school about three o’clock in
the afternoon.
“Well, boys,” Bill called in a fatherly tone from a comfortable seat on
the front porch, “how did you enjoy the circus?”
Fifteen miles back up the road the opinion might have been different,
but now that they were home they all declared it great, and as time went
on it became “greater.”
CHAPTER XVI
If any of the boys had come to camp that summer with the idea that times
would be dull there they were beginning to find out how badly they had
been mistaken. As Bill Price said, “there was something doing every
minute and no time to sleep in between.” They had scarcely recovered
from the trip to White Earth when there was more excitement and it
started from an old familiar cause. When they were working in the
nursery one morning about ten o’clock they heard a wild yell down toward
the turn in the Park Rapids road.
It was impossible to determine who it was at that distance, but someone
was swinging jauntily along and commanding them in stentorian tones and
no uncertain terms to get to work. It was impossible long to mistake
that manner and Greenleaf shouted, “It’s Johnson.” They all trooped down
to welcome him, for his sunny disposition and free comradeship had made
him a favorite with everyone.
“Good,” he called as he saw them approaching. “Coming out to welcome the
president, are you? Where are the keys of the city?”
“Glad to see you, freshie,” Merton said grasping his hand warmly. “Where
did you blow in from? We thought you had given up the idea of coming
up.”
“From the city of Arago. Hello, Greenleaf. Morris, you’re black as a
<DW65>. Look at the mustache on Steve. All of you look sort of black and
hairy. You are sure a hard-looking bunch. You see I walked out to the
hotel at Arago last night and completed the trip this morning.”
“What are you going to do here?” Merton asked.
“Me? Oh, I’m going to work for the State Forest Service as special
patrolman. Have to report to the ranger at Park Rapids tomorrow. Thought
I’d pay you a visit.”
They had been walking up the road and now walked onto the campus by the
library. All of them were interested in the news from the outside.
“Look at that old lake,” Johnson exclaimed eagerly. “Looks good to me.
Good swimming?”
“Fine,” Bill said, “you’ll have plenty of chances to try it. Come on
down and see the boathouse. Scotty has a fine canoe, and there’s a bunch
of good boats.”
They moved down the steps and out onto the long dock. Then it happened.
Without a word being spoken Johnson suddenly found himself hanging back
down with four grinning huskies holding his hands and feet while another
trained a camera on him.
“One,” the crowd shouted as he swung out over the water.
“Two,” the swing was more rapid and he felt that he was gathering
momentum.
“Go as far as you like, fellows,” he shouted irrepressibly.
“Three,” and with arms and legs spread wide he circled gracefully far
out over the water like a huge heron. He landed with a tremendous
splash, disappeared for an instant, and swam laughing back to the dock
amidst shouts of side-splitting laughter. Professor Mertz was standing
on the bank fairly choking.
“What’s the next stunt?” Johnson asked, laughingly shaking hands all
around again. “You put one over on me that time. I suppose you fellows
have been lying awake nights preparing a warm reception for me. But come
to think of it, you did not know that I was coming.”
It was hard for anyone who did not know the complete harmony existing in
the camp to realize that the whole scheme was conceived on the spur of
the moment and carried out perfectly without a word. But such was the
case. It had occurred to the whole crowd as to one man and they had
carried it out spontaneously.
“Well,” Merton said, “you took it like a man, so that is all for the
present. The rest depends on you.”
As they came up the <DW72> Scott came tearing down across the campus.
When he came out of the cookshack the whole crew had disappeared from
the nursery. While he was wondering what had become of them he heard the
shouting at the dock but had arrived just too late to see the fun. At
the sight of Johnson dripping from every angle and squirting water from
his boots at every step he stopped short. “What under the—” he started.
“Oh, yes,” Johnson cried in mock sarcasm, “I suppose this is a great
surprise to you. You probably will be asking me next how I got wet.”
They shook hands heartily. They had not been on intimate terms since
Johnson moved out of his room, but here in the woods everything seemed
different. Everyone was intimate with everyone else there.
“Well, how _did_ you get wet?” Scott asked.
“You see in me, my friend,” Johnson orated, striking an imposing
attitude, “the victim of mob violence. A peaceful citizen martyred to
the ancient and dishonorable custom of compulsory immersion. I was duly
baptized in my infancy, but your honorable associates here thought that
it did not take and repeated the dose. In plain language, they threw me
in the lake.”
Johnson had the happy faculty of making capital out of everything that
happened to him and he now moved gayly away with the crowd as solidly a
member of the “gang” as though he had been there all the summer. He
inspected the premises with the air of a proprietor and by evening was
familiar with every detail of the camp. He jollied the cook, made
friends with all the children on the place and arranged a four-day
fishing trip with the postmaster a mile up the lake, because, as he
explained to the other fellows, that gentleman had the only supply of
angle worms in that section of the country.
That evening around the campfire he threw the crew into convulsions with
a dramatic account of the conversation he had heard in Park Rapids
between the express agent and an irate fisherman.
“I tell you there isn’t anything for you,” said the agent.
“But I tell you there must be,” the fisherman retorted. “They were
shipped from Wadena two days ago.”
“Was it a box?” the agent asked, looking over the waybills once more.
“Yes,” snapped the fisherman, “and if it has been lost I’ll sue the
company. I’m not going to have a week’s pleasure spoiled for nothing.”
“Well, there’s nothing here,” the agent answered doggedly.
“I would not have lost them for fifty dollars,” the fisherman raged
angrily. “Nothing is safe with this company any more.”
“What was in it?” asked the agent.
The fisherman almost exploded with excitement. “Seven dozen angle
worms,” he screamed.
“That’s the reason I got next to the postmaster up here,” Johnson
explained, when the laughter had subsided, “the agent said he had some
planted.
“I expected to come up here the first of June,” he continued, “but some
bloated millionaire out at Minnetonka wanted his forest park trimmed up
and I could not resist the temptation to help him out at five dollars
per.”
And so he ran on detailing the news of the cities and bringing the camp
up-to-date on the doings of the rest of the University. He was perfectly
at home. Everyone recognized in Johnson the quick-witted, steady nerved,
natural born leader of men. Scott’s old admiration for Johnson grew as
he listened to him and his conscience hurt him when he thought that he
had never apologized for the boorish manner in which he had received his
friendly advice. He longed to grasp his hand now and apologize—he knew
Johnson would forgive him with undeserved readiness—but he could not do
it before all the fellows and an appointment with Greenleaf to try the
trout stream kept him from doing it that night.
But he made a solemn resolution that he would make full reparation to
Johnson, and to make sure that it would not be overlooked he stored it
away in his memory with the determination to win the ten thousand acres.
He felt that the accomplishment of those two things was essential to his
happiness.
Scott and Greenleaf hated to miss the news but had to leave the campfire
early in order to make the camp near the trout stream, where the
firebreak crew was located, before dark. They had planned to sleep at
the camp and fish early in the morning.
The other boys all made fun of them because the trout stream had the
reputation of being the worst mosquito hole in the park. It was a walk
of only two miles and a half, and they soon located the camp on a little
knoll near the beautiful spring which formed the source of the trout
stream.
The men were smoking around the campfire preparatory to going to bed,
for they kept early hours, especially on Friday night, that they might
start an hour earlier Saturday morning to get off an hour earlier that
night. They were delighted to see the boys, for they had little company,
and doubly delighted at the prospect of trout for lunch.
“You boys did not bring a bear trap along with you, did you?” Dan asked.
“Have you seen a bear?” Greenleaf asked eagerly.
“No,” Dan said, “we didn’t see him, but he stole a dozen eggs and two
pounds of bacon out of the cook tent last night.”
“Why don’t you lay for him?” Scott asked.
“Can’t touch him here in this park,” Dan answered.
“He’s probably ten miles away by this time,” Greenleaf said carelessly.
He thought it was a scheme cooked up to try to scare them.
“No,” Pat said confidently, “he has stolen something from us nearly
every night for a week.”
It never occurred to Scott to doubt the story and he wondered at
Greenleaf’s indifference, but Greenleaf was very cautious and dreaded
being taken in. Dan saw that he did not believe it.
“Do you know a bear track when you see it?” he asked.
“You bet,” Greenleaf answered confidently.
“He left plenty of those visiting cards around here,” Dan said.
Rising he led the way to the cookshack and showed them the claw marks in
the butter tub, and then to the garbage heap where the soft ground was
covered with tracks like those made by a barefoot man.
“No mistaking those,” Greenleaf exclaimed excitedly. “By George, let’s
catch him tonight.”
“What are you going to do with him when you catch him?” Dan asked. “You
can’t kill him, you know.”
“We’ll cage him and take him down to camp. Where are the shovels, Dan?”
Dan produced the shovels and sat down to watch the performance.
Greenleaf was all enthusiasm.
“Come on, Scotty,” he cried. “We’ll dig a hole right here beside the
garbage heap. This seems to be where he comes most.”
The boys worked so energetically that the hole grew apace. They worked
in ten-minute shifts and made the dirt fly. It was almost pure sand with
just enough clay to make the sides stand up, the easiest kind of
digging. The men soon caught the spirit of the thing and volunteered to
take their turns at the shovels. In an hour the pit was completed, five
by five and six feet deep, with perpendicular sides.
“There,” Greenleaf said, clambering out on the end of a shovel Dan
extended to him, “if Mr. Bruin tumbles into that he’s our meat.”
“Yes,” Dan laughed, “he’ll be our meat, but the next thing will be to
cure the meat.”
“We’ll shovel this garbage into the pit to lead him on,” Greenleaf said.
“Now where is the brush you cut when you built this camp? He won’t be as
apt to suspect that as he would fresh cutting.”
“There’s a pile of it up there by the bull pen,” said Pat.
They brought down two or three loads of it and built a weak cover over
the pit, strong around the edges but exceedingly weak in the center.
This was accomplished by placing many small limbs with the heavy ends
resting on one side and the tips on the other, using enough of them for
the butts to make a fairly strong thatch all around the edge.
“Now,” Greenleaf said, “where is something we can use for bait?”
“I thought you put the garbage in there for bait,” Scott suggested.
“No, that was just to prevent him from making a meal off of it without
getting near the pit at all. Besides, he’s been smelling that every
night for a week. We want something real tempting.”
They canvassed the resources of the cook tent and finally decided on the
lid of a pork barrel with a piece of bacon on it. This Greenleaf placed
carefully in the center of the brush covering.
“There,” he exclaimed, “that ought to get him if anything will. Now
let’s make all those things in the cook tent safe so that he cannot get
a meal in there.”
Everything was made shipshape for the night and they went to bed—for it
was already much later than the men had intended to sit up.
“Gee,” Greenleaf whispered to Scott as he wriggled into his blanket,
“isn’t this great? It beats fighting fire, and I’ll bet you tomorrow’s
breakfast we have that bear before morning.”
It was not easy to go to sleep with the prospect of catching a bear any
minute, but they finally made it and dreamed of whole droves of bears
eating at the breakfast table with them. The hard day’s work, the
sighing of the breeze in the jack pines and the great stillness of the
woods made them sleep soundly. No unusual noises disturbed them; the
hours slipped by uncounted. It was half past four when an excited shout
from Dan aroused the whole camp.
“By George, fellows, we’ve got him. He’s in there.”
He did not have to call twice. Greenleaf almost tore a hole in the side
of the tent getting out and the others were close behind him. Sure
enough there in the bottom of the pit was a yearling black bear,
bouncing wildly around and digging furiously at the walls. He made
frequent springs at the edge of the pit and several times succeeded in
clawing the top. He had evidently been very little concerned by his fall
until disturbed by the awakening of the camp—for he had eaten the bacon
and picked the garbage over very thoroughly.
“Ha, ha, my boy,” Greenleaf called to him, “you will steal our eggs,
will you? You’ll make exhibit ‘A’ in our menagerie now for a little
while till we finish with this camp.”
The bear resented the taunts with renewed efforts to escape and he was
clawing down so much dirt from the sides that it was evident he would
soon have enough pulled into the bottom to enable him to jump out. Every
jump he made brought him a little nearer to the surface.
“You fellows put some poles across the top of this pit,” Greenleaf
directed, “good heavy logs, to keep him from getting out and I’ll go
down to camp to get Sturgis to build a cage for him. Don’t let him get
away, whatever you do. Knock him in the head first if you have to.”
With that he was gone. It was only half past five when Sturgis went out
to milk, and saw Greenleaf puffing up the road. He thought the
mosquitoes had probably chased him out as they had several former
fishermen, and he rather wondered at it—for he thought him a better
sticker than that.
“Where are the fish?” he called as soon as Greenleaf was within hailing
distance.
“The mischief with the fish,” Greenleaf panted. “We’ve caught a bear.”
“Caught him,” Sturgis laughed. “Where is he, following you home?”
“Not this trip. I haven’t got him trained yet.”
Greenleaf explained the capture, and suggested that they build a cage to
keep him in till the work on the east line was finished. It seemed the
only thing to do, and they set to work immediately to build a
substantial cage of two by fours and a piece of woven wire hog fence.
They loaded the crude cage on a one-horse wagon and started out for the
camp.
“Won’t those fellows be surprised,” Greenleaf chuckled, “when we bring
them in a bear for breakfast instead of a trout?”
They were soon back at the bear pit, where they found things pretty much
as Greenleaf had left them. The bear had dug down considerably more dirt
but had tired himself out and was lying quietly in the bottom of the
pit. They carried the cage over to the edge of the pit with the open end
close to the edge.
“Little fellow, isn’t he?” Sturgis said, peeping down between the poles.
“We oughtn’t to have much trouble with him.”
“If you had seen him bouncing around in there a while ago,” Dan said,
“you wouldn’t be so sure of it.”
“Well,” Sturgis answered, “we’ll try him, anyway. Pat, you get that
light logging chain while we take these poles away.”
The removal of the logs seemed to give the bear renewed hope, and they
soon found that he was only resting, and not nearly so exhausted as he
looked. He sized them up sullenly for an instant, and then made a
vicious lunge at Dan which brought him head and shoulders above the edge
of the pit. He clung desperately to the rim and only the crumbling of
the sides kept him from getting out. He fell heavily on his back but
recovered himself instantly, sprang again with a vicious snarl, and a
furious blow of his paw laid the leg of Greenleaf’s trousers open for a
foot. Once more the crumbling dirt threw him back.
As Pat came running up with the chain, tying a slip noose in it as he
ran, the bear made another desperate spring and obtained a firm hold
with his front feet, balanced a second and drew up one hind foot to the
solid ground. In another instant he would be free from the pit, an ugly
customer to handle in his infuriated condition. Greenleaf sprang forward
with the intention of pushing him back into the pit with his hands at
the infinite risk of falling in with him, but Dan was ahead of him and
struck the bear a heavy blow on the head with the flat of an ax. The
blow knocked the crazed animal back into the pit just as he had all four
feet on the surface.
“I hate to do it, old man,” Dan said, “but I ain’t crazy to hug you.”
The bear was dazed by the blow and wandered aimlessly around the pit,
snarling horribly. He was not ready to give up yet.
“He pretty near had us that time,” Sturgis said, “but don’t hit him too
hard. Run that noose end of the chain through this far end of the cage,
Pat, out of the open end there and down into the pit. Then if we can get
the noose around his neck we can pull him right into the cage and hold
him there while we nail him up.”
Scott took charge of the noose and attempted to lasso the bear. It was a
difficult trick. Every time he had the noose nearly on the bear would
grab it and bite it savagely. At last he saw his chance. The bear sat up
on his haunches for a better view of his tormentor and Scott dropped the
noose neatly over his head. The noose refused to tighten and Dan reached
down with a shovel to slip it along. The bear slapped it a blow that
tore it out of Dan’s hands and sent it rattling up against the side of
the pit, but his temper proved his undoing. He pounced savagely on the
fallen shovel, the only thing he could reach, and the lunge tightened
the noose.
“Now will you be good?” Scott shouted triumphantly.
“Get on the end of that chain, boys,” Sturgis directed, “and keep it
tight while I dig down this side of the pit so that we can drag him
out.”
The edge of the sandy pit was soon broken down to an easy <DW72> and the
protesting bear was dragged relentlessly into his new home. The hog wire
was quickly fastened across the end of the cage and the chain loosened.
For a few minutes the bear resented its captivity desperately, tore
furiously at the wire, threw itself violently against the side of the
cage, and growled savagely. But it did not last long. The tremendous
exertions in the pit, the heavy blow on the head and the utter futility
of the attacks on the cage had broken his spirit, and abandoning all
hope he lay quietly down in the cage, wholly indifferent to everything.
“That’s the way, old boy,” Greenleaf said soothingly, “take it easy. We
are going to take you to a nice place where you will get more to eat
than you have ever had before in your life.”
They brought the wagon over to load the cage, but found a new
difficulty. The horse had no idea of hauling a bear. The instant he
scented the brute he became almost unmanageable and it required the
combined efforts of the whole crew to keep him from getting away. He
trembled violently and snorted with fear.
“Take him out,” Dan said, “and I’ll get the oxen. They haven’t sense
enough to be afraid of anything.”
Dan did not like the oxen, but he knew their possibilities. When the
change had been made they set out for the school, Greenleaf leading the
procession on the rebellious horse.
The news of the capture had spread rapidly around the campus. Two or
three of the boys met them a mile down the road, the others were all
assembled near the library, students, professors’ families, visitors,
workmen and all, awaiting the arrival of the mighty hunters. Some were
awaiting the further development of what they considered a joke; others
were prompted by genuine curiosity to see a real, live, wild bear.
Greenleaf looked a little anxious at the waiting crowd and then at the
cage. “I wish he’d perk up a little,” he said, riding as near the cage
as the horse would consent to go. “Can’t you twist his tail a little,
Scotty? Bill Price will be saying he was dying when we found him.”
“He hasn’t a great deal of tail to twist, so far as I can make out,”
Scott answered doubtfully, “and nothing seems to arouse him at all. I
wonder if he is going to die after all?”
The crowd cheered loudly as the wagon pulled slowly into the yard and
pushed close around the wagon to inspect the prize.
“You need not be afraid,” Greenleaf assured the ladies, “Dan had to
knock him on the head with the flat of an ax and it has dazed him a
little. He’ll be all right in a little while.”
“What did he hit him for? To loosen him from the ground?” Bill Price
drawled. “You must have had a hard time _dragging_ him into the cage,
Greeny.”
“Never you mind,” Scott retorted, “if you had seen him trying to get out
of that pit and ripping Greenleaf’s trousers nearly off, you’d have
thought he was a pretty lively corpse.”
“In a pit, was he?” Bill asked quietly. “I supposed he was dead but why
do you suppose they tried to bury him?”
“Never mind, Greeny,” Scott consoled him, “Bill would not have had the
nerve to catch a dead one.”
“Cheer up, fellows,” Greenleaf grinned as he helped carry the cage over
to a shady spot, “we’ve got the first bear ever caught in the park, if
he is a dead one, but if you all live to grow up you may catch one
yourselves some day. Who can tell? Bears are dumb brutes.”
Scott looked eagerly around for Johnson but he had already left for Park
Rapids, and Scott had to harbor his troubled conscience for many another
month. It was beginning to hurt. He little dreamed then how splendidly
he would some day square the account.
CHAPTER XVII
The bear recovered from the crack it had received on the head, thrived
in its new mode of life and became one of the curiosities of the park.
It became quite tame, permitted a favored few to scratch its head, and
only occasionally hurled itself at the wire with an ugly snarl when
strangers approached the cage. Different people tried a great variety of
food upon it, but nothing seemed to satisfy it so well as the
blueberries and fish; of these it never tired.
The capture of the bear had opened up a new field of interest to Scott.
He knew the geology of the country thoroughly—could trace the origin of
almost every type of pebble to be found in the glacial drift; his
dendrology and botany had brought him in touch with all the trees and
plants, but the great field of animal life he had completely overlooked.
The bear furnished a point of contact, and he grasped the new lead
eagerly. He undertook the responsibility of feeding the bear regularly
and enjoyed studying his diet and habits. There were many good books on
natural history in the library and he soon obtained a pretty good idea
of bruin in all his relations to man and beast. He was surprised to see
how many new points of interest this study brought out and still more
surprised to find how many traces of bear he could find in the woods now
that he knew enough to look for them.
Naturally to such an active mind as his, the study and observation of
one animal could not help but be an introduction to the other forms of
animal life. The deer, wolves, minks, lynx, wild cats, skunks, otter,
<DW53>s, porcupines, woodchucks, squirrels, chipmunks, frogs, fish, nutes,
salamanders, snakes, birds and a host of others he had never dreamed of
crowded upon his attention and filled the woods with a new interest. Now
that his eyes were opened he could not walk a hundred yards without
seeing something to attract his attention. He was beginning to realize
how the old woodsman with his knowledge of woods’ life could live for
months without human company and never feel lonely.
Greenleaf had long ago discovered this secret, and could help him
greatly in his observations. Almost every Sunday when the other fellows
were enjoying themselves with the girls at the Lodge these two were
canoeing around the lake or tramping through the woods investigating
some of the denizens.
As Greenleaf expressed it: “There’s plenty of time to rush the girls
when you are cooped up in town and can’t get at the other animals.”
It came about very happily that just at the time when Scott was
beginning to get interested in the animals a naturalist came to visit
the camp and a geologist came to give the boys some field work. Scott’s
thorough knowledge of geology let him out of the class work and enabled
him to put in a large part of his time with the naturalist. The trips he
made with this interesting man lent him an enthusiasm and gave him many
practical hints which carried him easily over the preliminary stage
which is apt to be rather discouraging to the uninitiated. It carried
him to a point from which he could easily go on alone.
This new friend, Dr. Barnes, was a man of deep reading and wide
observation, a Chautauqua lecturer, and a most interesting
conversationalist. He had camped all over the north woods studying the
habits and watching the antics of the woods creatures. He was as
delighted to find a fellow enthusiast no matter how green a beginner, as
Scott was to profit by his experience and they became great chums.
The special attraction which had brought Dr. Barnes to that particular
place at that time was an opportunity to study the beaver, of which
there were a great many in the park. Two pairs placed there ten years
before had increased until they populated dozens of lakes and had built
some dams of remarkable size. The evidence of their work was everywhere
but the beavers themselves seemed to possess a wonderful faculty for
keeping out of sight, and Scott was astonished when he tried to look
them up in the books to find how little seemed to be known about them.
“Well, Scotty,” Dr. Barnes called to him one morning, “suppose we paddle
down to the beaver dam on the west arm and reconnoiter a little? I want
to look over the situation there and see if there is an opportunity to
stay down there some night and watch them work—for I believe they work
at night.”
“Very well, sir,” Scott replied, “I am free today, and shall be
delighted to go wherever you suggest.”
“I suggest,” said the doctor, “that we take lunch, explore the place
thoroughly, and, if we find it practicable, go back after supper to
spend the night.”
They were soon ready to start, and armed with a camera and two axes they
paddled swiftly down the west arm. Two deer, standing knee deep in the
water, half hidden by the reeds, watched them curiously as they paddled
past, but they were bent on rarer game, too intent to turn aside.
“They say the dam is up that little creek; it’s a cedar swamp,” Scott
said, “but I don’t know how wet it is.”
“Well, let’s land on that high point just this side of the swamp and we
can work in from there. The dam must touch that dry land somewhere.”
“There. The canoe is safe. Shall we take our lunches?” Scott asked.
“Certainly,” the doctor replied emphatically, “one of the first rules of
the woods; never get separated from your lunch.”
They climbed the steep bank to a bench which marked a former level of
the lake. It had been covered by a good stand of popple, but most of it
was now down, apparently thrown by a windstorm. Suddenly Dr. Barnes
spied a stump.
“Can it be—” he began excitedly running over to examine the stump. “Yes,
sir, that one, that one, that one, everyone of them gnawed down by the
beaver.”
He was trotting hurriedly from stump to stump. Scott hastened to examine
one of them and found it very distinctly marked with the print of teeth,
as though it had been cut off with a series of gouges with a concave
chisel. It was a very neat job.
“Just about two acres cleared clean,” he said, as the doctor puffed up
from the swamp. “I did not know they cut down such big trees.”
“Big trees!” the doctor echoed. “There’s a stump down there on the edge
of the swamp fifteen inches in diameter. We must have some pictures of
this.”
While the Doctor busied himself with the pictures Scott scouted around.
“Look here,” he shouted excitedly, “here are some regular skidways and
logging roads.”
The Doctor came on the run. “Yes, sir, well planned ones, too. You see
they cut down the tree simply to get the twigs and smaller branches. The
latter they haul down these skidways, float to their pond near the house
and keep under water so that they can peel them in the winter time. Now
let’s go look for the dam. There ought to be a beaver trail down to the
swamp.”
He was right. A well beaten trail led them down to the swamp and right
to the end of the dam. It was a queer looking structure; a low
embankment of dirt and sticks winding away across the swamp, which was
dry below the dam and covered with a foot of water above. They walked
along the top of the dam pacing the distance as they went. As they
neared the stream the dam increased in height to about six feet backing
up a corresponding depth of water.
“Two hundred and forty feet,” the doctor said, “isn’t it wonderful?”
“What is it for?” Scott asked.
“You see they had to build it so long on account of the swamp. If the
banks of the stream had been steep the dam would have been short. They
build it to keep water always around the house, which is built in the
pond above the dam. The entrance to it is under water. The wolves can’t
get into it. Besides that it gives them a chance to get under the ice
for their sticks in the winter. See that big pile of sticks out there in
the pond? That is the house. Let’s see if we can get out there.”
By walking fallen trees and wading shallow bars they finally reached the
house. It was some fifteen feet across and protruded about four feet
above the water. It was built of sticks—all of them providently peeled
beforehand—from an inch to three inches in diameter, the whole plastered
thickly with mud. It seemed perfectly solid. There were a few tracks in
the mud and a whimpering such as might be made by small pups came from
the inside, but no beavers were to be seen. They retraced their way to
the dam.
“Right there,” the doctor said, pointing to a mound of comparatively dry
moss, “we could spend the night quite comfortably. I believe that if we
break a hole in the dam so that they can hear the running of the water
they will come to fix it up.”
They made their way down the stream. There were several other dams which
had apparently been abandoned, all short, but one of them higher than
the new one. Just before they reached the lake Dr. Barnes was delighted
to find an old abandoned house.
“Now,” he exclaimed excitedly, “we’ll see what it’s like inside.”
The solidity of the structure was wonderful, but by dint of considerable
hard work with the axes they cut away half of the house, showing the
interior in cross section. It was some time before Scott had a chance to
inspect it himself for the hole was no sooner opened than the doctor
crawled into it head first; spasmodic wriggling of his legs and a series
of muffled exclamations alone told of the state of his emotions. He
stayed so long that Scott began to fear that he had moved in there to
live. He finally wriggled out very red in the face, and very jubilant.
“Why don’t you look in there?” he asked. “You can see just how they
live.”
Scott did not waste any time explaining why he had not looked in, but
crawled eagerly into the muddy opening. Much to his surprise he found
the floor of the house well above the level of the stream and perfectly
dry. The roof of the house was arched up with great skill leaving an
opening in which a good-sized man could curl up very comfortably. On two
sides there were tunnels leading down to small dirt landings almost on a
level with the surface of the water. From these the beaver could slip
conveniently under the water, still within the house, and swim out
through a submarine passage. It was certainly a very ingenious
arrangement—for they had all the advantages of living on land and at the
same time were protected absolutely from the attacks of all land
animals. The floor was covered with fish bones, which Scott learned
later had probably been left there by the mink who had made use of the
house after its abandonment by the original inhabitants—for the beavers
themselves do not eat fish.
No sooner had Scott wriggled out than the doctor crawled laboriously in
again with a pencil and envelope in his teeth to draw a sketch of the
interior. This completed and several photographs taken of the house from
all angles, they ate lunch, traced out the boundaries of the cuttings on
both sides of the swamp and paddled home to prepare their outfit for a
night in the wet moss. Dr. Barnes was all enthusiasm.
The other boys had no desire to share in the expedition, but they were
immensely interested in a way and shouted bits of advice and sarcastic
sympathy after the canoe as long as it was in range.
The long twilight gave them plenty of time, and they sneaked the canoe
along the edge of the lily pads in hope of catching some of the beavers
out foraging—for it was the time of day when they were most often seen.
As they approached the cedar swamp they observed a green popple branch
moving mysteriously and swiftly across the surface of the lake. Closer
observation showed that it was being vigorously pushed along by an
energetic beaver. They gave chase to see what he would do. He was
evidently loath to give up the prize, for he only swam the faster,
throwing quite a swell like a small tug boat. Finally the pursuit became
too hot for him and he abandoned the branch, diving under the surface
with a splash. Several times he came up to reconnoiter, diving again
almost instantly. Each time he dived he struck the water a blow with his
broad flat tail which sent his head under with a jerk and made a report
easily heard a half-mile away over the still water.
They paddled the canoe over toward the shore again to see if he would
recover the branch. After several false starts he took it in tow once
more and disappeared with it up the creek. When the canoe was still some
distance from the shore they spied another beaver dodging around the
lily pads. He was so intent on his own business that he did not seem to
notice the silently moving canoe. He was evidently making his evening
meal off of the yellow lily buds. Rising head and shoulders above the
water, he would devour a bud with great relish, sink silently into the
water and come up alongside of another juicy bud. They followed these
maneuvers for some time before he took alarm, dived with a loud splash
and was seen no more.
They scouted around cautiously but failed to find any more night
marauders.
“We’d better go ashore now,” the doctor suggested, “and fix things up
for the night. It may get dark before we are ready.”
They pulled the canoe up on the marshy shore and made their way up the
stream to the spot they had picked in the morning. The mound of moss
proved to be none too large, but the blankets were finally arranged so
that they thought they could spend the night in comparative comfort.
“Now for a hole in the dam,” the doctor said, with suppressed
excitement. “Where’s the ax?”
They soon found that a pick would have been more effective. The dam was
built even better than they had thought. The sticks were woven together
and plastered with a solidity that astounded them. A breach some three
feet long and a foot deep was finally made, and the water came pouring
out with a rush which must have appalled the beavers.
“There,” said the Doctor panting from his exertions, “that ought to
bring them all to the rescue. We must keep very still and wait
patiently.”
“Do you think they can smell us here?” Scott asked anxiously. “We are
pretty close to the break.”
“No, I don’t think so; most of these water animals rely more on sight
and hearing than on smell. They may be suspicious for a while, but they
will have to fix it for fear of having their pond drained.”
It did not take the beavers long to discover the break in the dam. The
watchers had scarcely settled themselves on their blankets when they
heard the distant plunk of a diving beaver in the pond. There was a
moment of tense silence and then another plunk nearer.
“Here they come,” the doctor whispered excitedly. “Keep quiet.”
The approaching beaver evidently wanted to investigate the leak, but had
no idea of being drawn into an ambush. He circled cautiously around at a
distance, diving nervously at short intervals, till, finally assured
that there was no danger, he swam boldly up to the breach and nosed
around it. They could see the faint glimmer from the little roll of
water he pushed along in front of him and once he passed so close to
them that they could hear his heavy breathing. Then he swam quietly
away.
“That must be the watchman sent to reconnoiter,” the Doctor explained.
“He has gone back to report on the break.”
He must have made a very lengthy report or had some trouble in
convincing the others, for it was a full hour before they heard anything
from him. Then once more they heard the distant “plunks.” Much to their
disappointment he came alone. He repeated the same performance as before
and disappeared once more.
“He must have forgotten some of the details,” Scott muttered.
Another hour of waiting and he came again. He seemed worried over the
escaping water but showed no inclination to repair the dam.
The next hour it was the same thing. “He must patrol this place all
night,” Scott suggested. “Do you notice that he strikes the hour almost
to the dot?”
“Yes,” the doctor murmured, a little sleepily. “They must come to repair
that dam pretty soon. We ought to have made the hole deeper.”
It grew cold in the swamp and each hour seemed colder than the preceding
one. The dismal squawk of a night hawk or the honk of a passing blue
heron sounded occasionally above the monotonous flowing of the water. An
owl seemed to be hooting fun at them from a neighboring tree—for he
always started up just after the sentinel had made his round, and along
toward morning the occasional scream of a <DW53> just returning from his
night’s marauding, pierced the stillness. The crowded quarters on the
little mound of moss were very hard on cramped muscles and the lack of
industry on the part of the proverbially busy beavers was thoroughly
disappointing. Scott was beginning to feel his enthusiasm in the beavers
oozing away.
The dawn, that chilling interval between night and morning, was stealing
upon them and soon the streaks of light began appearing in the eastern
sky.
The Doctor stretched himself as much as he dared without getting his
feet in the water and sat up shivering. “I guess we have seen about all
we are going to see this trip,” he said despondently. “We might as well
go down here on dry ground where we can stretch ourselves and cook
breakfast.”
“Don’t you suppose they are going to fix that blooming dam sometime?”
Scott asked in disgust.
“Surely they’ll fix it,” the doctor replied confidently; “maybe they
work in the daytime. We’ll come back again sometime, break the dam wide
open, and hide on a platform in the trees. Maybe that would get them.”
Scott made a mental resolve that he would not make one of the party in
the tree, but the little doctor’s ardor was so little dampened by the
failure that he soon felt ashamed of himself.
“After all,” the doctor said reassuringly as they paddled back to camp,
“we did not fail altogether. All scientific facts are collected slowly,
one by one, and each new one is so much added to the sum of human
knowledge. We have seen a beaver patrolman on his beat—even had some
water splashed on us by him—and that’s more than any other scientist I
know can say.”
CHAPTER XVIII
It was Saturday evening and the boys had gathered around the campfire on
the lakeshore—for the breeze was rather chilly as it often was even in
those summer months. Most of them had been working all day and were now
content enough to lie idly by the fire listening lazily to the
three-days-old baseball news or throwing gibes at Higby and Porter who
were preparing for their nightly canoe trip to the Lodge.
“Gee,” Greenleaf said, “I wish something exciting would turn up.”
“Caught any more sick bear?” Steve asked sarcastically.
“That bear was the liveliest corpse you ever saw,” Greenleaf retorted.
“The bears have not bothered any more lately, but I found a peach of a
partridge nest this afternoon. Eleven eggs in it. And on the way home I
found a mallard duck’s nest away up on the hill back of the dining hall.
There were eleven eggs in that, too. You better get some pictures of
them in the morning, Morris.”
“How will those ducks ever get down to the lake?” Morris asked.
“March down,” Greenleaf answered. “The day after they hatch every one of
them will be in the lake. You ought to have seen that old partridge when
I found the nest. She fluttered right across my feet twice, playing at a
broken wing, and when I went away she ran after me hissing and whining
like a pup. I reckon she thought she scared me out.”
“Probably did,” Bill Price insinuated.
Before Greenleaf could retort Sturgis came around the corner of the
library and called him.
“I wonder if he is going to spoil my evening?” Greenleaf growled, but he
jumped up cheerfully enough. He was doing some extra work clerking for
Sturgis.
The two disappeared around the library, and the desultory discussion
around the fire continued. In a few minutes Greenleaf walked back to the
fire alone. He stood there talking casually until he had caught Scott’s
eye, when with an almost imperceptible raising of the eyebrows he
beckoned him away. He walked off whistling toward the bunkhouse and
Scott soon followed him.
“What is it?” Scott asked eagerly, when he had overtaken the loitering
figure, for he had caught something in Greenleaf’s eye which showed
excitement.
“What is it?” Greenleaf repeated excitedly. “It’s something that will
make capturing that bear look pretty tame.”
“What?”
“Catching a man,” Greenleaf said mysteriously.
Scott was burning up with curiosity. “Well, why don’t you tell a fellow
what it is instead of mooning around like a hero in a dime novel? Who is
the man? Where is he? What has he done?”
“We don’t know who he is,” Greenleaf answered, with exasperating
deliberation, “and you mustn’t talk so loud about it. There is no
telling who may be in with them. It would not do to have them warned
now.”
Scott gritted his teeth. “If you don’t want your neck broken you’d
better explain this thing. What’s it all about, anyway?”
Greenleaf looked around suspiciously and drew Scott out into the open
tennis court. “Sturgis has a hunch,” he whispered, “that those men who
are working on the north road are trying to snare deer in the park. He
wants us to help him catch them. It’s against the law, you know, and
he’s a game warden.”
“Whereabouts are they?” Scott asked eagerly.
“He thinks the snares are over in Hubbard ravine. We’ll go over there
tonight and try to catch them in the early morning when they come to
look at the snares.”
“Gee,” Scott chuckled, “that will be something worth while. Are we going
to start now?”
“Sturgis said he would wait for us at the corner of the pasture. We’d
better take our coats with us; it’ll be cold waiting.”
A few minutes later the three had met and were hurrying out the old road
toward the ravine. The boys were eager with suppressed excitement. They
felt the primitive thrill of the manhunter.
“How did you hear about it?” Scott asked.
“One of the men heard them talking,” Sturgis said, “and saw them hanging
around the ravine one evening when he was going home.”
“How many are there?” Greenleaf asked.
“Two men and a boy up there, but probably we cannot get more than one of
them. They will not all come to see the traps.”
“Do you think they’ll fight?” Scott asked eagerly.
“No,” Sturgis said, “I doubt if they will fight much, but they’ll
probably put up an awful run for it. There’s a hundred dollars’ fine.”
They walked on for a while in silence, each one figuring out his tactics
for the coming battle. It was a very dark night. Only the blacker
outline of the trees against the dark sky indicated the opening of the
road ahead of them. Now and then they heard some night prowler rustling
through the brush, or the swift short rush of a frightened rabbit. Once
they came dangerously near stumbling over an indifferent porcupine who
refused to give them the road. It made them a little more careful how
they picked their steps.
“We’ll have to leave the road here,” Sturgis said, stopping at a trail
which would have been entirely invisible to anyone not thoroughly
familiar with the woods at night. “They may be looking for tracks in the
road in the morning and we don’t want to scare them off.”
It was slow work picking their way along that crooked trail. It wound
through a dense stand of young jack pine, and the darkness was absolute.
Again and again Sturgis had to wait for them, for it was necessary that
they be in touch with each other if they were to stay together. It
seemed to Scott as though they must have gone miles and miles, but he
knew that it could not be far. The steep side <DW72> on which they were
traveling told him that they were on the edge of the ravine. The whir of
frogs in the hollow told of a shallow lake. They left the side hill
trail to avoid the gullies and then wound here and there to keep out of
the denser brush. Scott no longer had the slightest idea where he was or
which way he was going, but Sturgis evidently had his bearings, for he
turned abruptly down the hill across a narrow neck between two swamps.
On the opposite edge he stopped to listen.
“Those fellows are camped right up there a quarter of a mile,” he said.
“Don’t make any noise, because they may have a dog in camp.”
Scott was astonished to find that they were on a road, but it was
grass-grown and would tell no tales. Once more they turned from the
road, this time into an open stand of Norway pine free from undergrowth.
They had gone just far enough to be out of the way of any stragglers
from the road when Sturgis stopped. “We’ll wait here,” he said. “It’s a
pity we cannot light a fire, for it will be cold.”
“Why did we start so early?” Greenleaf asked. “They are not likely to
come before morning.”
“No,” Sturgis said, “they won’t come before morning but I don’t know
just where that runway is. The moon will be up after a while, so that we
can find it and pick out a good place to hide.”
“What sort of a trap do they use?” Scott asked.
“They don’t use a trap,” Sturgis said, “they use a snare. Bend down a
sapling, attach a wire loop to it, and fasten it down with a trip. You
don’t want to get into it for it may be a good-sized tree and it would
jar you some.”
They waited in silence for two hours. It was too cold to sleep. Scott
tried it once, but he soon woke up shivering. After that he tried to
keep warm by deep breathing and straining one muscle against another.
The darkness was beginning to seem interminable when the moon, coming
slowly above the horizon, cast a faint shimmer of light through the
clouds. As the light grew stronger Scott distinguished the steep
declivity close in front of them leading down to the swamp and
recognized the trout stream which the bear had kept him from fishing.
The tangled swamp looked in that half light like a pretty poor place in
which to catch a man, but he tightened his shoe lacings at the mere
thought of the race and the blood tingling through his veins soon warmed
him.
“Now let’s see if we can find that runway,” Sturgis said, rising
stiffly. “Look out for that snare.”
They crawled slowly along the edge of the hill, searching for the
deer-trail and taking great care not to leave a trail themselves—for as
Sturgis had said, men who were running the risk of a hundred-dollar fine
would be mighty suspicious of the least sign of an intruder. They had
not gone over forty rods when they came to a very plain trail leading
down into the swamp. “This must be the trail,” Sturgis said, “and this
little clump of young popple is a good place to hide. They ought to come
from this side.”
Once more they took up the silent, weary watch. It seemed to Scott as if
he must get crosseyed looking down that narrow trail. Occasionally his
eyes would become so blurred that he had to take a general survey of the
surrounding country to relieve his strained muscles. There was not a
sound in the woods. It was that period which is a sort of “no man’s
land” in the daily program, the time when life seems at its lowest ebb,
when the sinister noises of the night have ceased and the songs of the
morning have not yet begun.
Slowly the sky began to pale and the birds began to move restlessly in
the trees. Almost before they could fully realize it the world was wide
awake. The light grew stronger and stronger till the real sunlight was
visible spreading fanlike up from the eastern horizon.
“Well,” Sturgis said nervously, stretching himself, “if they are coming
it is pretty near time for them to be here.” He peered out through the
bushes toward the camp and immediately jerked his head back violently.
“By George, there comes Newman, now,” he exclaimed excitedly. “Don’t
make a sound, whatever happens.”
From their hiding place in the bushes they could see a man making his
way rapidly up the hill. He was coming almost directly towards them. It
seemed as though he must feel those burning eyes, for on the brow of the
hill he stopped and looked suspiciously around him. His eyes traveled
searchingly over the ground.
Suddenly there was a crash in the swamp below, followed instantly by a
cry like the bleat of a frightened sheep. It so startled the tense
nerves in the bushes that they surely would have been betrayed had it
not affected the newcomer so much more. At that sound he threw caution
to the winds and bounded down the hill, crashing through the brush like
a moose.
“What was that noise?” Scott whispered.
“A deer in the snare,” Sturgis said. “Come on. Don’t make any noise
unless he runs, and then after him.”
They crept stealthily down the hillside, keeping under cover as much as
possible but relying mostly on the deer’s occupying the poacher’s
attention. They did not have far to go, for the snare was not over a
hundred yards from their hiding place. Before they had covered half the
distance they could catch glimpses of Newman through the brush vainly
struggling with the deer. The noose had caught it around the body just
in front of the hind legs and suspended it clear of the ground. It was
thrashing the air violently with its front feet and blatting in the
frenzy of despair. Newman tried at first to cut its throat, but found it
impossible to get past those murderous feet. He was just turning to cut
a club when he saw his pursuers not over thirty yards away.
The boys in their tennis shoes had easily distanced Sturgis. When they
saw that their approach was discovered they bounded ahead with an
exultant shout. Each picked his own way through the swamp, and neither
thought of anything save the flying figure ahead of him. They were both
good runners but fear lent wings to the feet of the fugitive and he knew
the swamp better than they. They fell through holes in the sphagnum and
went sprawling. Had Newman stuck to the swamp he might have
out-distanced them, but at the north boundary he took to the firebreak
and started eastward over the ridge. The boys came out on the solid
ground fifty yards behind him.
“Now we’ve got him.” Scott hissed between his teeth, and he shot away
over the hard ground at a terrific pace. Greenleaf’s breath was coming
in gasps, but Scott’s endurance was standing him in good stead. They
closed on the poacher at every jump and were already within twenty yards
of him when a frightened glance over his shoulder told him that he had
no chance in the open road. He turned suddenly into the dense brush and
dodged like a jack rabbit. Greenleaf caught his toe on a fallen log and
went crashing out of the race.
Finding only one man behind him and that man almost within striking
distance Newman turned at bay. But he was so exhausted that he could
hardly stand. He waved his knife threateningly, and tried to warn Scott
off, but his hot breath choked him.
[Illustration: He waved his knife threateningly, and tried to warn Scott
off.]
“Better give it up, old man,” Scott said, eying him coolly. “You’re all
in.”
The man swayed unsteadily, and gasped what was meant to be a threat.
“Come,” Scott commanded, taking a step forward, “drop that knife and be
sensible.” He snatched up a stick and advanced resolutely. The man still
waved the knife sullenly. With one quick blow of the stick Scott sent
the knife flying and almost at the same instant felled the man with a
left to the jaw. Greenleaf came up panting, and the man showed no
further signs of fight. Scott secured the knife as a trophy of the
chase.
“Now get up and come along sensibly,” Scott commanded.
Neither Greenleaf nor the poacher had sufficient breath left to talk and
they made their way out to the road in silence. It was not till then
that either of them noticed that Sturgis was not with them or even in
sight on the road.
“We certainly could not have lost him,” Scott exclaimed.
“Maybe he twisted a leg in that swamp,” Greenleaf suggested. “I came
near it several times.”
As they hurried along they were surprised to find how far they had come.
They had covered a good half-mile after they left the swamp.
“No wonder I was so pesky winded,” Greenleaf said, as they made their
way slowly along the hillside. “That’s the farthest I have run since the
bear chased me in Montana. Here’s that deer trail. We can cross the
swamp now.”
The swamp was very narrow and before they had gone four rods Newman
stopped with a gasp. The boys followed his frightened stare and horror
almost paralyzed them for an instant. Then they burst into roars of
laughter in which Newman joined maliciously. There, only a short
distance ahead of them, was Sturgis, suspended by one foot from a deer
snare so that only his head and shoulders rested comfortably in the soft
moss. They were afraid at first that he was badly hurt, but the sheepish
look of humiliation was too much for their gravity. Ten feet beyond, the
deer was still struggling on another wire.
“Are you—” Scott began, but burst into another uncontrollable fit of
laughter. “Are you hurt, Sturgis?” he managed to get out between the
explosions.
“Nothing but my feelings,” Sturgis answered dryly. “Bend that sapling
down a minute. There. I see now why you set two of these things,
Newman,” he added as he waved his leg cautiously around to see if it
would work.
“Why didn’t you yell?” Greenleaf asked.
“Well, at first I was too astonished to yell and then I was afraid that
if I did you would stop and let Newman get away. I wanted you pretty
badly anyway, Newman, and I wouldn’t have had you get away after this
for twice the fine.”
Even the mention of the fine could not suppress the grin on Newman’s
face. When they had sufficiently recovered they turned their attention
to the deer. It was no easy task to get him down. He was somewhat tired
by the long struggle but still promised an awful punishment to anyone
who might try to touch him.
Newman had become resigned to his fate and was beginning to enjoy the
situation. “I put him up there,” he chuckled, “now let’s see you get him
down.” He sat down on a log to see the fun.
Greenleaf came to the rescue as usual, “I’ll climb the tree and cut off
the top. Then we can handle him.”
Cutting off the top was a simple proposition but the “handling” was more
complicated. For a moment it looked as though there were at least twenty
deer. The air seemed to be full of them and it was not safe to go near.
Greenleaf could not even get down out of the tree. But such violent
antics could not last long in the dense brush. In a very few minutes the
deer was completely tangled up in the wire and lay panting in a clump of
alders unable to get up. Cautiously Sturgis sneaked up from behind and
unfastened the wire loop. Scott, venturing a little too close had his
trousers slit from the knee to the ankle with one vicious blow of that
delicate front foot.
For an instant—and only an instant—the deer did not realize that it was
free. Then with one bound it landed squarely on all four feet, cleared
the clump of alders as lightly as a puff of smoke, and bounced away up
the ridge the white tail waving defiance.
The progress home was slow—for Sturgis’ leg was rather badly
wrenched—but they managed to get there just as the boys were coming down
from breakfast and their advent into camp was, if possible, more
triumphant than when they had captured the bear.
CHAPTER XIX
The days in camp had come to an end, come insensibly to an end, for time
had glided so swiftly from one event to another that it was almost
impossible to believe that those four months, which had seemed so long
in the spring, had actually gone.
It was about seven o’clock in the morning when the canoes put out slowly
from the boathouse, one by one, and assembled in a little compact fleet
just outside the swimming raft ready for the seven-hundred-mile trip
down the river. When the last had joined the fleet there was a mighty
wholehearted yell for the old camp, before they all shot away together
toward the river. The yell was answered by the one lonely scream of a
loon.
There was many a lingering backward look as long as the camp was in
sight, but once in the shallow river they were soon too busy to think of
it. The river was low, and the mighty Father of Waters was in many
places unable to float the little fleet. They frequently had to resort
to towlines and it was noon before they passed the mouth of Sucker Brook
and La Salle, where they had comparatively deep water. Even then
progress was slow, for the lumbermen had blocked the river in many
places with splash dams to enable them to drive their logs. Night caught
them less than half way to Bemidji.
“And that,” Bill Price said as he looked back up the narrow river of
shallow water, “is one of the largest rivers in the world. It certainly
looks as though it would have to grow some.”
Ten miles above Bemidji the next afternoon they ran onto the remnant of
the spring drive and had to pick their way through the bobbing logs with
care. It was slow work and not over safe, but they persevered till late
in the evening and finally camped on the shore of Lake Bemidji.
From there on the going was better. The paddlers changed places every
half hour to utilize the third man, the portages became less frequent
and the little line of canoes slipped rapidly down the river and into
Cass Lake. In the center of the lake they saw a beautiful pine-covered,
star-shaped island which they recognized from the stories they had heard
of it. They stopped there for lunch and had a look at the pretty little
lake in the center of it believed by the Indians to be the home of the
Windigo, or Indian devil. No one of the native Indians would for any
consideration consent to spend a night on the island. Whatever the
character of the Windigo he certainly knew how to pick out a beautiful
home.
Early the next morning they came to the entrance of Lake Winnibigoshish
only to find themselves blocked by an unexpected obstacle. The stiff
breeze had lashed the shallow water into a tangle of white-capped waves
in which a canoe would have led a very precarious life even if there had
been no other danger. But the rough water was only a very small part of
it. The lake had been very greatly enlarged by a high government dam
which had caused the backed-up waters to spread over several square
miles of forest. This flooding had killed all the trees in the
overflowed area and left half the lake dotted with dead stubs, some
rising high above the surface, others lurking treacherously just out of
sight. This made it absolutely unsafe for any boat except on a perfectly
quiet day and even then a sharp lookout was necessary.
It was very exasperating to see that great expanse of water, looking to
them like a broad parade ground, after the crooked lane of the river,
and yet not be able to venture across it. For two days they lolled
around camp waiting impatiently while the wind blew steadily.
That evening Merton was goaded to desperation. “You fellows can do as
you please,” he said determinedly, “but I am going to cross that lake
tomorrow at sunrise. It ought to be smooth at that time of day, but I am
going if she is standing straight on end.”
“Well,” Bill said suavely, “of course it does not matter much about your
drowning yourself, but it would be a pity to smash up that canoe.”
“It’s an old one,” Merton laughed, “and I’ve used it long enough.”
“I’ll go with you,” Scott announced resolutely; “that’s no place for a
man to go alone.”
“Oh, I am not going alone. Our whole boat is agreed on it.”
“Then we’ll all go,” Bill said, “you fellows have no monopoly on the
sand in this lake.”
So it came about that the rising sun found the five canoes threading
their way cautiously out among the sunken trees toward the open water.
The sea was a little choppy, but the boys figured that they could make
it across before the wind came up. Once in the deep water they drove
steadily ahead, eager for the shelter of the opposite shore. It was a
tremendous lake and seemed, now that they were in the middle of it,
larger than it had before.
At nine o’clock the wind began to rise perceptibly. They were still some
miles from shore and getting into the submerged timber again. There were
many narrow escapes, but the light canoes seemed to bear charmed lives
and grazed impudently past those cruel black stubs.
The boys had missed so many of them that they became indifferent to the
danger. Suddenly there was a vicious rending sound as a sharp dead
tamarack pierced the bottom of Morris’s boat as though it had been an
eggshell, narrowly missing Bill Price, who was third man in that boat.
Quick as a flash Bill broke off the stub with one savage kick and
pressed a tent fly tightly down on the break.
“Need help?” Merton called as the other canoes closed in.
“Not yet,” Bill answered quietly. “Now, Morris, you and Steve paddle for
shore as tight as you can go while I hold down this pack and bail for
it.”
The canoe went swiftly on while Bill, seated on the pack, built a small
coffer-dam around himself with blankets and bailed out the water with a
quart cup. It rose steadily in spite of his best efforts and began to
ooze over the dam. It seemed only a matter of minutes before the canoe
would sink. They were making pretty good time, taking chances on not
striking any more stubs and rapidly shortening the distance to shore.
At the end of ten minutes the canoe was pretty low in the water. “I
can’t make it, fellows,” Bill panted. “Get Mert to tow us and all three
of us can keep it down easily.”
They cast a line to the nearest canoe, Merton’s, and all three plied the
bailing cups. Slowly the water began to go down and the canoe floated
higher.
“I’ll try paddling again,” Morris said. “You and Steve can keep her
down, I guess.”
This arrangement greatly increased the speed and the two bailers managed
to keep the water down. At last they scraped on the solid ground.
“There,” Bill said as they scrambled ashore and pulled up the disabled
canoe, “I feel better now. I kept thinking how unpleasant it would be if
I had to swim ashore with one of those sharp stubs puncturing my stomach
the way it did that canoe. I had a hunch that it would do it, too.”
The other canoes came safely through and everyone gathered around to see
the damage. It proved to be an easy hole to patch and the little
procession was soon on its way down the river.
“I suppose it was a foolish thing to do,” Merton said, “but I’m glad we
did it. That wind is just ripping again and there is no telling when we
should have gotten across.”
The rest of the river was easy traveling and the rapid current helped
them along wonderfully. There were a few rapids which they shot
successfully, a few dams where they had to portage and one or two places
where the logs were so thick that they had trouble in picking their way
through them, but most of the time it was plain sailing.
Among the most interesting sights along the river to them was the big
paper mill at Little Falls. They knew that they would have the process
to study in their course in by-products the next semester, and took the
opportunity to see it first hand. Merton interviewed the manager and
found him very ready to show them through the whole factory. They found
that he had made a canoe trip part way down the river himself at one
time, and was very much interested in their adventures.
The manager invited them to spend the evening at his home, but they had
not spent a night in a town since they started and resolved not to do
so. They thanked him heartily and took to their canoes.
There were very few obstructions in the river below Little Falls and by
putting in long hours they made wonderful time. On the evening of the
second day they sighted the lights of Minneapolis.
“The town looks good to us now, fellows,” Merton said, “but we have left
the best summer of our lives behind us.”
“You bet we have,” was the answering chorus, and for a moment the little
group looked silently and wistfully at each other before they scattered
their several ways.
CHAPTER XX
Two weeks later the old Itasca crowd was assembled on the campus and
beginning the routine of the classroom once again. It was easy to pick
them out anywhere among the students. Their sunburned faces and the
independent, self-reliant air drilled into them by the life of the camp,
together with the strong bond of fellowship which made them flock
together, work together and loaf together made them the natural leaders.
They had done things and knew what they could do; they had borne
responsibility and were unfrightened by it; they had worked out the
problem of governing themselves all summer and readily applied their
experience to the governing of others. In addition to all that they were
the senior class. It was only natural that they should control all the
politics in the college and be the nucleus around which all the college
activities formed. They neither dictated nor grabbed, but their
influence was irresistible.
The new semester brought them new courses of study: forest management,
lumbering, forest by-products, wood preservation and forest law. The
work was practically all technical now. Among these studies Scott found
in lumbering an all-absorbing interest. The other subjects he liked well
enough, but of the lumbering he could not get too much.
Scott was sorely disappointed to find that Johnson had not returned to
college. With his usual luck that young man had gained the confidence of
a big lumberman with whom he had come in contact in the course of his
duties as patrolman and had been given charge of the logging inspection
in some of the northern camps. He was staying out a year for the
experience. The greater Scott’s success became, the more keenly he felt
his debt to Johnson. It seemed as though fate were spitefully keeping
them apart. Several times he had thought of writing but somehow that
seemed cowardly and he had decided to wait.
The weeks slipped by comparatively uneventfully. The seniors had struck
their stride and felt that they were coming down the home stretch of a
professional course; the outside events which had formerly meant so much
to them were incidental now, and their real interest lay in the work.
Christmas was almost come—the second Christmas since Scott had left his
quiet New England home—and the boy longed to go back there to see the
old folks. He had at one time made up his mind to go, but on more mature
reflection decided that it could not be. He knew that he would better go
to the woods and put in all the time he could in the lumber camps.
Scott realized that most of the men had more woods experience than he.
Moreover, the men in his class would spend the month of January in the
lumber camps while he, on account of irregularities in his course, could
not leave the college at that time. If he was to see anything of the
lumbering operations in that section he must do it in the Christmas
vacation.
Thus it happened that the Saturday before Christmas found Scott
traveling northward towards the logging camps with no other companion
than Greenleaf who had decided to accompany him.
It was really a long trip. It did not seem long, however, till they
alighted on a short platform where the train left them, the only living
creatures in sight.
“Prosperous looking place,” Greenleaf commented, as he looked out over a
broad expanse of brush-dotted snow to where a line of timber loomed
against the sky.
“Pleasant place to be put off at night,” Scott said. “I wonder where
that mail carrier is the old man told us about?”
As though the question had called him to view, a tall gaunt pacer
whisked out of a tamarack swamp on the other side of the track, jerking
a light cutter over the bumpy trail at a tremendous pace. He seemed to
be going wherever he liked and it required quite a stretch of the
imagination to conceive that the man in the sleigh was driving him.
“You from camp No. 11?” Greenleaf asked, when the gaunt horse had
consented to stop for a minute.
“Yes,” the man growled between his teeth, as he tried to hold the horse.
“Mr. Grafton told us to go out with you,” Greenleaf said, throwing in
the mail sack and climbing in after it. Scott jumped in the back and the
horse started with a plunge.
“Seems like a lively horse,” Scott said, as he hung on for dear life
while the horse jerked the sleigh along in a series of lunges over the
poorly covered corduroy.
“He ain’t goin’ none yet,” the man growled; “wait till we get off this
corduroy.”
At last the bumping ceased and the sleigh slid lightly over a smooth
road. “Now git, if you must,” the driver said, slackening his hold on
the lines. The plunging ceased instantly as the big horse stretched
himself to a steady, swinging pace and shot up the road like an arrow.
The snowballs from his hoofs pelted them in a shower and the zero wind
cut like a knife. For a good mile the pace never slackened or faltered.
From there on the road was bad and they had to go slowly but there was
no more plunging. The big fellow had had his go and was satisfied.
“Gee,” Greenleaf said admiringly, “that’s some horse.”
“That’s the fastest I’ve ever traveled behind a horse,” Scott said, as
he rubbed his chilled hands and face.
“The boss keeps him here in the winter,” the man said proudly; “he’s a
racer.”
The praise of the horse had mellowed the surly driver and the remainder
of the five miles to camp passed pleasantly enough.
To Scott the low lying, snow-covered huts of the camp were a revelation.
He felt completely at a loss. Stables, bunkhouses, cookshack, office and
shops; they all looked alike with the single exception of size. None of
them looked like a house.
“Where’s the foreman?” Greenleaf asked.
“In the office, probably,” the man said.
Greenleaf started for the office as though he had been in that camp all
his life. The office, as in all camps, was a combination of wanigan, or
store, and office. In there they found the foreman patching up some torn
harness. He did not seem to see them come in, and paid not the slightest
attention to them; he still busied himself with the harness. Greenleaf
leaned carelessly against the counter watching the operation. When this
had continued for about five minutes Scott began to wonder why Greenleaf
did not present the letter they had brought, but he waited patiently,
feeling his greenness.
At the end of about ten minutes the foreman straightened up to have a
look at them. Greenleaf, who knew the breed perfectly, continued to look
at the harness in silence as though it were the most interesting thing
he had ever seen. The foreman looked him quietly over for several
minutes before he gruffly demanded,
“What do you want?”
“I have a letter for you from the boss,” Greenleaf said, handing it
over.
The foreman read it carefully, and then without looking up, “Go over to
the cookshack and get lunch.”
The boys went out. “I thought I could make him talk first,” Greenleaf
chuckled.
“What were you waiting for?” Scott asked.
“Never speak to one of those fellows first,” Greenleaf admonished him.
“If we had piped right up as soon as we went in there he would have kept
us waiting an hour before he read that letter. Now he knows we’re not
greenhorns and respects us.”
Going into the cookshack was a good deal like going down a cellar. There
were only four small windows which shed a very dim light over the big
room. Down the center were two long oilcloth-covered tables set with
about a hundred tin cups and tin plates with knives and forks to match.
Sugar and spoons were found in tomato cans at intervals. About every six
feet there was an immense salt shaker, a bottle of vinegar and a bottle
of catsup.
At the end of these tables under a skylight was an enormous kitchen
range with two barrels rigged up for hot water boilers and flanked by a
big sink and a sort of serving counter. On one side was a giant
breadboard built in over the flour bin. It was the strangest looking
dining-room Scott had ever seen.
Greenleaf nodded to the cook, a fat man in a white apron who was leaning
against one of the tables.
“Can we get a hand-out?” he asked.
A grunt was the only response, but Greenleaf walked familiarly to the
counter, pulled a box out from under it and selected some cookies. He
unearthed another box containing some doughnuts, bread from another and
soon had quite a collection. As soon as the cook saw they knew the ropes
he warmed up immediately. “You’ll find the coffee and tea on the back of
the stove, boys, and there’s some pie on the shelf. Beans are in the
oven and some meat in the safe.” On the whole they had a pretty good
lunch.
When they returned to the office they found the foreman waiting for
them. The fact that they had not been thrown out by the cook increased
his respect for them—for the cook is the real autocrat of the logging
camp.
“The boss says to give you fellows whatever you want. What is it?”
“Board and lodging for two weeks,” Greenleaf answered promptly. “We want
to look over the work here and see how things are done.”
“Want me to show you around?” the foreman asked tentatively. Those were
the instructions in the letter, and he did not like the prospect.
“No,” Greenleaf said, “we can take care of ourselves.”
The foreman looked relieved. “You can get your meals at the cookshack
and sleep here in the office in that upper bunk; you’d get full of
varmints in the bunkhouse.”
With that he left them, glad to get away.
“Let’s look around the camp,” Greenleaf suggested. “We won’t have time
to do anything else before dinner. They eat about half past eleven.”
“Why not let the foreman show us around?” Scott asked. “We’d see more.”
“He’ll do it better if he don’t have to,” Greenleaf answered. “That
letter probably told him to do it. A foreman hates that kind of thing
unless it is a big lumberman who wants to see things.”
They glanced into the bunkhouse. It was almost dark—for there were only
two small windows—and the view was rather hazy. The walls all along both
sides and one end were lined with a double row of bunks filled with
musty straw and some filthy blankets. A large round-house stove stood in
the center of the room and suspended on wires around it were three rows
of rusty looking socks. The air was anything but pure.
“That’s what you miss by sleeping in the office,” Greenleaf said, as
they backed out. “And you’re missing a lot more that you don’t see. I’ve
tried it. It’s not so bad when you get used to it, but it’s no fun
getting used to it.”
Scott shuddered as he thought of it. “These lumberjacks must be a tough
lot,” he said.
“Wait till you see them. They are not the old time lumberjacks you read
about. They’re the scum of Europe. You’ll hear a dozen languages in that
cookshack if the cook does not knock them in the head with the rolling
pin.”
They had made the round of the stables where they had a long talk with
the barn boss on the cost and methods of feeding, and had held a short
conference with the saw filer when Scott was startled by a peculiar
sound. He found it was the cookee blowing a long tin horn to call the
men to dinner. It sounded dismal enough then, but many a time after that
when he had been in the woods all day it seemed like the sweetest kind
of music.
In a few minutes the men began to stream into camp—Finns, Swedes, Poles,
Norwegians, an occasional Austrian and a few of other nationalities. It
was certainly a motley crew. Their mackinaws were the only thing about
them that presented any appearance of uniformity. That and their shape,
for the habit of keeping warm by putting on layer after layer of flannel
shirts, gave them all a more or less stout and stubby appearance. Their
rubbers, worn over two or three pairs of thick woolen socks, crunched
sullenly in the dry snow. They filed silently into the bunkhouse and at
another toot of the horn poured out again into the cookshack.
The boys hurried into the cookshack with the rest and were assigned
seats next to the foreman. There was no time lost. The men piled their
tin plates high and emptied them with astonishing rapidity. The dozen
languages that Greenleaf had predicted were certainly there, but were
not in evidence, for a sign “No Talking” backed up by a
determined-looking cook acted as a damper on conversation. Hardly a word
was spoken. In five minutes some of the most expert had emptied their
tin plates twice and were filing out.
In the afternoon they went to the woods and followed the operation, from
the stump to the landing. They watched the great towering pines, sawed
off the stump and wedged over, come smashing down wherever the sawyers
willed them to fall. They saw them cut into logs and the logs rolled
onto little single sleds, with the back ends dragging in the snow and
saw them hauled over the skidroads to the ice-coated logging road and
piled on the skidways. They saw those skidways dwindle as the logs were
piled high on the broad bunks of the logging sleds and hauled away,
forty tons at a load, over the ice road to the river bank where they
were rolled on the ice to await the spring floods which would carry them
away to the mills hundreds of miles down the river, or, as in another
part of the tract, hauled to the railroad track to be carried directly
to the mill by rail.
It was on the last day of their stay that Scott suddenly and
unexpectedly blossomed out into the hero of the whole camp. He and
Greenleaf walked five miles over to the next camp to see the steam log
loader, or jammer, which was working there. It was located on a steep
side hill where the logs, piled high on the upper side of the track,
were swung across onto the cars. On the other side of the track the
ground sloped away steeply.
While they were watching the big machine Scott thought he recognized
something familiar about a man who was working further down the <DW72>
locating a new skidroad. He knew he had seen those quick, cat-like
motions before. He left Greenleaf and started down there. Before he had
gone half way he recognized Johnson.
Suddenly there was a shout from the jammer, a cry of warning. Johnson
was evidently so accustomed to the general clamor that he did not look
around, but Scott, who was a little nervous in these strange
surroundings, turned instantly.
An enormous log which was being swung onto the car had broken loose from
the iron clutches of the jammer, dropped over the down-hill side of the
car and was sweeping sideways with the speed of an arrow directly toward
Johnson. It was almost on him. An instant’s delay meant sure death. The
men on the jammer stood horrified and helpless.
Scott saw that Johnson could not be made to understand in time to jump.
Shouting at him would do no good; before he could comprehend it would be
too late. Scott took the only chance left to him, poor as it seemed. To
the horror of the workmen he jumped directly in the course of the log
and striking Johnson full in the chest with all the power of his
practiced right arm, he jumped wildly straight in the air. The huge log
swished under him, striking his feet as it went and bringing him down
heavily on his head.
Scott struggled quickly to his feet and looked half-dazed toward
Johnson. Before he could see what had happened he felt himself in
Greenleaf’s arms and knew from the cheers of the men on the jammer that
his blow had carried Johnson out of danger. He needed Greenleaf’s
support for his knees kept doubling up under him and a cold sweat had
broken out all over his body.
Johnson rose slowly and looked down the <DW72> after the log. Then he
turned and recognized Scott.
“By George, Scotty,” he cried, grasping Scott’s hand warmly, “how did
you come here? You surely saved my life that time and risked your own to
do it. Hello, Greenleaf.”
“Are you hurt?” Scott asked anxiously.
“Only in the chest,” Johnson answered with a grin. “I see my training
did you some good.”
“We are making a lumber report on camp 11,” Scott said, “and came over
to see the jammer. I did not know you were here, but thought I
recognized you and came down to see.”
“Good thing for me that you did.”
“I found out long ago what a mucker I made of myself last fall and have
been longing for a chance to apologize, but something always interfered.
Now I am going to get it out before anything stops me. I have made good
ever since you called me down, and I owe it all to you. I was ashamed of
myself at the time, but was too big a coward to tell you so.”
“And now,” Johnson laughed, “you have far more than squared the account
by knocking me down and probably breaking two or three ribs. Forget it.
I acted only for your good, knew what I would get from the start and was
never sore about it. Let’s go to the camp.”
They talked until late in the afternoon, when Scott and Greenleaf had to
return to camp 11. They said good-bye to Johnson with many regrets and
left in the minds of the lumberjacks a feeling of respect such as they
had never before felt for a college man. The news of the rescue had
reached camp 11 ahead of them and Scott was flattered at every turn.
This flattery meant little to him, for he knew from experience how
little it was worth, but he was delighted over his reconciliation with
Johnson. He had not realized what a burden he had been carrying.
The next morning they went to the train behind the old pacer feeling
well repaid for their trip. The foreman himself had come out to bid them
good-bye.
The journey home was a pleasant one for Scott. He had carried out one of
his resolutions and placed himself once more on an honest footing with
Johnson. Moreover, he felt convinced that he had picked responsible
companions. Merton, Greenleaf and Johnson, he thought, were certainly
above reproach. The only thing that worried him was whether the sterling
qualities which he knew so well would appeal to his father’s Eastern
viewpoint. He remembered how he had regarded them when he first came
West, and he had some misgivings.
CHAPTER XXI
Scott realized that the trip to the lumber camps had been the most
instructive three weeks that he had ever spent. Every minute of the time
he had been learning something new, some detail of logging, some new
phase of woods life, some new trait of lumberjack character. At the same
time he had been so interested that it had seemed more like a pleasure
trip than a required part of the school course. He felt that he could
have spent the whole winter right there in that camp and enjoyed it all.
He returned to the college fresh, rested and ready for the hardest grind
of his life. The Civil Service examinations were only two months away
and on these examinations depended his appointment in the Government
service, and the fulfillment of his father’s condition. In this it meant
far more to him than to any of the others. The field covered was
enormous and Scott felt that it was simply a matter of steady grinding
to get over as much of the ground as he possibly could. He apportioned
his time carefully to the different subjects and prepared to put in
thirteen hours a day.
He knew that there would be many questions which would be a mere matter
of judgment, and on those he did not waste his time; but there would be
many others which would call for facts and those facts he proposed to
master.
The weeks passed by monotonously enough. There was no variation, no
change from the set routine. The other members of the class were working
spasmodically but they had not tied themselves down to such gruelling
work.
Johnson astonished Scott by coming to town two weeks before the
examination and announcing that he was going to test the value of his
experience by taking the examination, and seeing what he could do with
it. He followed the lines of Scott’s work pretty carefully and in the
hour which they devoted to discussion every evening he managed to
collect most of the points that had been unearthed during the day.
At last the day for the great trial arrived. It was to last for two days
of seven hours each; two unbroken periods of seven long hours.
They went down to the post office where the ordeal was to take place. “I
feel like a sausage,” Johnson said. “I’m stuffed so tight that I can’t
shut my eyes comfortably.”
“I feel worse than that,” Scott answered. “I feel as though I had been
stuffed so tight that I had burst somewhere and all the stuffing was
running out. If I don’t get hold of those questions pretty quick I’ll
forget my name.”
“I’ve already forgotten my name,” Johnson said, “but I think it is
Dennis.”
They were quickly seated in the great silent room with eight others, all
in a great state of nervous excitement. At the first stroke of nine the
first set of papers was handed out and they were off with a rush.
Scott never had a very clear idea of those two days except that he wrote
on and on incessantly and was not in the least rattled when he had once
begun to write.
“Well,” Johnson said, when the two days’ trial was over and they were
settled comfortably in Scott’s room, “they bowled me over on some of
that German stuff, but I think that I hit the most of it pretty hard.
That grubbing around I did last summer helped me a lot and I fairly
killed that lumbering.”
“I’m not going to speculate,” Scott said, “but it seemed easy to me.
That’s when a fellow flunks the worst, when it seems easy.”
“It was good practice, anyway,” Johnson said; “I would not take a job
yet if I could get it. I know better what I ought to study next year,
and that is what I took it for.”
So the great event for which they had been working so hard for two
months was laid away on the shelf and Scott settled down to his lighter
schedule. The rest of his class went away to the Forest Experiment
Station at Cloquet, but Scott’s irregular course forced him to stay at
the College. He put in his spare time reading along those lines and when
his class work was over, June 1, went up there for a week.
The other men came down about that time so he had a week alone with the
director of the station. The experience opened up a new line of thought
to him. He had studied the growth and learned the characteristics of
trees; here he found exact scientific experiments to discover the facts
which controlled that growth and formed those characteristics. It was a
fascinating field, especially the study of all the instruments which
were used to wrest from nature the answers to the pertinent questions
which the practical work suggested.
Scott would have liked to stay longer at the Station, but it was time
for commencement, and after that he was going home. That overshadowed
everything now. The solemn rites of commencement, and even the almost
sacred last meeting of the old Itasca corporation, were dimmed by the
visions of the home which he had not seen for two long years.
The last ringing cheers of the old corporation had scarcely died away
when he was on a train traveling all too slowly eastward. The states
crept by very slowly, but on the second day he found himself in the
Berkshire hills and felt that he was almost home.
No sooner had the train stopped than he was out and up the village
street. He had not told them what train he would take and no one was at
the station to meet him. He felt that he would rather not meet them at
the station anyway. Everything about the village looked so quiet, and
peaceful, and old.
He would not have changed a stick of it for all the slurs the Westerners
could cast upon its sleepiness.
About halfway home he met Dick Bradshaw. The two boys greeted each other
eagerly.
“Hello, Scotty,” Dick cried, “I thought you were not expected till
tomorrow.”
“I’m not,” Scott said, “but I could not wait any longer. It certainly
seems good to get back.”
“You’ve been away long enough,” Dick growled, “and you have written
about like a clam.”
“Well, I’ve been too busy to write much, Dick. I’ve had the time of my
life. I had to work for it, but I finished and I’m a full-fledged
forester now.”
They were in sight of the house and Scott was looking it over eagerly.
“I’ll come around to hear about it in the morning,” Dick said.
Scott hardly answered him, for as he opened the yard gate he saw his
father and mother on the side porch. He dropped the suitcase at the gate
and bounded up the steps and into his mother’s arms.
“Mother!” he cried.
She held him silently a moment and then released him to allow him to
grasp his father warmly by the hand.
“Welcome home, my boy,” he said quietly; “it’s been a long weary time
since you left us.”
“It certainly has,” Scott said, “and I thought the train would never get
here this time.”
“Two long years, Scott,” his mother said, placing her hands on his
shoulders and looking searchingly into his face, “but you have not
changed a bit. I was afraid you would.”
“No, mother,” he answered, “I was pretty foolish for about a month, but
I got over it. And I can tell you all about even that,” he added
smilingly, remembering his mother’s parting advice.
“Yes, I believe you could, Scott,” she said, looking earnestly into his
eyes. “Come in to supper; we have been waiting in hope that you would
come. There’s some mail here ahead of you.”
The old dining-room with the old chair in the same old place thrilled
him with a strange joy. He suddenly realized that it was the first
private dining-room he had been in since he left home.
He picked up one of the letters beside his plate. It was the return from
his Civil Service examinations. He opened it eagerly and his face
lighted as he read it.
“I passed my Civil Service exams,” he said modestly, handing the letter
to his father.
“Ninety-two,” his father cried excitedly, “and you are rated second on
the eligible list. Does that mean that only one man in the United States
made a better mark?”
“I suppose so, but only a few of the men in the United States took it.”
“My boy, I’m proud of you,” his father said, grasping his hand. “And on
only two years’ work, too. Aren’t you glad, Susan?”
“Of course I’m glad,” his mother said, looking proudly at her son, “but
I’m not surprised. I knew he could do it.”
Scott opened the other letter. It was from the Forest Service appointing
him to a position in the White Mountains at twelve hundred dollars per
year. He turned it over silently to his mother.
“Thank heaven, it’s near home,” she said fervently.
“Mother, do you see that mark of ninety-four in lumbering?” he asked,
referring to the Civil Service sheet again. “That’s what I learned last
Christmas when you thought I ought to come home.”
“I knew you were right, Scott, and I’m glad you stayed, but it was hard
to believe it then.”
“Come,” Dr. Burton urged cheerfully, “let’s eat supper if I am not too
proud. I never felt so stuck up in my life.”
“And I never felt so happy,” Scott said. “I must wire the news to
Johnson.”
“Good,” said Dr. Burton; “from what you have written of that man,
Johnson”—Scott looked up anxiously, conscious for the first time since
his arrival of the great prize that was yet hanging in the balance. The
first joy of the homecoming had driven it completely out of his head—“he
must be a remarkable fellow. And many of those others that you have
mentioned in the past year strike me as being especially promising
material. I am entirely satisfied with you, Scotty, and tomorrow you
shall be the legal owner of that ten-thousand-acre forest.”
*** | {
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It's 2018, and 'kissing ass' has come to mean a lot more than currying favour by flattery. Rimming or rim job, essentially oral stimulation for the anus, isn't something young India is speaking about in hushed tones any longer. As millennials open up about exploring their sexuality, raise rallying cries against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises consensual homosexual sex and other penetrative acts in the bedroom, the nerve-endings that surround the anus and the perineum have found their place as favoured sexual touch points. And terms such as "that's gross" or "that's so gay" have fortunately become relics of the past.
In its 16th year, the india today sex survey reveals that there is a new standard for what the country considers 'normal'. The days of exclusively missionary sex are over and flavours other than vanilla have crept into the intimate lives of our countrymen and women. And this broadening of sexual horizons, the careful deconstruction of what has been hammered into the collective consciousness as 'conventional' or 'proper' carnal pleasure, has led to a satisfied 61.5 per cent of respondents claiming they are "totally happy" with their sex lives.
What's new
'Giving great head since 2009', reads a panel in Mumbai's Doolally bar, a winking reference to both the foam on a freshly poured glass of beer and, of course, fellatio. The writing on the wall elicits a passive smirk each time a new patron finds his/ her way in, but is representative of how oral sex is no longer the secret it used to be. Giving head is also currently India's most preferred 'experimental' sexual act, though it is fast losing its exploratory status and is well on its way to relegation in the ordinary foreplay category. For scale, as high as 80 per cent of respondents in Pune and Jaipur are engaging in oral sex, while couples in Guwahati top the list at 92 per cent.
There is very little that is making people cringe today, and if rimming has found its way into the ordinary urban sexual vocabulary, anal sex is something Indians aren't shying away from either; 42 per cent male respondents admitted to having tried it and a higher percentage of women (43 per cent) have indulged in 'reaming'. Turns out sodomy is an offence only in the statute books, and is being flouted with the frequency of jumped red lights. The easy availability of lubricants (with different sensations) over the counter at any chemist or 24-hour stores in metros (and on the internet) has taken care of the fear of pain that accompanied the prospect of anal sex (if that term ever gets old, 'climbing down the chocolate chimney' is a happy alternative the internet throws up). Not only are more people exploring parts of the body that would otherwise have made them quail, the availability of copious tools for protection is reducing the risk of both infection and revulsion significantly.
And this isn't all-sexting and phone sex have taken on new dimensions. 'Send nudes' is used ironically on social media platforms (political parody accounts even have a 'send nukes' meme depicting an exchange between controversy's favourite politicians Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un) and intimately on instant messaging. And with video calling available on almost every platform for free, physical distance is no longer posing a barrier for sexual encounters. Neither are gender or sexuality. Other favourite intimate explorations for couples include toying with the idea of homosexual or bisexual encounters. Almost 21 per cent of respondents admitted to having engaged sexually with those of their own gender-close to one-fourth of females (24 per cent) and 18 per cent males. Turns out India is truly racing ahead of dusty old colonial laws and residual prejudices. But it's not just what people are trying, it's where they are trying it and with whom. Sex in a car, for instance, is ranked as one of the top three fantasies for both men and women and a fourth of the respondents picked sex with strangers as one of their most recurring carnal whims.
Small cities, big kinks
If the notion of the 'regular' is changing, it's the smaller metros that are embracing the new normal most readily. Whether it's seeking new experiences or dreaming up kinky fantasies, cities like Guwahati, Jaipur, Pune, Chandigarh, Patna and Ranchi are leading the revolution, while cities like Delhi and Mumbai seem straitlaced in comparison. It's no surprise then that the pink city is high on the happiness quotient-90 per cent respondents here are entirely happy with their sex lives (the number is almost as high in Ahmedabad, 87%, and Ranchi, 75%). Some 79 per cent of Pune's respondents are having phone sex and 63 per cent of the respondents from Indore are doing it in the shower. A fifth of Ahmedabad is experimenting with bisexual encounters and 72 per cent of Lucknow would agree to oral sex if their partner requested it. So while Bollywood, even with its new wave of indie cinema set in small-town India, teaches us that our population is essentially waiting for stolen embraces on motorcycles and modest necking under trees, the truth is that upwards of 75 per cent of couples in many of these towns have unearthed the G-spot, and no amount of diffident filmmaking can hide it away again.
The age of pleasure
So as pop culture and the censor board conspire to infantilise a population of 1.2 billion by beeping out the word "intercourse" and the self-proclaimed gatekeepers of our morality burn buses over a peeking midriff, audiences are well past these humdrum words and visuals. Age and sex no bar. Last year, the country watched, perhaps for the first time in Indian cinema, the sexual agency and desire of an older woman, graphically and realistically depicted. Ratna Pathak Shah, as the 55-year-old Usha or Buaji in Lipstick Under My Burkha, read out pages of erotica, even ran water taps and faucets to mitigate moans of pleasure as she had phone sex with a younger man. And while this made viewers shuffle uncomfortably in their seats, the real numbers seem to match up to the reel depiction. Respondents over the age of 46 are turning up the heat, to prioritise their needs.
Over half of those between 46 and 60 years of age would agree to oral sex if their partners asked for it, and a close 47.3 per cent of them said they would experiment with anal sex. With 61.3 per cent of men claiming to know where their partner's G-spot is, perhaps it's no surprise that upwards of 60 per cent are totally happy with their sex lives.
Democratic bedrooms
This distension of erotic margins, however, would never be possible if bedrooms weren't becoming a more comfortable space for confessions and conversations. As the discourse about consent takes centre stage in the western media, the need for openness between partners has become key, especially in this growing, experimental milieu-exchanging safe words, communicating fantasies to assess levels of comfort and daring are large parts of pleasure. Not all surprises are fun (just ask anyone who has ever had a 'golden shower' experience with no warning).
And it's happening. Over 50 per cent men and women are sharing their sexual fantasies with their partners. They're watching porn together (46 per cent admit to doing so) and are more aware of their partners' pleasure points. What was earlier considered a tedious and spice-diluting process (open discussions about sex) is now the gateway to better and more playful exchanges, more sensitive lovemaking and hopefully a more evolved notion of consent.
The careful dismantling of this conditioning is crucial so that those across the gender spectrum can enjoy sex without being resigned to the idea that their pleasure is not as important as their partner's. While natural power dynamics (not to be confused with ones created mutually by partners-BDSM or simple doms and subs) are still quite sturdily in place, chiselling away at the foundations to create more democratic bedrooms is what will lead to enhanced and inclusive pleasure. As these numbers improve, so will levels of gratification-respondents in the survey are today orgasming more, faking less, trying an assortment of foreplay activities and flipping positions according to taste. And this is normal. | {
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Dr. Waldmann's studies have focused on the role played by the IL-2-IL-2R and IL-15-IL-15R systems in normal and abnormal T-cell function and in the use of these insights to develop IL-2R and IL-15R directed therapies for leukemia, autoimmune disease, and to prevent allograft rejection. As part of his studies of HTLV-I-associated adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), Waldmann co-discovered a cytokine, IL-15, that stimulates T-cell proliferation, is necessary for NK cell development, and is critical for the maintenance of CD8 memory T-cells. There is multifaceted control of IL-15 expression including transcriptional control mediated by interferon, IRF-1 and NFkB, as well as regulation at the levels of translation and intracellular trafficking of the cytokine. Two alternative complex signal peptides direct IL-15 either to the nucleus or to the secretory pathway. IL-15 utilizes two distinct cell surface receptors and signaling pathways. In T- and NK-cells the IL-15 receptor involves the private IL-15Ra subunit as well as IL-2Rb and gc shared with IL-2. As a consequence of this sharing of receptors, IL-2 and IL-15 also share some functions, especially in innate NK-mediated immunity. However, as supported by observations in an IL-15 transgenic mouse developed in the Waldmann lab, in adaptive immunity the two cytokines have distinct and competative functions. IL-2 is a critical factor in activation-induced cell death (AICD) leading to the death by suicide of self-reactive lymphocytes. IL-2 also inhibits the persistence of memory phenotype CD8 cells. Thus IL-2 favors peripheral tolerance to self antigens. In contrast, IL-15 inhibits AICD and facilitates the development and persistence of CD8 memory phenotype T-cells. Thus IL-15 favors the persistence of lymphocytes, especially those involved in the memory response to pathogens. This carries with it the risk that is realized that disorders of IL-15 expression would lead to the development of inflammatory autoimmune diseases. For example, the Waldmann lab has demonstrated a role for IL-15 and its receptor in HTLV-I-associated ATL and tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP). Spontaneous proliferation of T cells ex vivo and TSP and chronic ATL was abbrogated by the simultaneous addition of antibodies to IL-2 and IL-15 receptors supporting the view that there are autocrine-stimulating loops involving these cytokines and their receptors in this disease. The number of antigen (aa 11-19 of HTLV-I-encoded tax protein) reactive memory CD8 cells are exceptionally high in the circulation of patients with TSP. The addition of antibodies to IL-15 ex vivo to such peripheral blood mononuclear cells leads to the rapid (within 2 days) disappearance of these antigen-specific memory CD8 cells that participate in the pathogenesis of the disease. One of the most critical contributions of the Waldmann lab was the recognition that IL-2R and IL-15R represent extraordinarily useful therapeutic targets. The scientific basis for this approach is that resting cells do not express the alpha subunit of IL-2R whereas this receptor subunit is abundantly expressed by malignant cells including leukemic cells in ATL. A model of human HTLV-I-associated ATL was established in immunodeficient mice that is being used to evaluate potential therapeutic agents. The FDA approved humanized anti-Tac (daclizumab, Zenapax) for use in humans to prevent acute kidney transplant rejection. Furthermore, Hu-anti-Tac therapy led to reduction in HTLV-I proviral load and spontaneous lymphoproliferation in TSP patients and provided effective therapy for intermediate and posterior uveitis. In a clinical trial involving 90Y-anti-Tac (anti-IL-2Ra) therapy for patients with HTLV-I-associated ATL, the Waldmann group observed a partial or complete remission in over 50% of patients. New agents under active development include humanized antibodies directed toward IL-2/15Rb) that block all IL-15 action. This antibody will be used in the treatment of human IL-2/15Rb)-expressing leukemia as well as inflammatory autoimmune disorders. Furthermore, there is a broad program directed toward the development of IL-2 and IL-15 receptor-directed monoclonal antibodies armed with alpha-emitting radionuclides (213Bi, 211At), geldanamycin linked to an anti-HER2 mAb, as well as small molecular weight inhibitors of the tyrosine kinase Jak3 and STAT5 which are required for IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, IL-9, and IL-15 action. Thus new insights concerning receptors and signaling pathways used by malignant cells taken in conjunction with the ability to produce humanized antireceptor antibodies armed with radionuclides are providing novel perspectives for the treatment of select neoplastic diseases, autoimmune disorders, and to prevent allograft rejection. | {
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Contradictory day for pace-setting Lewis Hamilton on and off the track in China
On a day of apparent contradiction at Mercedes, Hamilton was overheard telling his pitwall "something is still not right with the car" even after setting the quickest time of the day.
If that wasn't sufficiently curious, Hamilton then denied holding clear-the-air talks with Nico Rosberg that his team-mate was adamant had taken place on Thursday night.
With the two Mercedes drivers the championship favourites, any hint of discord between Hamilton and Rosberg will be seized upon by both the media and their flagging rivals.
Indeed, while Mercedes remain the overwhelming favourites heading into the weekend, on the evidence of Friday's practice sessions both Ferrari, for whom Fernando Alonso was quickest of all in Practice One and second fastest in the the afternoon session, and World Champions Red Bull may have closed the yawning gap in the wake of the Silver Arrows' relentless domination two weeks ago in Bahrain.
"Ferrari seem to be close so we need to keep pushing," conceded Rosberg.
Despite taking top spot in the timesheets, Hamilton endured a particularly troubled day, missing almost an hour of track time after a suspension problem was detected on his W05 car.
"[I've not learnt] much. It's not been the easiest of days," Hamilton told Sky Sports afterwards. "This evening we have got to do some work to figure out where we are. Obviously we are not that bad, but you always want to be better and we will work hard tonight to find some improvements on set-up.
"The [suspension] problem put us on the backfoot because you don't have many laps as it is and so every lap counts. But we will fix whatever problem we had and be quick tomorrow."
Even more curious was the mixed messages from the Mercedes camp on the purported post-Bahrain debrief between Hamilton and Rosberg.
"Yes we sat down and went through everything, it's all behind us and flat-out ahead," said the German after Friday practice.
But when asked about the cited debrief, a bemused-looking Hamilton shook his head and flatly denied any meeting had taken place. Asked if his relationship with Rosberg was still 'cool', Hamilton replied: "As far as I'm aware, yeah."
Speaking to reporters on Thursday night, Rosberg sought to diffuse any suggestion of a rift between himself and Hamilton, but did admit that he was unhappy with one of the Englishman's moves as he defended his lead in Bahrain.
"The majority was tough but respectable, so let's go with that, rather than pick out one small example," said the German when questioned about his radioed complaint to the Mercedes pitwall.
"It is completely normal for teams after races where a lot has happened that you sit down and discuss what has happened and we will do that - we are going to do that today."
Saturday's qualifying session, exclusively live on Sky Sports F1, takes place at 7am. | {
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The use of specimen slides, typically consisting of thin rectangular sheets of glass, for the collection, packaging and storage of biological specimens has prompted the design and fabrication of small, inexpensive, disposable packets and holders of various types, designs and materials. These items are intended to protect the relatively fragile glass slide and to preserve the specimen smeared or deposited on the slide against contamination or physical damage. Such packaging allows the specimen slide to be handled, stored and transported in a convenient and dependable manner until the specimen is processed, in the laboratory or otherwise.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,804, issued to this applicant, discloses a slide holder which includes a tray piece and a cover sheet molded of a light-weight yieldable material in the nature of Styrofoam. The tray piece defines a recess dimensioned to closely hold the edges of the specimen slide. Once the slide is pressed into the recess, it is retained therein by the lateral pressure exerted against the slide edges by the resilient material defining the side edges of the tray recess. This holds the slide securely at all stages of handling, including occasions when the holder is inverted with the slide faced down. The cover sheet is retained over the slide between raised edges integral with the tray piece.
While the holder disclosed in my earlier patent works well, further improvement is possible in order to facilitate and expedite the handling of both the slide and the package by all personnel involved in the specimen collection and specimen analysis procedures, while at the same time enhancing the level of protection afforded to both the specimen and the slide. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Tag: how to stop snoring
At the inspiration of one of my favorite social media mamas, Hayley Paige, I want to start a new blog series where I share my monthly Amazon faves! And based on the poll I added to my IG story last week, you all are excited to hear more!
Amazon has quickly become one of my husband & I’s favorite places to shop. I particularly love that it sells a huge variety of items at competitive prices. With FREE 2-day shipping (sometimes 1-day) using Amazon Prime, it can’t be beat! The list I plan to share with you every month will be what I have purchased for that month and consider favorites. I warn: the list is random. 😂 | {
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BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce’s ability to deliver the new Successor nuclear missile submarines to replace the ageing Trident fleet faces fresh doubts ahead of a crucial vote on the huge project.
On Monday MPs will decide on whether to press ahead with the programme - the biggest UK defence deal for decades with a £30bn price tag and £10bn contingency fund to deal with snags - with major worries about their record for building submarines.
Both are involved with the current programme building Astute-class attack submarines, but this has been littered with problems. | {
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Penile Dysmorphic Disorder: Development of a Screening Scale.
Penile dysmorphic disorder (PDD) is shorthand for men diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder, in whom the size or shape of the penis is their main, if not their exclusive, preoccupation causing significant shame or handicap. There are no specific measures for identifying men with PDD compared to men who are anxious about the size of their penis but do not have PDD. Such a measure might be helpful for treatment planning, reducing unrealistic expectations, and measuring outcome after any psychological or physical intervention. Our aim was, therefore, to validate a specific measure, termed the Cosmetic Procedure Screening Scale for PDD (COPS-P). Eighty-one male participants were divided into three groups: a PDD group (n = 21), a small penis anxiety group (n = 37), and a control group (n = 23). All participants completed the COPS-P as well as standardized measures of depression, anxiety, social phobia, body image, quality of life, and erectile function. Penis size was also measured. The final COPS-P was based on nine items. The scale had good internal reliability and significant convergent validity with measures of related constructs. It discriminated between the PDD group, the small penis anxiety group, and the control group. This is the first study to develop a scale able to discriminate between those with PDD and men anxious about their size who did not have PDD. Clinicians and researchers may use the scale as part of an assessment for men presenting with anxiety about penis size and as an audit or outcome measure after any intervention for this population. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
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582 F.2d 39
Pacev.Department of the Treasury***
No. 77-3342
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
9/28/78
1
N.D.Miss.
AFFIRMED
*
Summary Calendar case; Rule 18, 5 Cir.; see Isbell Enterprises, Inc. v. Citizens Casualty Co. of New York et al., 5 Cir., 1970, 431 F.2d 409
**
Local Rule 21 case; see NLRB v. Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, 5 Cir., 1970, 430 F.2d 966
| {
"pile_set_name": "FreeLaw"
} | 0 |
We Are Displaced
Quick overview
Five years on from the publication of her internationally bestselling memoir, WE ARE DISPLACED presents true stories of the refugee experience interwoven with Malala's own story of her displacement
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Product description
Starting with her own story of displacement as an Internally Displaced Person, Malala will introduce readers to what it means to lose your home, your community, and the only world you've ever known. She will share the personal stories of some of the incredible girls she has met on her various journeys to refugee camps and the cities where refugee girls and their families have settled. The anecdotes will focus on different parts of each girl's story - from what it was like the day she left her home to what daily life is like in a refugee camp.
In a time of immigration crises, war, and border conflicts, WE ARE DISPLACED is an important reminder from one of the most famous people to experience displacement that everyone deserves universal human rights and a home. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} | 0 |
Sex estimation based on tooth measurements using panoramic radiographs.
Sex determination is an important step in establishing the biological profile of unidentified human remains. The aims of the study were, firstly, to assess the degree of sexual dimorphism in permanent teeth, based on digital tooth measurements performed on panoramic radiographs. Secondly, to identify sex-related tooth position-specific measurements or combinations of such measurements, and to assess their applicability for potential sex determination. Two hundred digital panoramic radiographs (100 males, 100 females; age range 22-34 years) were retrospectively collected from the dental clinic files of the Dentomaxillofacial Radiology Center of the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium, and imported in image enhancement software. Tooth length- and width-related variables were measured on all teeth in upper and lower left quadrant, and ratios of variables were calculated. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to quantify the sex discriminative value of the tooth position-specific variables and their combinations. The mandibular and maxillary canine showed the greatest sexual dimorphism, and tooth length variables had the highest discriminative potential. Compared to single variables, combining variables or ratios of variables did not improve substantially the discrimination between males and females. Considering that the discriminative ability values (area under the curve (AUC)) were not higher than 0.80, it is not advocated to use the currently studied dental variables for accurate sex estimation in forensic practice. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} | 0.004302 |
#ubuntustudio 2010-12-06
<obengdako> hi guys anyone got usb tvbox by trident with vendor id 6000 product id 0001 to work in linux?
<holstein> obengdako: hey
<obengdako> holstein, hi!
<obengdako> hi guys anyone got usb tvbox by trident with vendor id 6000 product id 0001 to work in linux?
<holstein> i would probably ask in #mythtv
<obengdako> okay i'll get there now
<holstein> i cant find the compatibility list that i found once
<holstein> hey, theres a #ubuntu-mythtv too :)
<obengdako> i got there and was asked to head to #linuxtv
<holstein> doesnt look good http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=544298
<obengdako> yeah not too good
<holstein> i have a k-world card thats been in a static bag for a couple years now :/
<holstein> PCI
<holstein> it wont 'give up the funk' in linux
<obengdako> it shows up in virtual box but it works with hisses and glitches since it is a usb and the data is flowing in bits to virtual box it doesn't give the best viewing pleasure so i have to get it to work in ubuntu
<obengdako> hehehe
<holstein> at least its an inexpensive/old-ish device
<obengdako> i had a saa7134 compatible pcmcia card but i've changed my laptiop to one that doesn't have a pcmcia port so i bought this usb card
<holstein> maybe you can craigslist it and get something more friendly
<obengdako> mike what is craigslist
<obengdako> ?
<holstein> like ebay
<holstein> online auction
<holstein> obengdako: if you just bought it
<holstein> maybe you can return it :)
<obengdako> well i returned a previous one that was an encore enutv-2 usb box
<obengdako> that one does not even show up in lsusb and it was giving problems to drivers and blue screen in windows
<obengdako> and got this replacement
<obengdako> lol where i am online shopping is not an alternative so ebay is way "far" for me holstein
<holstein> being able to return it is ideal i say
<holstein> sometimes you just gotta keep trying
<holstein> maybe take the laptop with you
<holstein> lsusb in there
<holstein> and try seeing it with something
<holstein> VLC or some capture app
<obengdako> i always take the laptop but like this one it show up in lsusb but there is no kernel module loaded for this one plus i assume there is a solution online until i hit the wall
<holstein> lol
<holstein> assume nothing
<holstein> i can see quite a few devices in lspci
<holstein> and lsusb
<holstein> that dont work
<holstein> sometimes support can be worked out
<obengdako> well that takes time
<holstein> but there should be something plug and play
<holstein> at a similar price
<obengdako> hmmm but where to get some here in Ghana would be a tough task for me
<holstein> amazon
<holstein> assuming you can find a compatibility list
<holstein> the one i used to go to is gone :/
<obengdako> well in Ghana to get a credit card or even a debit card to shop online would be cumbersome
<obengdako> i do need to get the compatibility list so i can know what not to buy
<holstein> more cumbersome than writing a kernel module ;)
<obengdako> lol hehe that's rather even more cumbersome 'writing a kernel module'
<holstein> obengdako: im sure you can sort it out
<holstein> they can probably tell you in one of those myth channels where the compatibility list went
<obengdako> yep i'll try till i'm tired of the card
<holstein> OR suggest some easy plug and play devices
<holstein> maybe even tell you how to get started reverse engineering a driver :)
<obengdako> yep i saw a post right now about it doing some extraction from the .sys file to get fw files
<holstein> obengdako: maybe using the windows driver
<holstein> like the old wifi cards used to do it
<obengdako> yeah i'll see
<djindy> Hello, is anyone here today?
<obengdako> holstein, i got my card to work
<holstein> obengdako: congrats
<obengdako> holstein, are you there?
<holstein> what was it?
<holstein> a backport?
<holstein> or something more challenging?
<obengdako> not really i had to modprobe tm6000
<holstein> nice
<obengdako> but after doing that i did not have firmware
<obengdako> so i used a perl script to extract them and then cp them to /lib/firmware
<obengdako> and that was it !
<obengdako> so not really challenging
<obengdako> now i just have to figure out how to get the audio from the card
<holstein> thats great :)
<obengdako> do you have any ideas before i start googling?
<holstein> OH
<holstein> about the sound?
<holstein> whats the deal
<holstein> you want sound from the USB tm6000?
<holstein> aplay -l
<obengdako> yes man
<holstein> and arecord -l
<holstein> that should show you if its useable
<obengdako> i just did arecord -l
<obengdako> let me see aplay -l
<obengdako> i probably should modprobe tm6000-alsa
<holstein> sure
<obengdako> and by the way i was looking for /dev/dsp and did not find it
<obengdako> has it been stripped in ubuntu meercat
<obengdako> ?
<holstein> i dont think so
<holstein> but, im still on lucid
<obengdako> is it that hda doesn't use it or just pulse has removed it completely?
<obengdako> do you have the device link?
<obengdako> in your installation
* holstein looking
<holstein> you might be right
<holstein> i dont find it
* obengdako still searching
<holstein> http://www.khattam.info/solved-cant-open-devdsp-in-ubuntu-10-10-maverick-meerkat-2010-06-09.html
<holstein> thats all i come up with
<obengdako> thanks checking the link
<holstein> not very promising :/
<holstein> just kinda supports the theory
<obengdako> yeah i already know how to do that but thanks anyway for the link kinda lets me know that i should not expect the audio to be parsed there
<obengdako> hmmm
<obengdako> so mike where are you? pm
<holstein> im in asheville north carolina US
<obengdako> i hope you remember where i'm from?
<holstein> :/
<holstein> its been a while
<obengdako> Accra, Ghana
<holstein> OH yea
<holstein> i remember that from earlier
<holstein> but i thought i had seen your nick before in here
<holstein> way back
<obengdako> yes i've been on ubuntustudio for a while
<holstein> obengdako: maybe before i was camped out here ;)
<holstein> my girlfriends brother used to live in accra
<obengdako> i actually have a basic ubuntu setup with kde, sfce, kxstudio all wrapped in
<holstein> last year?
<holstein> couple years
<obengdako> wow that's cool
<holstein> hes mostly in haiti now
<obengdako> oh i see
<obengdako> i can't believe we are having personal conversation in a public irc
<obengdako> channel
<holstein> lol
<obengdako> plus it is even logged
<holstein> i like to keep activity in here
<holstein> as long as its not too personal
<obengdako> yeah i realised
<holstein> i think it promotes use of the channel
<holstein> and i dont think the higher-ups mind
<holstein> as long as the primary function isnt neglected
#ubuntustudio 2010-12-07
<obengdako> yeah man sorry was caught up reading for audio support holstein
<Genji> greetings all! Hi, im DJ 47, using ubuntustudio 10.04 for djing in second life. Ubuntustudio has served me well.. but its now suffering with lack of space. So, i need to reinstall. I ask, how is realtime support for ubuntustudio 10.10?
<holstein> Genji: hey
<Genji> hiya. cool, someone responded. :) So... what do you know?
<holstein> http://jackschnippes.freeunix.net/index.php/2010/11/04/lowlatency-kernel-and-realtime-kernel-for-ubuntu-10-10-maverick
<holstein> ^^ thats a post on how to get RT kernels in 10.10
<holstein> i use 10.04 on my production machine
<holstein> Genji: why not just add a hard drive?
<Genji> same here.. but is 10.10 any better?
<holstein> or clone your system over onto a larger drive?
<Fezzler> what's the most current verison of LAME for REAPER
<holstein> http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
<holstein> ^^ i use tools from that disc to clone
<holstein> copy wipe i think is the tool i like
<Genji> hmm...
<Genji> well.. don't have a bigger hdd.
<holstein> OH
<holstein> well, you gotta buy some gear then anyways...
<holstein> and decide
<Genji> could i clone to another ext3 partition, then grow that partition over the empty space?
<holstein> Genji: what is on your HD ??
<holstein> Fezzler: im not sure about reaper
<Genji> currently a ntfs partition of 30 gigs, and ubuntustudio of 6 gigs. i have a ide hdd of 80 gigs i can use to store the stuff from my ntfs partition while i do whatever... so i can then clone my ubuntustudio onto the 30 gig partition?
<holstein> Genji: in theory
<Genji> then delete my 6 gig partition, then grow my 30 gig with the extra psace?
<holstein> you should be able to resize
<holstein> in gparted
<holstein> just free up some space
<Genji> so... i could end up with 36 gigs of ubuntu.
<holstein> and grow the buntu prt
<holstein> part*
<holstein> partition*
<holstein> Genji: i would backup first
<holstein> i have borked parts doing that
<holstein> i grew an xp install recently
<holstein> and had to redo the boot sector or whatever it is
<holstein> fixmbr?
<holstein> Genji: 10.10 has JACK2
<holstein> pulse to jack bridge
<holstein> newer versions of apps
<holstein> some apps
<Genji> eek. what about just rsyncing the contents of my first hdd to
<Genji> the second?
<Genji> would the second hdd boot?
<Genji> after grubbing it of course.
<holstein> hmmm
<holstein> dd maybe
<holstein> im not sure
<holstein> ive never tried
<holstein> i just use tools that do that for sure
<Genji> jack2 pulse to jack bridge, exposing indivual application sources to jackd?
<holstein> Genji: you mean from pulse?
<holstein> im not sure
<holstein> i dont use it
<holstein> i use a PPA though
<holstein> falktx's PPA
<holstein> that adds most of that to 10.04
<holstein> https://launchpad.net/~falk-t-j/+archive/lucid
<holstein> ive never needed anything from pulse in JACK
<holstein> but im glad to see the development happening
<holstein> i think JACK2 has been helpful for my firewire device
<holstein> a bit
<Genji> so, to install ubuntustudio 10.10 with ubuntustudio-audio, id need to manually install the realtime deb, before ubuntustudio installer shows the menu of package groups?
<holstein> hmmm
<holstein> not sure i follow
<holstein> but
<holstein> you just install ubuntu and upgrade it to studio
<holstein> OR
<holstein> install the ubuntustudio iso
<holstein> and
<holstein> IF you want a realtime kernel
<holstein> or lowlatency kernel
<holstein> check that link i dropped
<Genji> ubuntustudio 10.10 iso did not install ubuntustudio-audio .. apparently it did not even ask.
<holstein> about how to add that PPA for 11.04
<holstein> and use it
<holstein> Genji: OH
<holstein> thats fine
<holstein> just search
<holstein> where ever you install packages
<holstein> synaptic or ap
<holstein> apt*
<holstein> search for ubuntustudio
<holstein> and you'll see the metapackages
<holstein> and you can read about them
<holstein> and choose what you want
<Genji> think because the realtime package was missing from ubuntustudio 10.10 repo, it didn't install ubuntustudio-audio
<holstein> nah
<holstein> well, thats not the way its supposed to work
<holstein> there is no realtime package in 10.10
<holstein> no realtime kernel
<holstein> there really wasnt on in 10.04
<holstein> that kernel was just carried over from 9.10
<Genji> but ubuntustudio-audio's dependancies include a realtime package?
<holstein> nah
<holstein> you dont *need* a realtime kernel
<holstein> its suggested that you try the generic one anyways
<holstein> its getting better at handling these tasks all the time
<holstein> i usually suggest trying the generic one
<holstein> then the -lowlatency one from a PPA
<holstein> and then the -realtime one
<holstein> IF needed
<holstein> BUT all of the metapackages can be installed
<holstein> and all the software can be ran on a gerneric kernel
<Genji> hmmmm...
<Genji> for now, ill try the cloning exercise... and think ill stick with ubuntustudio 10.04 until 10.10 comes with realtime packages included.
<holstein> Genji: 10.10 will never
<holstein> nor will any future releases
<holstein> the gerneric kernel is becoming 'realtime' like
<holstein> and we probably will soon not need it
<Genji> but its not taking up the realtime patches, though?
<Genji> preempt and rt..
<holstein> preempt
<holstein> Genji: if you get a chance
<Genji> huh.. i have preempt installed.
<holstein> just try it
<holstein> it may or may not be enough for you right now
<holstein> i have a firewire interface
<holstein> and i find that i need a realtime kernel
<holstein> BUT most folk with internal cards or USB seem fine
<holstein> Genji: what kind of latency needs do you have?
<holstein> i have several JACK profiles
<holstein> one that runs at 1.2ms
<holstein> for really lowlatency needs
<holstein> ranging to a mixing setup
<holstein> that the latency is like 60ms
<Genji> im getting away with 42ms currently.
<holstein> Genji: yeah
<holstein> so at 42ms
* Genji indeed mixes using mixxx.
<holstein> you can do any soft synths
<holstein> or live signal processing
<holstein> SO 42ms might as well be 82ms
<holstein> BUT
<holstein> i bet you can get close to that performance with a generic kernel
<holstein> Genji: internal sound card?
<Genji> yup. Soundblaster audigy 2 ZX ... requires 1024/48000/2
<Genji> for some reason.
<holstein> yeah
<holstein> thats a 50+ms card anyways
<holstein> usually
<Genji> anything else.. and it goes wierd.
<holstein> so, i wouldnt sweat it much
<Genji> what about jack's realtime mode then?
<holstein> you can leave it in realtime mode with the newer generic kernels AFAIK
<holstein> Genji: if your asked when installing
<holstein> you should check the box that says 'set up JACK for realtime'
<Genji> eh.. sounds too risky. I think for now, ill stick with 10.04
<Genji> backup my current data... put 10.04 on my usb stick... then delete my ntfs partition.. clone my current install.. then grow my clone over the space..
<holstein> these are the kernels i use
<holstein> https://launchpad.net/~abogani/+archive/ppa
<holstein> that are in that other PPA i was mentioning
<holstein> this PPA has only the kernels
* Genji nods..
<holstein> IF you want a new-ish realtime kernel in 10.04
<holstein> Genji: yeah, i say plan for the worst case scenario
<holstein> back everything up
<holstein> and try jugging the parts around
<holstein> worst case, you gotta reinstall
<holstein> and thats kinda fun anyways :)
* Genji nods.
<Genji> and what about this new patch, sched_autogroup_ enabled?
<holstein> im not sure
<holstein> i dont do the kernels
<holstein> you'd have to catch abogani
<Genji> http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=linux_2637_video&num=1
<holstein> OR maybe someone in #opensourcemusicians would know
<Genji> okay.. is there a install from usb guide, for ubuntustudio somewhere?
<holstein> Genji: yes
<holstein> and let me suggest
<holstein> get the normal iso
<holstein> and convert it
<holstein> think it over while i find the link...
<Genji> just dd the iso to the usb stick?
<holstein> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuServerFlashDriveInstaller
<holstein> i was told this works
<holstein> Genji: nah
<holstein> dd wont do it AFAIK
<holstein> its a matter of the installer not knowing where to find the image
<holstein> its easy to istall ubuntu
<holstein> and search ubuntustudio
<holstein> and install just what you need from there
<Genji> "If you actually use the drive to install Ubuntu on a server, it may turn out that the installer puts grub on the USB disk (because it's detected as the first drive) instead of your hard drive. To fix this, reboot using the USB disk and run install-grub on the actual hard drive. You'll also need to recreate the flash drive. I experienced this on Jaunty. -- kiko"
<Genji> eek. i could snooker my entire system if this happens.
<holstein> not with the live installer
<holstein> from the ubuntu iso :)
<holstein> step 6 lets you customize
<holstein> anyways
<holstein> that should install to USB disk
<holstein> grub
<holstein> by accident
<holstein> you can recover with a live CD
<holstein> afterward
<holstein> if needed
<Genji> so... i should, as my backup installer, start with ubuntu live instead of ubuntustudio?
<holstein> sure
<holstein> thats the path of least resistance
<holstein> IF you have to use a USB stick to install
<Genji> on the offchance that ubuntustudio fails installing.
<holstein> if you have no DVD rom or something
<Genji> woiuld unetbootin be a better idea, to install ubuntustudio?
<holstein> unetbootin wont do it
<holstein> it fails in every way ive tried
<holstein> from USB
<holstein> the actual ubuntustudio iso
<holstein> the installer is different
<Genji> you've sucessfully done the UbuntuServerFlashDriveInstaller method then?
<holstein> not me personally
<holstein> ive suggested it here
<holstein> and it was reported to do the trick
<holstein> at least twice
<holstein> BUT the iso's change a bit
<holstein> every 6 months
<holstein> !vanilla
<ubottu> To install Ubuntu Studio on top of a vanilla Ubuntu install, read https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/Installation
<Genji> oh.. hell.. im scheduled to dj in 6 hours.
<Genji> ... could always try the clone method without destroying my current install.
<holstein> that would be my suggestiong
<Genji> how do i edit grub, to create entries for my clone?
<holstein> depends
<Genji> the current grub system is confusing for me. templates.. ]
<holstein> Genji: explain to me your setup again?
<holstein> im not clear how many drives you have?
<holstein> 2?
<holstein> an 80 gig and?
<Genji> the 80 gig im just going to throw my ntfs stuff onto
<holstein> the 80 gig is not in the computer right now?
<holstein> where is ubuntu?
<Genji> i have other drives i can remove while i clone and re-grub my main sata drive.
<holstein> for example
<Genji> ubuntu is currently in a 6 gig partition in my main sata drive.
<holstein> IF i had a 100 gb drive
<holstein> with a 90 GB windows install
<Genji> a borked windows install is in a 30 gig partiton, that is before the 6 gig partition.
<holstein> and ubuntu
<holstein> on the rest
<holstein> with grub booting it
<holstein> in theory
<holstein> i could get gparted live
<holstein> and shrink the windows to whatever
<Genji> so i am intending on taking the 30 gig data and putting it on my 80 gig ide.
<holstein> say 50
<holstein> and grow ubuntu to 50
<holstein> then grub should work the same
<holstein> OR
<Genji> you can grow ubuntu, backwards?
<holstein> i would wipe windows all together
<holstein> grow buntu
<holstein> and run sudo update-grub
<holstein> and all *should* be good
<holstein> Genji: i think you can
<holstein> you'll have to try it
<Genji> okay.... in other words.... 1 2 3 4 5 is windows and 6 7 8 is ubuntu.
<holstein> i know there are ways you cant move them around
<Genji> can i grow ubuntu to cover 1 2 3 4 5 too?
<holstein> BUT before you just got and wipe
<holstein> you might as well try it
<Genji> hrm.
<holstein> OR
<holstein> you sould just clone buntu over onto another drive
<holstein> and put grub somewhere esle
<holstein> you got lots of options really
<holstein> and youll just have to fire up gparted
<Genji> does update-grub automatically find all bootable linuxes?
<holstein> and see what it will let you do as far as growing
<holstein> Genji: its suppose to
<holstein> and usually does
<holstein> linux and win
<holstein> whatever it can boot
<Genji> so.... if i clone linux from one partition to another, it will have two linuxes showing in the grup menu after update-grub is run?
<holstein> potentially
<holstein> should*
<Genji> okay.. so all i need now is a live usb of ubuntu..
<holstein> Genji: you can make one
<holstein> from your istall
<holstein> you need to download the ISO though
<holstein> sytem-administration-startup disc creator
<holstein> i usually use unetbootin though
<Genji> yeah.. ill do the same. less thinking required.
<obuibo> So, I'm having what seems to be a very common issue. My wireless card isn't recognized.
<obuibo> Can't seem to find consensus (or even more than a hint) on how this issue is solved.
<metze> hi is there a free application which converts audio to midi?
<holstein> hey metze
<holstein> i usually just get the midi playing
<holstein> in whatever i feel comfortable with
<holstein> and use JACK to route the audio output
<holstein> to ardour
<holstein> BUT the guys in #opensourcemusicians had a commandline shortcut for this
<holstein> that i totally forget ;)
<holstein> obuibo: i would suggest
<holstein> getting the normal ubuntu live CD
<holstein> get that running on the box in question
<holstein> and plug in to wired LAN
<holstein> see if you are automatically prompted for an install of a propritary blob or whatever its called
<holstein> obuibo: if you have already tried this
<holstein> i would also suggest looking in a more frequented support avenue
<holstein> since this issue is not necessarily limited to ubuntustudio
<holstein> assuming the issue has nothing to do with how network manager is included in ubuntustudio
<metze> holstein: I meant audio to midi not midi to audio:-)
<holstein> hmmm
<metze> holstein: I found waon, but it doesn't produce the result I was hoping for
<holstein> metze: sorry, i glossed over that really quick
<metze> no problem:-)
<holstein> ask in #opensourcemusicians though
<holstein> if you need :)
<metze> thx for the pointer
<nvsbl> so.. what kind of audio production software comes with Ubuntu studio?
<nvsbl> speaking of audio production, has any body here had any luck running Ableton Live with wine?
<marto> hey, having a problem with Jack. Headphone output connected to an amp and speakers (tested playing a song, it works) I'm using a midi keyboard with Jack and ZynAddSubFx, it works fine from laptop speakers but not via the headphone socket
#ubuntustudio 2010-12-09
<ronj> ailo_, I'm doing some -lowlatency testing, did you do some?
<holstein> hey ronj
<holstein> i usually get my presonus firepod going
<holstein> start ardour
<holstein> and route my 8 inputs from the firepod to 8 tracks in ardour
<holstein> let it roll record for an hour or so
<ronj> holstein, hola
<ronj> yup
<ronj> results yet?
<holstein> o/
<holstein> yeah, i can do that with no xruns at around 1.7ms latency
<ronj> holstein, by the way I'm preparing a mail. why the hell these doubts around lowlatency?!
<holstein> with a -realtime kernel
<holstein> not near that without though
<ronj> everybody seemed to agree it is the path to follow
<holstein> with the -lowlatency kernel
<holstein> BUT
<ronj> and now Alessio comes back on this
<ronj> did I miss something?
<holstein> i think something about firewire still needs -realtime
<ronj> ?
<holstein> ronj: not sure
<holstein> i think abogani got a little discouraged
<ronj> hm
<holstein> doing everything on his own
<ronj> sure
<holstein> i think he's back into it now though
<holstein> there a PPA for them
<holstein> for natty
<ronj> yup I'm testing it right now
<ronj> but we're redoing things we did this summer :-/
<ronj> (I mean the discussion, testing is always good)
<holstein> :)
<ronj> holstein, what are your minLatWithNoXruns for generic/lowlat/realtime?
<holstein> to be honest
<holstein> with a generic or lowlat
<holstein> and my firepod
<ronj> generic/lowlat/realtime
<holstein> i cant start it without xruns
<holstein> BUT i have tested a bit with a USB device
<ronj> well, excluding the first few seconds
<holstein> an maudio transit
<holstein> and internal cards
<ronj> oh ok
<holstein> and the performance is much more similar all the time
<holstein> quite tolerable
<holstein> i still use the -realtime though
<ronj> but with your fw card, increasing the delay, were you able to get to no xruns on lowlat?
<holstein> i can always push a little harder
<holstein> ronj: not reliably
<ronj> hmmm
<holstein> i think i was tring around 11ms
<holstein> or so
<ronj> interesting
<holstein> maybe i did 20ms
<holstein> i'll have to try again
<holstein> now that i have a laptop that is easy to test all kernels and all interfaces with
<ronj> will see with the recent kernel but with my TI chip I had consistent generic:notreliable/lowlat:4ms/realtime:2ms
<ronj> weird yours is not consistent
<ronj> yup
<holstein> ronj: thats great
<holstein> what device?
<ronj> Startech EC1U2F
<holstein> and, is this 10.04?
<holstein> 10.10?
<holstein> jack2?
<holstein> i have falks PPA with jack2 in 10.04
<ronj> well these tests were this summer, on 10.04pre
<ronj> jack2
<ronj> falktx ppa yes
<holstein> i think lowlatency is the future
<holstein> the near future at least
<ronj> the future are singing kittens
<holstein> lol
<ronj> holstein, you'll have stuff to report to Alessio once done with your benchmarks?
<holstein> sure
<holstein> i'll need to install natty though
<holstein> i think thats where he is right?
<ronj> yes
<ronj> beware, the ubustu iso is picky these times
<ronj> just install the minimum audio selection
<holstein> yeah, GRUB install changed
<holstein> on the live CD
<ronj> yup, and dependency issues in the video packages
<ronj> holstein, did the key to show GRUB change from SHIFT to something else?
<ronj> -lowlat successfully installed but I can't boot it :P
<ronj> when I press shift nothing happens
<holstein> ronj: not that i know of
<holstein> but i always go in and unhide it
<ronj> uh I guess it's in grub.cfg?
<holstein> /etc/default/grub
<holstein> i do
<holstein> #GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
<ronj> ok
<holstein> and sometimes
<holstein> GRUB_TIMEOUT=-1
<holstein> when i dont want the time
<holstein> timer*
<holstein> ronj: and run sudo update-grub afterward
<holstein> to apply the changes
<ronj> F*CK when installing lowlatency I also updated my packages, and now I'm unable to login
<ronj> ultra-meh
<ronj> meh
<ronj> meh
<ronj> meh
<holstein> :/
<balleyne> I recently upgrade to Ubuntu Studio 10.04 from 9.04 (through 9.10), and when I run qjackctl and try to connect to my presonus firepod soundcard, it fails and the messages window says "jackd: unknown driver 'freebob'" and when I try 'firewire', it says "cannot load driver module firewire". Help?
<holstein> balleyne: i need to run
<holstein> BUT
<holstein> i have that hardware
<holstein> try running sudo qjackctl
<holstein> se if you have permissions issues
<holstein> you want to use the 'firewire' driver
<balleyne> holstein: ah, ok, thanks!
<holstein> google 'ubuntu firewire wiki'
<holstein> and you'll see some particulars on fixing permissions
<balleyne> holstein:great, thank you
<balleyne> holestin: I remember doing that for older versions of Ubuntu Studio, that could well be it... I'll check it out, thanks!
<holstein> BBL... if you need... also #opensourcemusicians :)
<balleyne> holstein: awesome, thanks :)
<balleyne> holstein: fixed it already, thank you!
#ubuntustudio 2010-12-10
<Guest2922> can anyone here help me attempt to run guitarix? lol I don't know why it isn't working for me
<holstein> Guest2922: you got it installed?
<Guest2922> holstein, yeah
<holstein> Guest2922: are you running JACK ?
<Guest2922> holstein, yup
<holstein> and JACK is cool otherwise?
<holstein> and your used to routing things in JACK?
<Guest2922> yeah, I am able to run rakarrack with it
<holstein> OK
<holstein> *should* be similar
<holstein> is it showing up in 'connect' at all?
<holstein> in JACK
<holstein> or patchage
<holstein> or whatever you use...
<Guest2922> yeah
<holstein> just double check the routing
<holstein> IF your able to get a line out to your card dry
<holstein> it should work
<holstein> there might be an 'on' button
<holstein> like rakarrack
<Guest2922> good point
<Guest2922> lol will look now
<holstein> Guest2922: also
<holstein> i realy just use rakarrack for that
<holstein> i got guitarix working once
<holstein> and preffered rakarrack for what i do
<holstein> try #opensourcemusicans
<holstein> those guys use both
<holstein> and can prolly be more helpful
<Guest2922> well which would be better for metal? like does guitarix have good metal tones? lol
<holstein> sure
<holstein> they're both great
<holstein> and the guys i know that use them both, say they are just different
<holstein> guitarix seems to be more classic stompbox style
<ScottL> and he's gone
<ScottL> hi holstein :) how are you
<holstein> ScottL: im good
<holstein> we'll have to hang soon
<holstein> ill PM you tomorrow :)
* holstein is on a gig right now...
#ubuntustudio 2010-12-11
<larsselavy> Hi, I have a problem with cinelerra, i don't know how to solve it. I've just change my computer, i've installed ubuntu studio with realtime core (i don't know if it's linked to my problem) and now i have a sound latency on cinelerra of almost 1 second... Any idea of the problem?
<ScottL> larsselavy, do you still have the -generic kernel installed? you can try booting into it and seeing if the latency changes
<larsselavy> ScottL, I don't know if it's installed, how can I know? My computer is a new one, nothing was installed before i install ubuntu studio
<ScottL> larsselavy, when you boot the computer, does it show a menu or take you straight to logging in?
<larsselavy> straight to log
<larsselavy> ScottL,
<larsselavy> so i suppose i don't have a generic kernel
<ScottL> are you familiar with the command line (also known as the terminal)?
<larsselavy> yeah depend on what
<ScottL> larsselavy, just because it goes straight to log in doesn't mean you don't have other kernels, that might just be the way grub is set
<larsselavy> i mean depend on which command lines
<larsselavy> ok
<larsselavy> but i don't know how to reset grub...
<larsselavy> ScottL,
<ScottL> probably the most straight forward is to search in synaptic, are you familiar with synaptic larsselavy ?
<ScottL> i would search for 'linux-image-2'
<larsselavy> yeah
<larsselavy> ScottL,
<ScottL> this should show which kernels are installed already
<ScottL> larsselavy, which version of ubuntu studio did you install (e.g. lucid, maverick)?
<larsselavy> lucid
<ScottL> okay, so lucid comes with a -generic kernel by default
<ScottL> i would presume then that you added the -realtime kernel manually
<ScottL> so unless you removed the -generic kernel, you should still have it
<ScottL> and even if you did add it you can always add the -generic again via synaptic
<holstein> hey guys :)
<larsselavy> i didn't remove it so i suppose i still have it
<holstein> larsselavy: what is the output of
<holstein> uname -a
<holstein> in a terminal
<larsselavy> i didn't exactly add the realtime kernel manually, it asked it at installation
<holstein> larsselavy: you can post that here
<holstein> its just a line
<larsselavy> Linux Lillith 2.6.32-26-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP Wed Nov 24 09:00:03 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
<larsselavy> holstein,
<ScottL> ah, larsselavy tha was asking if you wanted -realtime privelages, not install the kernel
<ScottL> this is to give better performance
<larsselavy> ScottL, ah so i don't have the realtime kernel?
<larsselavy> ok
<ScottL> no real-time kernel, it even shows you that with your uname -a
<ScottL> when you use cinelerra are you also using JACK as the sound server?
* ScottL has never used cinelerra
<ScottL> hi holstein :)
<larsselavy> no alsa
<ScottL> hmmm, not sure why there should be latency then
<larsselavy> mmm
<larsselavy> shit
<ScottL> although you probably are using Pulse Audio on top of alsa (it's installed by default)
<holstein> larsselavy: how is hte sound otherwise
<holstein> ?
<holstein> the*
<ScottL> larsselavy, you might also check either cinelerra forums or IRC channels
<larsselavy> the sound is ok, just as it should have been holstein
<holstein> careful, this channel is logged... canonical will make you put a dollar in the 'curse-word' jar ;)
<larsselavy> holstein, ?
<holstein> larsselavy: can cinelerra use JACK ?
<larsselavy> holstein, no
<holstein> interesting
<holstein> i cant imagine expecting low-latency audio without using JACK in linux
<holstein> as a user or a dev
<larsselavy> holstein, maybe it's a cinelerra problem something in the settings, i don't know
<holstein> larsselavy: your up to date right?
<holstein> with system updates?
<larsselavy> yes
<holstein> internal sound card?
<larsselavy> i have also an external but i don't use it with cinelerra
<holstein> what is the device?
<holstein> when you run
<holstein> lspci
<holstein> you can paste that one line here
<holstein> the one line about the sound card
<larsselavy> (it's an other problem i have i'll ask another time : jack doesn't recognize my external sound card)
<holstein> OR use http://paste.ubuntu.com/
<larsselavy> http://paste.ubuntu.com/542279/
<larsselavy> holstein,
<holstein> im not seeing anything obvious searching around on launchpad
<holstein> anyways.. let me make a few suggestions
<larsselavy> ok
<holstein> and you can plug through them and come back
<larsselavy> what? (english is not my mother language i didn't get it)
<holstein> i think i would assume this is a cinellera issue
<holstein> maybe see if there is a git version
<holstein> or some latest version PPA
<holstein> an avenue you feel comfortable with that lets you get the most recent verion of cinellera
<larsselavy> yeah probably i think i had the same problem when i installed cinelerra the first time, some years ago on my old computer but i can't remeber what i did to solve it
<holstein> maybe they have a mailing list if the IRC channel is dead
<holstein> after exausting those avenues
<larsselavy> they have a mailing list
<holstein> you can try updating alsa
<holstein> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6589810#post6589810
<holstein> but my money is on cinellera
<holstein> larsselavy: about the external device and JACK
<holstein> you can search here http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main
<holstein> see if you find the device
<holstein> if its there, you should see info about how well alsa supports it
<holstein> and what hoops you need to jump through
<holstein> one easy-ish way to isolate the USB device is by disabling the internal sound card in the bios
<holstein> at least temporarily
<holstein> there are a couple commands i would run in the terminal right after plugging the device in
<holstein> lsusb
<holstein> that should list all the USB devices that the machine can see
<holstein> and
<holstein> aplay -l
<holstein> and
<holstein> arecord -l
<ScottL> larsselavy, do you have to use cinelerra? you might also try openshot or blender for video editing
<holstein> ^^ those list what deivces can play and record audio, and how many inputs you have
<holstein> ScottL: how is openshot?
<holstein> what did you use to do those vids you did?
<ScottL> holstein, i used blender actually :)
<ScottL> but openshot is pretty stable from what i read, full of features, and pretty simple
<holstein> im going to try http://jaycut.com/
<ScottL> isn't that the online video editing service?
<holstein> yeah
<holstein> i made an account
<ScottL> well, it should be OS agnostic and stable :)
<ScottL> http://ardour.org/taxonomy/term/23/0
<ScottL> paul has been making lots of posts showcasing new features and changes in ardour 3.0
<ScottL> he's probably made close to thirty in the last three or four days
<holstein> ScottL: thats a good sign :)
<gnusar> has anyone of you suceeded to install ustudio as a virtual machine via virtual box? i am struggling with getting the audio line in to work.. is probably more a virtual box related issue but i thought it does not hurt to ask here
<holstein> yeah, this is a good place to ask gnusar
<holstein> i dont think your going to get the performance you need in VM
<holstein> gnusar: what is the goal?
<holstein> are you running windows or OSX host?
<gnusar> holstein: i am running win7 and want to record some guitar tunes
<holstein> i think you'd do betting with a wubi install
<holstein> and that is just as removable
<holstein> in theory
<holstein> i had good luck with a wubi install in XP
<holstein> when i was transitioning the studio to linux
<gnusar> sounds good.. so you were also interested in sound recording and processing?
<holstein> yup
<gnusar> thank you holstein
* holstein doesnt do a lot of MIDI
<holstein> or video
<holstein> gnusar: check out #opensourcemusicians
<gnusar> holstein: live shows! sounds interesting
#ubuntustudio 2010-12-12
<gem_cat> studio wiped my passwords - what happened?
<gem_cat> i am doing a clean install of ubuntu now
<gem_cat> my instinct is to change passwords befofre rebooting studio - but why should I need to do that?
<gem_cat> also the limits setting on Jack, does that affect what software gets installed? I wouldnt think so but it comes in the middle of the install
<gem_cat> ok thanks - t&e works ... eventually
<ronj> hi
<ronj> testing Natty; I keep having "Cannot create thread 1 Operation not permitted" errors when starting jack with Qjackctl, though my realtime setup is done as usual
<holstein> interesting...
<ronj> are there new/specific things to do?
<holstein> does it run?
<ronj> hi holstein
<holstein> OK?
<holstein> hey :)
<ronj> no it doesn't
<holstein> :/
<holstein> ronj: have you hit up the list?
<ronj> not yet
<holstein> i havnet had a chance to get an install going
<holstein> natty
<ronj> yup
<holstein> i hope to before it releases ;)
<ronj> I reinstalled with todays iso and no longer have my gdm problem
<holstein> AH
<holstein> thats progress
<ronj> and now this, but I figured I may have forgotten something...
<ronj> ^^
<holstein> ronj: does sudo qjackctl do it?
<holstein> just to double check permissions
<ronj> uhm no
<ronj> same error
<ronj> and yup my user is in the "audio" group
<holstein> could be some JACK thing i guess
<holstein> maybe an updated package borking up the works
<Blank__> :O
<Blank__> ronj!
<Blank__> the same ronj who released two albums in ardour as CC?
<ronj> Blank__, hello
<ronj> yup
<ronj> ^^
<ronj> glad you ask
<Blank__> ronj, I had a go at mixing a track or two from that, had to fiddle around a bit because the ardour sessions were in mono for "naked"?
<ronj> Blank__, all I did till now is pure mono. I'm not at all an audio engineer, and I thought that instead of borking stereo stuff I'd rather do my best at mono stuff
<Blank__> ah...
<ronj> one day I'll do a proper stereo album with competent people :P
<Blank__> ardour 2.x can't make mono masters into stereo, so i had to add a stereo buss and mix to that :P
<Blank__> not that i can claim to fully understand the intricacies of stereo mixing
<Blank__> i let a few people have a listen to it, including an audio engineer with 20 years' experience, and my mum didn't like "Lies", she thought it was too depressing :p
<ronj> ^^
<ronj> and what did the engineer say?
<Blank__> the engineer thought it was an interesting sound, we listened to it in his studio with Mackie speakers
<Blank__> very... dark sounding
<Blank__> i pointed out it was all done with SM57/58
<ronj> wow hey you probably had better gear than I did
<ronj> this was done on Logitech crap
<Blank__> he had Mackie HR824s
<ronj> :P
<Blank__> ...i think that's the name of them, i don't like them, too bright
<Blank__> aluminium tweeters >.<
<Blank__> i mixed the track using Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro headphones
<Blank__> because my monitors are Bose 301s
<Blank__> :P
<Blank__> from the early 70s
<ronj> I'm soooooooo lost in all this pro audio stuff
<ronj> for my next record I'm going to take some audio engineering lessons, and do it with experienced people
<ronj> Blank__, do you have some compos online?
<Blank__> compos?
<Blank__> i have a rough mix of your "Lies" track i could upload if you like
<Blank__> but no real compositions of my own, just random crap I recorded years ago
<ronj> ok
<ronj> sure I'd be glad to hear your mix
<ronj> what kind of music are you into?
<Blank__> alternative rock, a bit of acoustic
<Blank__> i play guitar so naturally i like guitar-based music
<ronj> k
<Blank__> just had to grab my phone, the mixdown was on there
<ronj> Blank__, "alternative rock, a bit of acoustic" >> makes me think I just got four tickets for Godspeed You! Black Emperor in April in Montreal, I'm soooooo happy to finally see them
<ronj> do you know Godspeed?
<Blank__> I've heard of them, but not very well
<ronj> Blank__, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsf2LoLk3SA&fmt=18
<ronj> gods
<Blank__> just uploading the mix now
<Blank__> it's ogg 192kbps
<ronj> yay!
<Blank__> i haven't fixed the taps on the guitar yet
<Blank__> http://blankw.okapi.feralhosting.com/ronj/1_lies_rough_9_11_10.ogg
<Blank__> there's also some more stuff I want to do towards the end
<ronj> I like the dynamics you added around 1:10
<Blank__> yeah, i wanted it to "bite" a bit
<Blank__> i kept the vocals a bit bright, too
<ronj> Blank__, if you wish so, send me your email, I'll have you in the loop when I start the work on my new album
<Blank__> oo, sounds good
<Blank__> there y'go
<Blank__> i should finish that mix, it has potential
<Blank__> i feel that i'm better at mastering though, as i get overwhelmed if someone throws a stack of sources to mix at me
<Blank__> but i liked how you put each track in an ardour session, that was easy enough to deal with
<ronj> :P
<ronj> Blank__, that's because I record everything separately
<ronj> (I had no other choice till now)
<Blank__> ah yep
<ronj> just sent you an email
<Blank__> i've had the potential to record stuff in multitrack for a while but i haven't as I don't have anything to record
<Blank__> but yeah, i really like your stuff
<ronj> thanks :) . more to come, I have currently four new songs, and I'd like to add some beats to this
<Blank__> oh, nice
<ronj> do something less minimalistic
<Blank__> yeah
<Blank__> spread your wings a bit :p
<ronj> yup ^^ . I played two of them live just acoustic some months ago : "france" and "reborn" at http://www.youtube.com/user/ronjandfriends
<ronj> Hi I'm still stuck at running Jack/Natty, help welcome. I sent an email to the devel list: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-studio-devel/2010-December/002873.html
<holstein> ronj:
<holstein> can you run JACK without the firewire device?
<holstein> im wondering if its JACK or FFADO
<ronj> hm trying
<ronj> holstein, jack works fine with alsa on my intel hda
<holstein> ronj: interesting
<holstein> not sure what we can learn from that...
<holstein> seems like FFADO though
<holstein> instead of permissions
<holstein> i mean..
<holstein> or permissions
<holstein> instead of JACK
<ronj> holstein, what do you mean?
<ronj> any ideas of other things I should test?
* holstein thinking...
<ronj> :P
<holstein> ronj: is the old freebob driver still there?
<ronj> rrright, good idea
<ronj> uh no
<ronj> the menu item is there, but then "unknown driver freebob"
<holstein> i think its been on the remove list for a while
<ronj> gonna ask on #ardour
<holstein> i would ask in #jack
<holstein> maybe #ffado
<holstein> the ffado mailing list
<holstein> #ardour is smart too though
<holstein> and active
<ronj> yup
#ubuntustudio 2011-12-05
<Siekacz1> hello
<Siekacz1> I've got a problem with kxstudio
<Siekacz1> or maybe even jack
#ubuntustudio 2011-12-06
<Stutter> hi all
#ubuntustudio 2011-12-10
<uwe> hi all
#ubuntustudio 2012-12-03
<ardianta> hii _rgb_ arges cwillu
<cwillu> uh huh.
<lwizardl> hello
<lwizardl> anyone around?
<smartboyhw> Hi lwizardl
<lwizardl> I am trying to figure out what application will allow me to record a video with multi-track audio in studio
<lwizardl> what I want to do is record my video game playing (example Tuner1) with both Audio and Video, and then also have a second audio track of my commentary from a microphone
<ubuntu-studio> hi everybody
<ivan__> ÐобÑÑй денÑ! ÐÑÑÑ ÑÑÑ ÐºÑо-Ñо?
<smartboyhw> ivan__, er no russian please:P
<ivan__> Why?
<smartboyhw> ivan__, nobody speaks russian here I think (or is there?)
<ivan__> 111
<ivan__> ÐÑÑÑ ÑÑÑ ÐºÑо-Ñо?
<holstein> !ru
<ubottu> ÐожалÑйÑÑа набеÑиÑе /join #ubuntu-ru Ð´Ð»Ñ Ð¿Ð¾Ð»ÑÑÐµÐ½Ð¸Ñ Ð¿Ð¾Ð¼Ð¾Ñи на ÑÑÑÑком ÑзÑке. | Pozhalujsta naberite /join #ubuntu-ru dlya polucheniya pomoshi na russkom yazyke.
#ubuntustudio 2012-12-04
<kilon> aloha people
<Tekkit_> hi, i have a problem
<Tekkit_> my Hamachi keeps saying Failed to connect to the engine
#ubuntustudio 2012-12-05
<twcook> I broke my UbuntuStudio, I installed VLC and now even though I used Synaptic to Completely REmove it. US still does output to my Alesis iO2 anymore. IT worked fine before. Any tips on what may have changed?
<twcook> does not output
<zequence> twcook: I assure you, it's not related to VLC
<zequence> Alesis i02. Let me look it up
<twcook> Ok, but it worked fine before that. so ?
<zequence> Yea, but still unrelated
<zequence> VLC has nothing that would affect hardware
<zequence> It's just an application and some codecs
<twcook> that is good news, I love VLC :-)
<zequence> twcook: So, when you say no audio, are you talking about pulseaudio or jack?
<twcook> PulseAudio, though JAck isn't working anymore either. But I haven't tried to change the settings or anything in JACK
<zequence> twcook: You could try restarting pulseaudio (would happen if you reboot too): pulseaudio -k
<zequence> And make sure you selected the Alesis as your output
<twcook> I have rebooted
<twcook> When I set the output to the iO2 I get no sound
<zequence> twcook: If it shows, it's working. Just a matter of configuration
<zequence> Is there a hardware mixer inside that card?
<twcook> No
<twcook> It is an external 2 channel USB adapter, no mixer
<twcook> yeah, it is the config I don't know how to fix
<zequence> Yea, it looks like the hardware monitoring is done from the knobs
<zequence> Some devices has a hardware mixer that you can only control with software
<zequence> twcook: You could try looking at the controls using alsamixer to see if there's something hidden, but I wouldn't think so
<twcook> OK, I feel like an idiot.
<zequence> Just run it in a terminal: alsamixer
<twcook> But I have to come clean so this doesn't confuse anyone else.
<twcook> I had at some point turn down the audio output to my external speakers.
<twcook> REALLY sorry to bother you
<twcook> But thanks anyway for the speedy reply
<zequence> I feel pretty confident that it's some kind of levelling problem, somewhere along the chain. Or routing
<zequence> The drivers seem to work, since it shows up
<zequence> You haven't messed around with any alsa configs right? like a .asoundrc in your home folder
<twcook> zequence, Leveling, as in my external volume control to the speakers was turned all the way down
<twcook> it works now that I fixed that
<zequence> twcook: Ah, so it works now?
<zequence> Great :)
<twcook> yeah, sheepish, go hide in the corner look
<zequence> Happens to everyone
<twcook> :-)
<twcook> thanks
<twcook> now I can reinstall VLC
<Guest79309> dude, jack is the shit
<ubuntu-studio> hey everyone. i'm trying to install from the live CD, but its not progressing from the 'preparing to install' screen. i'm not seeing any network/cpu activity. any thoughts?
<DR01D-Engineer> does your system meet required specs?
<DR01D-Engineer> or maybe the cd is corrupt
<ubuntu-studio> it should meet the specs, i've had previous versions of ubu studio on here before
<ubuntu-studio> i did the CD check before i started and it produced no errors
<DR01D-Engineer> not sure then. i just installed via usb stick and it went smoothly
<ubuntu-studio> hmm i guess i'll give that a try
<ubuntu-studio> you didn't have a pause at the screen that verifies disk space/power supply/internet connection?
<DR01D-Engineer> cant say i remember
<ubuntu-studio> just restarted the install for a 3rd time and it worked
<ubuntu-studio> makes me feel pretty stupid for waiting 20+ minutes the previous two times
<DR01D-Engineer> ahh cool
<DR01D-Engineer> could be your cd reader or something then
<ubuntu-studio> yeah the first time the disk spun but nothing happend.. second time nothing
<ubuntu-studio> now i shouldn't run into any problems until i try to configure jack, hahah
<rutgervdb_> hello - noobie here in this channel - have recently installed UbuntuStudio 12.10 + Line6 Toneport UX2 - looking for some procedures in hooking it all up. I have sound from electric guitar coming back through headphones and have introduced Rakarrack and Guitarix connected with Jack (QJackCtl) - but am totally unsure where and how it happens
<rutgervdb_> It is a very simple setup, and I think it is working. Still looking for references and guides that will help me determine it is connected optimally
<zequence> rutgervdb_: If you get sound, then you're alright. If you require lower latency, set frames/period lower in qjackctl -> Setup
<zequence> rutgervdb_: As for setting levels, and monitoring them. That's more in the area of sound engineering
<rutgervdb_> zequence: thanks. yup - was able to adjust latency down by reducing frames - it is at 5.8 ms which is quite acceptable.
<rutgervdb_> So you are saying - I should be alright if I follow my nose. NExt step is to get the sound into ardour - but that should be easy with qjack too.
<zequence> rutgervdb_: Could be it's hard to get xrun free performance at lower latencies. One tip is to disable the pulseaudio bridge, which you can do in: qjackctl -> Setup -> Misc -> Enable DBus
<zequence> Or just uninstall pulseaudio-module-jack
<zequence> And restart pulseaudio after that
<zequence> rutgervdb_: Yea, just start ardour, and whatever other apps you like. Make connections in whatever jack connection application you prefer. qjackctl works fine
<zequence> rutgervdb_: gladish is a session manager, which allows you to save a setup with applications and connections
<zequence> Haven't used it much myself, but it's probably something you'd be interested in looking at, especially if often using the same mix of applications, with the same connections
<rutgervdb_> Cool - thanks - I will check out Gladdish too.
<rutgervdb_> Yes - saving all the setups is a good idea so I can quickly get something down on "tape"
<anthol> hey, anyone here have any experience with specimen?
<holstein> i have used it briefly anthol .. my friend lsd over in #opensourcemusicians uses it
<anthol> cool, thanks for the lead.
<anthol> i was just wondering if it is possible to set different samples to have different root notes, so you don't have to use different midi channels on your hardware
#ubuntustudio 2012-12-07
<lio> Hello, is somebody speek french on this chanal ?
#ubuntustudio 2012-12-08
<ussher_> im trying to add keyboard shortcuts to kazam to pause/unpause (because the icon click stops working) and have found this https://bugs.launchpad.net/kazam/+bug/650691 which reads ".... you can set the shortcuts in ~/.config/kazam/kazam.conf :) ....." but fails to say HOW to add them. any ideas how to add a keyboard shortcut?
<ubottu> Launchpad bug 650691 in Kazam Screencaster "Kazam needs keyboard shortcuts" [Wishlist,Fix released]
<Eddward> Does ubuntu studio have anything special like special kernel patches for audio work?
<Eddward> Or is it a just a different set of default apps from ubuntu?
<zequence> Eddward: It comes with preinstalled with linux-lowlatency (a reconfigured -generic) and a few settings to improbv
<zequence> ..improve low latency operation
<zequence> It's not difficult to add that to any Ubuntu flavor or derivative
<zequence> Just install linux-lowlatency and add the user to audio group, as well as saying "yes" to realtime, when asked while installing jackd
<zequence> All applications are in the main Ubuntu repo
<zequence> You can then add all audio applications by installing ubuntustudio-audio
<zequence> All, that are dependencies to that meta
<Eddward> zequence: Thanks
<holstein> most folks dont need even the low latency one though
<holstein> you can do plenty of "audio work" without needing low latency
<holstein> you will notice a need for it if you want to run software synthesisers or realtime effects..
<Eddward> I found yoshimi seemed to work better with it.
<holstein> Eddward: not better
<holstein> Eddward: will have lower latency if thats what you need
<holstein> its neither better nor worse...
<Eddward> It got clicky.
<holstein> sure... at lower latency settings
<holstein> you also might not need to play the synth realtime
<holstein> you might just want to do some sequencing... with a piano roll editor for example. that will not require low latency
<holstein> i would expect to get audio hardware that would support lower latency as well
<holstein> if you are using an internal sound card, that is the biggest problem
<Eddward> I have an sb live
<Eddward> It's been ok for sound, but it's not very pa friendly.
<holstein> Eddward: pulse audio?
<Eddward> yes
<holstein> the drivers are the same
<Eddward> I know
<zequence> Anyone who is wanting to play a soft synth live will need low latency
<Eddward> They don't seem to want to support it.
<holstein> i doubt its actually a pulse issue.. lubuntu doesnt ship with pulse.. you could fire that up live and test without pulse
<Eddward> It plays fine w/o pulse.
<Eddward> I also don't like that pulse won't take advantage of the multi-open support, but that's a separate issue.
<zequence> pulse does do things a bit differently. Some cards have a alsa driver interface that doesn't work well with the standards that pulseaudio requireas
<Eddward> Yep.
<holstein> ive had issues with both scenarios, depending on driver support
<zequence> Eddward: What is the issue you are having with pulseaudio?
<Eddward> So far the emu10k driver's been fine for me with the sb live except for when I use pulse.
<Eddward> It's clicky. If I do something that's CPU intensive like play a video game, the sound stutters and static's out until sound just dies and I get silence.
<Eddward> I gave up on PA.
<Eddward> I've never gotten any workable advice and lots of insults.
<Eddward> Is unity the default DE for ubuntu studio now?
<zequence> XFCE
<Eddward> cool
<zequence> Check out ubuntustudio.org for some pics
<Eddward> I'm still on 10.04 and I'm hoping to upgrade over the holidys.
<holstein> or download it and check it out live
<zequence> Eddward: I'm guessing your PA issues might be long gone once you upgrade
<Eddward> I'll give it another, but that's what I've heard before.
<zequence> Just realized we don't have a screenshot of the desktop :P
<Eddward> I use it on my work laptop with the enbedded sound chip. It gets staticy there, but it's just work.
<Eddward> I don't mine a few clicks when the chat program beeps.
<holstein> i usually have all that worked out from a live CD
<holstein> Eddward: i get no clicks or pops.. desktop or studio. not on my sound blaster hardware either
<zequence> 10.04 still didn't include a alsa driver for my audio device that allowed PA to see my audio ins and outs. That got sorted out a long time ago
<Eddward> Does pulse run on top of jack or do it suspend pulse when doing sound work?
<holstein> Eddward: not in any prolonged un-usable state
<holstein> Eddward: you can undo the dbus that routes pulse through JACK (thats what i do)
<zequence> pulse runs paralell to jack, unless you start jack with the same audio device
<Eddward> I'm fine routing through jack. I hated killing all other sound to run jack before.
<zequence> Ubuntu Studio comes preconfigured with having Pulseaudio bridge to jack, if starting jack though
<holstein> i prefer having no other sound but jack on my audio rig
<Eddward> cool
<holstein> not that i remove or purge anything...
<zequence> That means Pulseaudio is turned into an audio application, just like any audio application
<zequence> It's not recommended to have the bridge active when doing low latency
<zequence> It causes xruns
<Eddward> ok
<holstein> though, its quite useable and decent latency settings..and works out of the box.. easy
<zequence> PA still needs to be set to use jack as its output/input, after starting jack, in order for the chain to be complete
<Eddward> I just want to be able to run a game now and then with out having to kill jack.
<Eddward> I'm still spoiled by running multi-open without pulse.
<holstein> i dont do gaming and jack
<holstein> i kill jack and do desktop tasks... or i dual boot a seperate installation
<Eddward> I'm guessing they haven't done anything to rake advantage of multi-open.
<holstein> i dont even like to upgrade my audio machine
<holstein> i have a 10.04 install that i havent upgraded in years.. i dual boot 12.04 there til i get migrated over to 12.04
<Eddward> Maybe if I get a comfortable enough rig, I'll be that way.
<holstein> i have a very comfortable dual core rig that i got for recovering some data from a hard drive for a friend
<Eddward> I got to were I was using yoshimi, qsynth and I was trying to find a recording/sequencer I liked.
<Eddward> I played with muse & rosegarden,
<holstein> qtractor is the one i hear about, though i do very little midi myself
<Eddward> I hate having to reload all the different programs and getting reset up each time.
<holstein> ardour3 will be the big one when its final
<holstein> Eddward: sure.. but actually, you *get* to load the different programs and set them up with each other
<zequence> ardour3 midi is not the best, even though it does work. I either use qtractor or muse. Muse is very fast to work with, if you write notes by hand
<zequence> I only use muse for midi though
<zequence> And I prefer Ardour for audio
<holstein> zequence: might not be the best, but i bet it will be the go-to when its final
<Eddward> If I could snaphot it once I'm setup that would be fine.
<holstein> Eddward: there are session managers
<Eddward> I need to figure out how to use one.
<Eddward> Thanks for you help. I got to run.
#ubuntustudio 2012-12-09
<dajxd> any precedence for the installer instacrashing on macbooks? i can only get as far as the install button, even with the slideshow removed.
<smartboyhw_> dajxd, wait you are installing Ubuntu Stu on a MacBook?
<smartboyhw_> s/Stu/Studio
<dajxd> trying to, yeah
<smartboyhw_> that isn't supported you know
<smartboyhw> dajxd, we don't provide amd64+mac disks
<dajxd> for good reason, i guess- i got it working a few versions ago i thought. thanks anyway!
<dajxd> would i have any luck just apt-getting all of the ubuntu studio packages from ubuntu?
<dajxd> (of course not expecting support or documentation from there on out)
<smartboyhw> dajxd, well yes:D
<smartboyhw> dajxd, sudo apt-get install ubuntustudio-*
<smartboyhw> That might work
<dajxd> well i'll give that a shot! thank you.
<pacobecu> problem with nvidia geforce 8400m gt gpu in ubuntu studio12.....how can i resolve it????
<zequence> pacobecu: What sort of problem?
<pacobecu> sorry...i dont speak english very well....the problem is that dont recognize the driver and the resolution is very low
<zequence> pacobecu: Did you install the nvidia proprietary driver?
<zequence> In the command line: sudo apt-get install nvidia-current
<pacobecu> i need the all the specific command... please...i am new user of linux...i dont know how to do it...thank you
<zequence> pacobecu: Commands for what?
<pacobecu> for the terminal... i tried that "sudo apt-get install nvidia-current" and when reboot the system doesnt work....one time yes and the next time not
<zequence> pacobecu: That is what installs the nvidia drivers
<zequence> pacobecu: Did you add another kernel since then?
<zequence> pacobecu: How do you know the drivers are not working?
<pacobecu> You do not appear to be using the NVIDIA X driver. Please edit your X configuration file (just run `nvidia-xconfig` as root), and restart the X server.
<pacobecu> this is the message that appears
<pacobecu> i have just complete the installation and this is the problem
<zequence> pacobecu: Ok. don't run nvidia-xconfig. And, erase the xorg.conf file, if it exists. In /etc/X11/xorg.conf
<pacobecu> step by step please...i have not idea
<zequence> pacobecu: Delete /etc/X11/xorg.conf, if it exists
<pacobecu> ok...
<zequence> In a terminal: sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
<pacobecu> ok...it doesnt exist..
<zequence> pacobecu: To make sure it's installed, do: sudo apt-get install nvidia-current
<zequence> Then reboot
<pacobecu> just did it
<pacobecu> the drivers are installed
<zequence> pacobecu: What kernel are you running?
<zequence> pacobecu: uname -r
<pacobecu> i just try ubuntu studio 12...i download in his web and just tried to install
<pacobecu> 3.5.0-17-lowlatency
<zequence> pacobecu: Ok, good
<zequence> pacobecu: Did you reboot?
<pacobecu> no...ill reboot
<pacobecu> zequence...i rebooted the system and all is the same...
<zequence> pacobecu: I have no idea why it is not working out for you. Ubuntu Studio is no different from any other Ubuntu in this regard
<zequence> The kernel is the same as linux-generic
<zequence> So, full support for the nvidia drivers
<pacobecu> thank very much anyway...bye
<zequence> pacobecu: Wait
<pacobecu> ok
<zequence> pacobecu: Perhaps your device is too old for that driver
<zequence> pacobecu: Try installing: sudo apt-get install nvidia-173
<zequence> Supports nvidia, series 5-9
<pacobecu> ok...but first how can i remove the current drivers
<zequence> pacobecu: It will be automatically removed
<pacobecu> ok...ill try..wait
<zequence> pacobecu: It's worth a try. If it doesn't work, you may ask on any Ubuntu channel, or forum about this, as it's the same for all Ubuntu flavord
<zequence> flavors*
<pacobecu> thank you
#ubuntustudio 2013-12-02
<Patero-ng> anyone here knows a website where artist sell their work for money?
<holstein> Patero-ng: many.. bandcamp is nice
<Patero-ng> rely
<Patero-ng> right on
<holstein> http://holstein.bandcamp.com/ for example
<Patero-ng> how does it work
<Patero-ng> I have a friend that's an artist but is going homeless she needs the money I dont' have
<holstein> Patero-ng: your friend needs to give up on art/music if making quick cash is the goal
<holstein> Patero-ng: bandcamp works as you will see by visiting http://bandcamp.com/
<Patero-ng> she is depressed I met her at the psychiatric hospital
<holstein> Patero-ng: i bet.. still, a job is the quickest way.. and it doesnt mean you cant try and sell music.. regardless, you can visit the site to get details
<Patero-ng> she says she is not inspired to make music or artwork right now but she has the talent I want to help her find a relief in her talent
<holstein> bandcamp, nor any store makes art or talent any better
<Patero-ng> is anyone here jewish
<cfhowlett> Patero-ng, this is ubuntu support.
<Patero-ng> y a mi que hcucha
<Patero-ng> chucha
<cfhowlett> !es
<ubottu> En la mayorÃa de los canales de Ubuntu, se habla sólo en inglés. Si busca ayuda en español entre al canal #ubuntu-es; escriba "/join #ubuntu-es" (sin comillas) y presione intro.
<Patero-ng> I want to be with her be with her night and day
<cfhowlett> Patero-ng, you are really in the wrong channel.
<Patero-ng> why cfhowlett
<Patero-ng> why contain my feelings towards ashley
<cfhowlett> Patero-ng, I already told you to keep your sick fantasies off this channel.
<cfhowlett> !topic
<ubottu> Please read the channel topic whenever you enter, as it contains important information. To view it at any time after joining, simply type /topic
<Patero-ng> :(
<Patero-ng> heaven is a place on earth
<Patero-ng> love comes first
<mlpug> If I use various software to produce different tracks of my composition what guarantees that one track is not based on A 440Hz and other one e.g. on A=442Hz?
<mlpug> Is this some systemwide setting that I could set it to e.g. 442Hz. Or is this supposed to be per application.
<mlpug> I am asking because fluidsynth man page does not contain sting "440" so I assume this issue is not discussed at least there.
<vectorman> Hello dudes!
<vectorman> On my system I have nvidia geforce 210 and I had a good driver with acceleration and etc...
<vectorman> but yesterday I wrong and installed nvidia-current package wich installed other driver and my system running bad now
<vectorman> so my question is how to install again the best driver for my videocard
<zequence> nvidia-current installs the current non-free driver made by nvidia
<zequence> if you didn't install any of the nivida packages before, that meant you were using the free nouveau driver
<zequence> if you want to use the free driver, just uninstall the nvidia driver
<vectorman> I see but now I haven'n 3d acceleration and the maximal resolution is 1024n768
<zequence> vectorman: Which version of Ubuntu?
<vectorman> the last - saucy salamander
<vectorman> 32 bit
<zequence> vectorman: in the terminal: software-properties-gtk
<vectorman> moment
<zequence> Under the tab "Additional Drivers"
<zequence> there you can install, or uninstall non-free nvidia drivers
<zequence> or rather, select the driver you want to use
<vectorman> ok thank you - I'll try now
<vectorman> maybe I must reboot now
<zequence> yes, that is nessecary
<vectorman> ok
<wachin> Hi Zequence, do can help. I need to chage the volume for a MIDI in muse (you taught me, but not remember exactly) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/83295394/Muse/Zequence-I-Don%27t-remember-how-to-change-volume.mkv
<zequence> wachin: one of the control values
<wachin> ok thanks
<zequence> volume is midi control 7, if I remember correctly
<wachin> i go
<wachin> I go to switch my OS to English,
<wachin> Zequence, thanks, I do
<wachin> the spet two is this https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/83295394/Muse/02-Step-2-Use-pencil-to-change-the-volumen-to-a-MIDI-track.png
<wachin> See you later, God bless
<Nytram> I'm a noob with studio, will I break anything by installing something like KDE or Cinnamon? xfce confuses me sometimes when I just want to get things done.
<Nytram> hehe Busy around here I see. 8)
<Nytram> Does anyone talk in this channel?
#ubuntustudio 2013-12-03
<holstein> Nytram: you can run what DE you like with the ubuntustudio tools
<holstein> Nytram: ideally, you would do this.. install the base OS you want, kubuntu for example, then just add the applications you want to use
<Fezzler> Hi holstein
<holstein> Fezzler: o/
<Fezzler> FYI. Working with The Guitar Workshop now
<holstein> cool
<Fezzler> Not trying to bug ya, but I recalled you knew some of those gents
<Fezzler> Good shop
<Fezzler> Kevin Gill is my instructor
<holstein> dont think i know kevin
<Fezzler> Mrs. and daughter were in your neck of woods at Orange Peel to see a show
<holstein> havent been there in years
<holstein> must've been 12 years ago i played there last
<Fezzler> The Guitar Workshop is really making me learn technical aspects from bottom up. Physical positioning; reading notation; timing timing timing
<holstein> groove is important
<Fezzler> little one looking at UNC Ashville
<holstein> its a nice school, i think
<Fezzler> Well, it was a beautiful day when they visited campus so you know how pretty that area is on a nice day
<Fezzler> Well, good to see you again. Any new gear or computer buildings going on for you? Software?
<holstein> nah.. im taking a carpentry class and building a house and some other things
<Fezzler> If we don't connect, happy holidays
<holstein> http://isitamarimba.blogspot.com/ for example
<Fezzler> no way!
<Fezzler> you building that?
<holstein> yup.. i should have it playable withouth the resonators soon
<holstein> i only have 4 more classes this semester, but, i should have time
<Fezzler> VERY cool
<holstein> might have to do the resonators on my own over the holidatys
<holstein> holidays*
<Fezzler> would like to hear a clip when you are done
<holstein> not that im in a hurry about it
<holstein> Fezzler: i'll get something recorded soon
<Fezzler> oh yea, that looks beautiful - take your time
<holstein> Fezzler: thanks.. i looking forward to playing it
<holstein> i can plunk around on it a bit like that, and its nice
<Fezzler> precision to get the tuning?
<Fezzler> 5 octave?
<holstein> i might have to tweak the tuning a bit more, but im not being crazy about the temperment or anything
<holstein> 4 and 1/3
<holstein> low A to a high C
<Fezzler> what material is the pipe?
<Fezzler> aluminum? plastic?
<holstein> the resonators?
<holstein> i'll just use cardboard
<holstein> lighter, and works fine
<Fezzler> keys double tuned?
<holstein> what do you mean "double tuned"?
<holstein> i rough tuned them, and then gave them a touch up the other day
<holstein> but, i just put finish on the bottoms of the bars, so that could effect them
<holstein> and i had one that sounded odd with its overtone, so i might tweak it a bit
<holstein> other than that, the overtones seem nice
<Fezzler> I guess if your dampen with one stick, you can get another octave higher on the same key
<holstein> maybe
<holstein> its not really that live though.. its short sounding
<Fezzler> I have no idea, just watched a YT clip of some guy making one. Very cool
<holstein> might get away with that on a vibraphone
<Fezzler> anyway, very cool
<holstein> im excited about it
<Fezzler> yes
<Fezzler> you should be. And the pride on knowing you made it!
<Fezzler> I wonder if you already have your next one in mind!
<holstein> i dont think i'll do another
<holstein> we'll see
<Fezzler> tweaks and improvements for the next build
<Fezzler> lol
<Fezzler> well, see ya. need to walk off some of this holiday weigh gain! bye
<holstein> Fezzler: o/
<cfhowlett> Quick query: I downloaded the official ubuntustudio assets from design.canoncical.com. ubuntustudio was formed and crafted as a single word: ubuntustudio. It seems to be TWO words again on the US website. Clarification? Which version is correct?
<fibz_> i dont know. but for better human -> machine relationship, it should be 2
<cfhowlett> fibz_, thanks. I'll email the list for the final verdict
* Beldar thinks it should be ubuntu stu stu studio
<fibz_> yeah that is a common "first glipse" reaction i notice.
<cfhowlett> fibz_, it seems we've gone back and forth. on IRC it's one word, but the official art seems to double down.
<fibz_> i'd side with the artwork. thats what is most recognizable.
<cfhowlett> fibz_, agreed. and the artwork DID come from canonical, so ...
<Patero-ng> cfhowlett you wanna hear something
<zequence> cfhowlett: packages are generally names ubuntustudio-, whilst the actual name is Ubuntu Studio
<zequence> named*
<cfhowlett> zequence, got it. just a bit thickheaded today.
<zequence> happens a lot, to me in particular
<cfhowlett> zequence, that said, I'll advise the start.ubuntu team that their US logo is unofficial and unapproved.
<Fezzler> Confused by guitar lesson homework. Set metronome to 100bpm but play quarter notes at 50bpm?
<zequence> cfhowlett: You mean this one? https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StartUbuntu?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=wall_ubuntustudio.png
<fibz_> reminds me of debian
<zequence> Yes, it's not one we use. But, we haven't really determined a logo for future use. This will be settled for the release of 14.04
<cfhowlett> zequence, so the official logos from design.canonical are ... under review?
<zequence> cfhowlett: Could you point me to those? I wasn't able to find any..
<zequence> hmm
<Patero-ng> should I bite my tongue until blood soaks my shirt
<Beldar> Patero-ng, please seek the appropriate mental help you obviously need.
<cfhowlett> "new" ubuntu studio artwork loaded at http://spreadubuntu.org/en/material/poster/ubuntu-studio-creative-journey-poster
<fibz_> ooo
<Patero-ng> Beldar jaja you are so right
<xtaxx> Hello people.I cannot start jack. Ĩ get this message: Tue Dec 3 08:13:45 2013: Starting jack server...
<xtaxx> Tue Dec 3 08:13:45 2013: JACK server starting in realtime mode with priority 10
<xtaxx> Tue Dec 3 08:13:45 2013: ERROR: cannot register object path "/org/freedesktop/ReserveDevice1/Audio0": A handler is already registered for /org/freedesktop/ReserveDevice1/Audio0
<xtaxx> Tue Dec 3 08:13:45 2013: ERROR: Failed to acquire device name : Audio0 error : A handler is already registered for /org/freedesktop/ReserveDevice1/Audio0
<xtaxx> Tue Dec 3 08:13:45 2013: ERROR: Audio device hw:0 cannot be acquired...
<xtaxx> Tue Dec 3 08:13:45 2013: ERROR: Cannot initialize driver
<xtaxx> Tue Dec 3 08:13:45 2013: ERROR: JackServer::Open failed with -1
<xtaxx> Tue Dec 3 08:13:46 2013: ERROR: Failed to open server any help please?
<xtaxx> back
<Beldar> xtaxx, use a pastebin
<xtaxx> dunno what that is
<xtaxx> #Beldar
<Beldar> !pastebin | xtaxx
<ubottu> xtaxx: For posting multi-line texts into the channel, please use http://paste.ubuntu.com | To post !screenshots use http://imagebin.org/?page=add | !pastebinit to paste directly from command line | Make sure you give us the URL for your paste - see also the channel topic.
<Beldar> !tab | xtaxx
<ubottu> xtaxx: You can use your <tab> key for autocompletion of nicknames in IRC, as well as for completion of filenames and programs on the command line.
<Beldar> xtaxx, That should help. ;)
<xtaxx> ok
<xtaxx> anything on the problem?
<Beldar> xtaxx, Not personally never used jack. there is the #ubuntu channel as well generally busier, but slower at night US time.
<fibz_> try #opensourcemusicians or #jack
<Nytram> Hi, anyone here not afk?
<fcuevas> hi guys!, the xfce4-volumed starts in your pcs?
<selektamalza> bonjour, je voudrais savoir l'état de l'avancement de l'installation ?
<selektamalza> j'installe ubuntu 13.10 et je n'ai pas de barre d'avancement
<robin_> hi
<Guest58601> Good night. I upgrade my ubuntu studio and now I lose some permissions. I can't open any usb drive and I can't open some folders
<Guest58601> If I open nautilus with sudo, I can access my usb drive but I can't copy files
<Guest58601> I think upgrade mess up my permissions. How can I restore them?
<fibz_> sudo chown nobody.nogroup /path/to/folder -Rv
#ubuntustudio 2013-12-04
<Patero-ng> I have issues
<Patero-ng> don't want to live in asylum I have a life
<Patero-ng> those memories of her are killing me
<Patero-ng> she's gone and is so sad she wont' want anything with me
<Patero-ng> after everything I tried I know she likes me is just
<stochastic> Can a moderator ban this Patero person? or at least kick him/her?
<Patero-ng> why
<Patero-ng> I need help that's wont help
<Patero-ng> I'm crazy for a woman don't even bother why to tell me why
<Patero-ng> left me broken left me alone let me die this time
<ubuntu-studio_> hi
<glasz_> i have a hard time trying to have my newly install 12.04 ubuntu to work
<glasz_> i have a blank screen /freeze
<glasz_> i need the nomodeset option to have the live cd to work so i set grub wit that, but the installed version still freezes
<glasz_> i'll try to remove the quiet splash option, see if i can get some more info, bbl
<glasz_> last line of xorg log : [ 20.882] (**) NVIDIA(0): Enabling 2D acceleration
<finnhax> hey there
<finnhax> anyone can help me? Fresh Ubuntu Studio install, but ardour and ardour3 won't start :(
<Nytram> heheh same experienc eI get in this shithole channel. LOL
<Nytram> But it certainly makes you self sufficient
<Beldar> !language | Nytram
<ubottu> Nytram: Please watch your language and topic to help keep this channel family-friendly, polite, and professional.
<Nytram> Oh! get lost! You ignored a valid request for help but decide to chastise me for the use of one bad word... piss off!
<Beldar> Why you would feel that is even close to appropriate on a worldwide channel crossing cultural, ethnic groups and reader of all ages, escapes me.
<Nytram> I have no idea why
#ubuntustudio 2013-12-05
<studio-user846> Blue Yeti mic is not working on 13.04 or 13.10 what about 12.04.03- it seems to show as a yeti mic rather than other things on 12.04.03 but does it work?
<evon> How do I turn my ubuntu 13.10 into ubuntu studio and how do I use my mbox with ubuntu? Thanks in advance for your help
<studio-user846> also it does not work on Fedora 19
<studio-user846> I would use Synaptic to add the Ubuntu Studio packages
<evon> thanks studio-user846
<evon> studio-user846 will i be able to use my Mbox afterward?
<evon> i'm installing the audio and recording packages now
<holstein> evon: you can use the mbox if it is supported
<holstein> evon: ubuntustudio *is* ubuntu, so nothing about our packages provides support for, or prevents the use of the mbox
<holstein> !proaudio | evon
<ubottu> evon: For information on professional audio tools in Ubuntu, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/ProAudioIntro
<evon> I'm completely new to this so I don't even know where to start
<holstein> you can read about trying and configuring JACK there
<holstein> new to this, meaning new to linux? or linux audio? or computers? or recording? or IRC?
<holstein> i suggest downloading the ubuntustudio iso.. dont install it, just try it live, and see how it works with your hardware
<holstein> you have a device that hasnt promised you any linux support
<holstein> is it a digidesign mbox? or avid mbox?
<holstein> either way, i suggest taking a slower approach..i would use the internal sound card to get familiar with the software.. JACK, ardour.. whatever else you need/want
<holstein> i would try ubunustudio live before installing. you can get used to the tools without "breaking" your machine or current install
<holstein> i would read up on the tools and check a few places for device support such as http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main and ffado for firewire
<holstein> keep in mind, ideally, it would be the same as with any other operating system and your device. the vendor would guarantee you it would work and show you how to use it. i use a presonus firepod which works out of the box
<evon> New to audio and recording
<holstein> there are handy communities such as #opensourcemusicians
<evon> avid mbox
<holstein> if its usb, it probably works just fine
<evon> Yeah it's usb
<evon> Alright I willl do some reading and try to figure this thing out. I got a professional mic and everything so I hope I can get it working
<holstein> usually what makes a mic professional is the professional using it :) but , im confident you'll get it sorted
<holstein> just take your time, and ask questions
<evon> ok will do
<evon> gotta restart the comp
<evon> thanks for the help
<evon> holstein i was able to record something but now the sound on my computer started working
<evon> the right output device is chosen in my sound settings and it still doesn't work when I plug out my mbox
<tucemiux> oh boh oh boh oh boy!!! the new ubuntu studio version looks awesome!
<zevatron> good morning..
<zevatron> i become latter... see you..
<alina__> hello, iv'e installed ubuntustudio, but in oem mode and after creating a user without sudo, i deleted oem. now how can i access root or add my user to sudoers?
<tj1> Hi all, I am trying to install a driver for an audio interface (Gadget Labs Wave 824). I have to do it from source, and the README says to have /usr/src/linux be a symbolic link to the kernel headers. I've tried making that link to /lib/modules/../include/linux and the two in /usr/src/../include/linux but make still fails saying "no rule to make target 'modules'". can anyone tell me what i'm doing wrong?
<holstein> tj1: are you sure you need to install a driver?
<holstein> tj1: is it usb?
<holstein> tj1: pci?
<tj1> no its really old, big PCI card and 8 ins and outs on a rackmount connected by a parallel cable
<holstein> tj1: is the device physically installed?
<tj1> holstein: yes, with the rack unit turned on, it shows up in lscpci
<holstein> if the device is old, and requires a driver, and the driver is old, and has no support for modern linux kernels, you can be out of luck..
<holstein> tj1: do you see the device in the terminal when you run "aplay -l" and/or "arecord -l" ?
<tj1> holstein: yeah, that's what i was afraid of.
<holstein> tj1: no need to be afraid.. just test and read and confirm
<tj1> holstein: aplay -l does list two loopback devices with 8 channels each
<holstein> tj1: "aplay -l" first.. do you see it?
<holstein> tj1: thats good
<holstein> tj1: have you tried just using the thing with JACK?
<holstein> tj1: thats what i would do.. are you familiar with JACK?
<tj1> holstein: yeah, that's what i'm trying to use, I use cadence from the kxstudio repos
<tj1> holstein: but it doesn't come up in the alsa section as an in or out device
<holstein> tj1: this is what i would do.. if you have limited experience with JACK, remove that card, get jack running on the internal device
<holstein> get *anything* working reliably.. an audio file from audacious for example ..running all through JACK
<holstein> then, go back and install that unit and in qjackctl, test with *all* devices listed
<holstein> tj1: if you can disable or remove other audio cards, do so
<holstein> tj1: if you cant get that working.. think about how much you can sell this device for online and how inexpensive others are that can replace it new
<holstein> tj1: then, if you still want to troubleshoot, link me the driver you are looking into
<holstein> http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-Gadget_Labs is where i would start if it didnt just work
<holstein> tj1: is this the driver you are talking about ? http://wavepro-driver.sourceforge.net/
<tj1> holstein: yes that's the driver, i was just given this interface for free and wanted to see if it was salvagable, i have been using jack for a while now with another usb interface
<holstein> tj1: i would salvage it by selling it, and taking the money and putting it towards something supported if it doesnt "just work".. but, thats just me
<holstein> anyways, you'll contact the maintainer of that package directly for issues with it tj1
<holstein> http://sourceforge.net/projects/wavepro-driver/support
<tj1> k thanks
#ubuntustudio 2013-12-06
<studio-user826> hi all
<fibz_> hi
<studio-user826> i'm a new user in ubuntu studio
<fibz_> welcome
<studio-user826> thank's :)
<fibz_> this is a great resource. you can also check out #xubuntu or #ubuntu for help or if your a musician, you can get more specific help in #opensourcemusicians or #jack
<fibz_> for general chat you can stop in at #ubuntu-offtopic
<studio-user826> i'll try :)
<sky__> xfce/xfce4-panel/preferences.txt
<cfhowlett> ????
<hansford> where can I find some free instruments for qtractor?
<pablo__> hi all
<pablo__> I am going to ask a weird question
<pablo__> one friend has fall in love with Ubuntu Studio, he has a guitar and he likes to play it plugged in to the computer
<pablo__> which device would you recommend me to improve the quality of the sound?
<pablo__> or something useful (sorry but I do not understand nothing about the guitar world, just Linux)
<nebket1> quick question: How do I use MIDI devices with Ardour?
<nebket1> or rather, is there an app to link Audio I/O?
<Unit193> pablo__: What are you trying to fix sound wise?
#ubuntustudio 2013-12-07
<pablo__> the audio quality is poor
<pablo__> so we are going to try to buy anything to improve the quality
<pablo__> not more than 50 dollars, it seems is going to be hard
<pablo__> something like that http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MTrack.html
<pablo__> but cheaper
<pablo__> as I said Unit193, I have no idea about guitars and connections
<pablo__> just reading and asking to the expert people :)
<nebket1> do you play electric guitar?
<pablo__> nebket1, a friend
<pablo__> nebket1, of mine
<Unit193> pablo__: Ah, since it's that type of question, I'd try #opensourcemusicians
<nebket1> how to use Ardour?
<pablo__> ok Unit193 , here only Linux, is not it?
<pablo__> thanks
<Unit193> Well, it's more music based than Linux, and while that's a fine question for here, you'll get more answers there. :)
<caodepalha> Hi everyone. I've got an audio interface here Mbox2 Digidesign but I'm having a bit of trouble getting audio into my laptop which has ubuntustudio 12.04 installed. does anyone has any info on this please?
<nebket1> is there good tutorials for ardour & JACK audio sessions?
<nebket1> or just audio recording
<caodepalha> I can get sound out of the laptop into the mbox and to the headphone but no sound into the laptop
<nebket1> caodepalha: what hardware are you using (sound card, etc)?
<caodepalha> the soundcard is an mbox2
<nebket1> ok
<nebket1> just doing a bit of research on the mbox...
<caodepalha> do you know anything about how to make it work?
<nebket1> what software are you using with your device? is it JACK?
<nebket1> In your terminal, try this command:
<nebket1> cat /proc/asound/cardsÂ
<nebket1> mbox should be there, but otherwise...
<nebket1> try "sudo lsusb - v | less"
<caodepalha> well I tried some stuff I found on the ardour web site and somehow now at least it indicates sound getting in to the laptop
<caodepalha> let me check if it is working
<caodepalha> somehow now it works dunno how i did it
<daniel> brasileiros?
<cfhowlett> !br|
<ubottu> : Por favor, use #ubuntu-br para ajuda em português. Para entrar no canal por favor faça "/join #ubuntu-br" sem as aspas. Para a comunidade local portuguêsa, use #ubuntu-pt. Obrigada.
<pjotter> Hi there. Does anyone know if it is possible to split some sounds to a different output than the rest of the sounds in Xubuntu? I would like to output the sound of an interent radiostation to a different output than the rest of the sound s on my computer.
<Ze_Force> Hi, I have a little problem installing US on a DQ77KB intel motherboard, I am aware of the bug with UEFI not wanting to see non Microsoft OS, and i applied the fix , now it boot in UEFI mode but I just reach grub and nothing... i am stuck, i guess i should run boot-repair but i don't know how to manually run the OS so that I can perform the fix
<Ze_Force> grub has no entries , btw, just the shell
<Ze_Force> currently perusing: http://tuxers.com/main/instigating-a-manual-boot-from-the-grub-prompt/
<Ze_Force> ok, folks, I have fixed the issue. It is another known bug, seemingly
<Ze_Force> It strikes kubuntu users as well
<Ze_Force> boot/efi/EFI/ubuntustudio/ has to be renamed to /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu
<Ze_Force> now it boots blazingly fast may be 4 or 5 sec from grub
<Ze_Force> ssd rulez
<GridCube> hi, i ask here because you know more about sound settings, if i change the stream output on pavucontrol to hdmi i get no sound, even if pavucontrol tells me there should be, if i use mixxx http://i44.tinypic.com/2sao6c9.png there is 3 hdmi outputs, using 0 or 2 gives me the same problem, however using hdmi 1 as output works, i want that global sound get streamed to hdmi not just mixxx, how can i tell pavucontrol to use hdmi 1 as path?
<GridCube> in alsamixer i see the same 3 s/pdif
<Nytram> With the greatest of respect GridCube you may want ot search elsewhere. I'm active on irc and I have asked for help in #ubuntustudio a few times and got none.
<GridCube> hehehe
<GridCube> Nytram, :D i know
<GridCube> anyway i found that smplayer can stream directly to hdmi 1 so i dont need to use pavucontrol to change it
<GridCube> there is nothing else i would want to use that channel so that works
<GridCube> :D
<Nytram> Nice one, well done. ;)
<GridCube> :D aha! and now understanding how this goes i fixed pavucontrol too
<GridCube> :D
#ubuntustudio 2013-12-08
<waykool99> hello. i'm in live DVD run Ubuntu Studio v12.04.3 LTS 64 bit. have some Xfce GUI questions.....
<waykool99> i put this XChat window on Desktop 2 so i can go back and forth.
<waykool99> in Task Manager, is there a way to monitor live Swap usage?
<Beldar> waykool99, I have a conky I use.
<stochastic> waykool99 try $ sudo apt-get install xfce4-systemload-plugin
<stochastic> you may also want to browse though http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/panel-plugins/start
<stochastic> this is the one in particular that that command installs: http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/panel-plugins/xfce4-systemload-plugin
<waykool99> sorry stochastic. was in Desktop 1, didn't see your message til just now. but thank you. :)
<waykool99> i needed and loved System Monitor in studio v10.04.4. v12.04's Task Monitor doesn't show needed things. reason: i push my hardware to its limits. often several programs at once, 10-20 file windows, last install of studio v12.04.3 LTS -or- v13.10, installed System Monitor like the old Gnome version. i forget which distro had GUI conflicts that i couldn't fix.
<waykool99> plus, in 10.04 you could add to Taskbar a small color monitor of 1-6 tasks, if screen real estate became an issue.
<stochastic> waykool99 if that systemload-plugin isn't detailed enough you may want to do as beldar has suggested and use conky
<waykool99> ah I've never tried Beldar before. thank you for that.
<waykool99> ackk i meant conky
<waykool99> to many windows open. very sorry.
<Beldar> waykool99, Heh just noticed your post I'm watching a movie, no prob.
#ubuntustudio 2014-12-01
<Velho> hello friends! I'm considering converting to UbuntuStudio. I'm not a very experienced Linux user, but I know some stuff. Tryiong AV Linux. Can I install the AV Linux programs in Ubuntu Studio? There are some interesting programs I would like to try...
<holstein> Velho: there actually are no "avlinux" programs
<holstein> Velho: the software in the audio production work flow are basically the same, and typically, the same versions
<holstein> what i tell users is, the "best" distro for production will typically be the one that one is most familiar with.. if one is familiar with debian/ubuntu, then, ubuntustudio is a nice choice, since, it come with things pre-configured for audio produciton, and other production work
<holstein> that being said, one can easily install main ubuntu, or *any* official flavor, and install the ubuntustudio applications.. ubuntustudio *is* ubuntu
<holstein> AVlinux is built on a debian base now, and, i actually use it as well.. and also KXstudio
<Velho> holstein, thank you for the lesson
<Velho> So, What is pre-installed in any distro can be installed in any other distro?
<cfhowlett> Velho, all buntus use the same repos so ... yes
<Velho> cfhowlett, for ubuntus, I can clearly undestand. But ubuntu is Debian based. Any other debian distro can use repository files from Ubuntu without COMPATIBILITY problems?
<cfhowlett> Velho, nope.
<cfhowlett> Velho, compile a debian file from source, sure.
<Velho> cfhowlett, is it hard to compile a source?
<cfhowlett> !source | Velho
<ubottu> Velho: You can easily fetch a package's source with apt-get. See: http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/ch-sourcehandling.en.html
<cfhowlett> !compile
<ubottu> Compiling software from source? Read the tips at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompilingSoftware (But remember to search for pre-built !packages first). Also read !checkinstall
<cfhowlett> Velho, IMHO no, but I'm an atypical user
<Velho> so, Debian distros are not necessarily compatible, right? This issue is been hard for me to understand... if theres a site or a video talking about it, I would like to understand it
<holstein> the sources will say what they support..
<holstein> !ppa
<ubottu> A Personal Package Archive (PPA) can provide alternate software not normally available in the offical Ubuntu repositories - Looking for a PPA? See https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ppas - WARNING: PPAs are unsupported third-party packages, and you use them at your own risk. See also !addppa and !ppa-purge
<holstein> even ppa's, that *do* support ubuntu, are use at your own risk
<holstein> when you compile yourself, you can taking that responsibility on as well.. and, TBH, you really shouldnt need to compile anything from scratch to do audio production
<Velho> I just aknowlege the existence of PPA today. Still trying to truly understand what these are, and mean
<holstein> Velho: if you and i made a new app, and wanted to get it to users using ubuntu, one "easy" way to do that would be to provide and maintain a PPA
<holstein> falk, who makes KXstudio, for example, does this to port his software, and versions of software into the ubuntu base
<Velho> hmm, so PPA ate like non-official repositories?
<Velho> *are
<holstein> Velho: basicallly.. sources that users can add "at their own risk"
<Velho> cfhowlett, what do you mean by "atypical user"?
<cfhowlett> officially unsupported. you break it, you fix
<Velho> do you guys use PPAs?
<cfhowlett> Velho, most users don't know or want to know the kind of things I like to play with. they just want their box to work.
<holstein> Velho: if i want an application, i will try a PPA, knowing the risk, and accepting it
<Velho> holstein, well, I guess that's what I do wenever using Windows, Facebook, Google, etc... ;)
<holstein> its similar.. but, you can integrate this into the packageing system.. you can add the google ppa, and then, any package manager can search and install packages from that source
<Velho> holstein, I'm understanding it a little bit more, thanks :) but not entirely yet.
<holstein> Velho: i wouldnt worry too much about it, anyways.. you *really* dont need extra sources, or compiling from source to get started with audio production
<holstein> Velho: you can also get quite a bit of work done using ubuntustudio "live".. so, i suggest trying that, and getting used to the main tools..
<Velho> holstein, so what do a windows user needs to know to make pro-audio in Linux?
<holstein> Velho: i think just this.. that its *not* windows.. and its not intending to be windows
<holstein> *all* the software you use in windows.. *any* of those vendors are welcome and encouraged to make any/all of that software available to you in linux
<holstein> if they dont/wont, then, linux cant do anything to facilitate that.. its not preventing support for anything.. all of linux is open and anyone can easily support it
<holstein> i say, take it patiently, and try starting from the same place one did in windows
<Velho> holstein, I already played with the main tools. From what I understand, the concept is: everything is connected to and from Jack. I still need to study about the rt-kernel
<holstein> Velho: no you dont
<holstein> Velho: just use the kernel that ubuntustudio ships with
<Velho> what if i need to record audio?
<Velho> audio in real time I mean?
<holstein> Velho: RT doesnt enable the ability to record audio
<holstein> and, do you need to record in realtime? and what does that even mean? recording in realtime?
<holstein> have you hit a "bottle neck"? with latency?
<Velho> holstein, a false statement, I know...
<holstein> realtime is good for *only* 2 things
<holstein> either you need it, or you dont
<Velho> realtime doesn't exist, one will always have a latency
<holstein> its for realtime effects processing, and using software instruments.. otherwise, you dont need it
<delt> lowlatency is good enough for me, personally
<holstein> sure. thats why i say "low latency"
<holstein> and thats what im talking about.. lower latency
<Velho> I'm a reall noob to Linux, but I know a lot about digital audio
<holstein> now, for me, i need/want around 8ms latency at least for "realtime" audio work.. realtime effects and software synths
<holstein> if i cant get 8ms, i dont need/want 12.. or 20.. or 40ms.. its can literally be *whatever*
<delt> 10ms latency is good enough for me.
<delt> i can't tell the difference with lower than that
<Velho> holstein, do you get those 8ms latency with the "normal" ubuntustudio kernel?
<holstein> you typically cant do 10ms latency on an internalu sound card.. so, the hardware will typically be the "botle neck"
<holstein> bottle*
<holstein> Velho: yes.. i can achieve 8ms latency with the included "stock" lowlatency kernel shipped with ubuntustudio.. with *many* audio devices
<holstein> now, for 1.2 ms with my firewire device, i need and rt kernel .. but i dont *need* that funcionality
<Velho> holstein, my jaw is dropping. You mean with the internal sound card??
<holstein> Velho: no.. i dont use internal sound cards for audio production
<holstein> Velho: in any operating system
<holstein> they are not made/intended for that.. so i dont bother
<holstein> if i want to use one, i expect and accept the limitations of them
<holstein> i have used one for a pianoteq appliance for example.. but, i didnt run jack on that device
<holstein> all i wanted was a "player" for pianoteq..
<holstein> it was connected via USB to the keyboard, and pianoteq was running alsa only.. since i didint need pulse or jack for what i was doing
<delt> holstein: what keyboard do you use with pianoteq?
<holstein> delt: anything midi, or midi usb
<delt> korg, roland, ....?
<holstein> at that time, it was an old weighted alesisQS8.1
<Velho> my problem is that I have a Edirol FA-66 and there are no drivers for Linux :( I was considering using UbuntuStudio as a Guest on VirtualBox, and host it with my Windows 7, that has the edirol drivers
<holstein> Velho: i read that works "out of the bos"
<holstein> box*
<holstein> Velho: *nothing* vitualized will work with audio production
<holstein> Velho: you would be better, as i stated, to use the live iso
<delt> (modified) m-audio oxygen 88 here, quite happy with it. been playing piano/keyboard for about 2 years now.
<Velho> holstein, I'm preparing a dual Boot laptop, with Windows 7 and UbuntuStudio
<holstein> sure. but, why?
<holstein> why not just tyr it live for a while..
<delt> i also have a cheap yamaha 61 key as second controller, works quite well too
<holstein> anyways.. the way i did it was, i had linux only on a laptop. for over a year
<holstein> i learned to use the OS.. so i wasnt troubleshooting so many things
<Velho> holstein, because I already tried it live, and I want to do serious stuff with that
<holstein> Velho: sure.. there is not more or less "serious" stuff..
<holstein> Velho: you only have an installed version.. that is all
<holstein> Velho: and, do install.. im not saying dont.. im just saying, you can learn a lot from the live iso
<Velho> holstein, but is the live cd as fast as an installed version? I feel the installed version is always faster
<holstein> sure. but, again.. is that a problem? is that the bottleneck?
<Velho> holstein, but why play with the live cd when I can just install it? Plus, I can save all the configurations...
<holstein> believe me, you'll want to install eventually... im just suggesting learning to set the edirol up with jack, for example, before running it natively
<holstein> or installing it as a desktop and using it..
<Velho> holstein, from what I've searched, Edirol FA-66 is not supported to linux
<holstein> i mean, you didnt get windows7, and emmediately, without having years of experience with windows, try and start doing audio production
<Velho> holstein, hmm, great point!
<holstein> Velho: edirol doesnt support linux, sure.. but is it the USB or the firewire one?
<holstein> the firewire one is "full support" on the ffado stie
<Velho> holstein, firewire. I've read somewere that several firewire devices have problems with linux
<holstein> site*
<holstein> and the usb one is "class compliant"
<Velho> holstein, gonna check it right now!
<holstein> what you are doing is, doing it like you do in windows
<holstein> you are looking at the site, for drivers
<holstein> in linux, the kernel *contains* the drivers.. basically
<holstein> so, you set up jack to use the ffado "firewire" driver, and jack will "just work" with that device
<holstein> you dont need to install anything extra..
<holstein> now, you also need a supported firewire chipset.. which can be a problem
<Velho> holstein, thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction! I can't believe that I get full supported drovers for Linux <3
<holstein> well, YMMV
<holstein> i have several firewire chipsets that im hoarding away
<holstein> the typically more expensive "texas instruments" work great
<Velho> holstein, let me get this straight: I can just plug the FA-66 and it will work , like the "plug and play" in windows?
<delt> Velho: if a driver supports it, the kernel should load it automatically
<wachin> Sorry I have a several problem, I install lxde packages and all fine, only clementine have small fonts
<Velho> Thank you my friends for all the teachings and support! I need a power nap now. Thank you again for all the help! I'm really exited to make music with ubuntu! <3
<wachin> I will try repair this with a command that I found on internet, I am not remember but are to dpi from comman line, But now can't enter to my session, only guest
<wachin> I put my password and can not enter to my session, nor the UbuntuStudio or LXDE
<wachin> I can not enter my session only guest
<delt> i've been trying out freebsd in a vm lately..... powerful OS for server applications
<holstein> Velho: no.. in windows you'll need a driver, likely
<delt> i had tried it out several years ago but it wasn't great... trying it out again now, and i'm pretty impressed
<holstein> Velho: in linux, the driver is "baked in" basically
<holstein> Velho: but, it depends on the chipset, and other variables..
<holstein> wachin: i would go to tty,a nd see that your password is working
<holstein> !tty
<ubottu> To get to the TTY terminals 1-6, use the keystroke ctrl + alt + F1-F6 respectively (Alt+F7 will get you back to your graphical login). To change the resolution for your TTY, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ChangeTTYResolution
<holstein> wachin: can you login in tty?
<holstein> then, if you can, you'll want to get rid of your session errors.. i'll just remove ~/.config ..i'll just rename it, or move it
<wachin> hi holstein
<holstein> wachin: *dont* just run "random" commands from the internet.. "sudo" commands can break things..
<wachin> ups
<wachin> thanks, I go
<holstein> go where? tty?
<wachin> (the command I remember only in part that have: session, dpi, sudo)
<wachin> (or xsession)
<holstein> wachin: if the system is not broken, then you dont need to address the system with a sudo command
<wachin> OK
<holstein> wachin: i suggest determining what is wrong *before* running commands
<wachin> Hi again holstein, I could enter the session of tty6 and put my user and password, working fine
<holstein> wachin: sure.. so, you have this as fact.. you *can* login to your users account.. you *can* use the guest account GUI..
<holstein> so, that means to me, the GUI, and main system are likely just fine.. and your user account is working fine
<holstein> so, what would i do? start by renaming ~/.config ..reboot, and let that "respawn" fresh configs.. see if i can boot into my user as expected
<wachin> my no, only can enter on tty6, this from this guest. But when session out, and go to enter to my default session can't enter
<wachin> I will go to put ubuntustudio from live dvd to erase ./config
<holstein> wachin: sure.. thats what im sahying
<wachin> thanks for the help
<holstein> wachin: you *can* login to your user. in tty.. so your user is fine
<wachin> oh
<holstein> wachin: you *can* login to the guest session GUI.. so the main system and gui are fine
<holstein> wachin: the issue, as i see it, am implying, and saying, and suggesting a fix for, is in your users /home configs for the GUI
<delt> wachin: no need to reboot, just move your .config directory from tty6 where you logged in
<wachin> I tried but I returned again, the password is OK, but I am rejected
<holstein> wachin: thats what i say "rename" and not remove.. so, you can easily revert this suggested change *if* its not the "Fix"
<wachin> ok
<holstein> wachin: sure.. we tested the password in TTY
<holstein> wachin: so, your users password works in TTY.. and you *can* login, in tty
<wachin> yes, only can enter in tty6
<delt> wachin: you still have a shell logged in on tty6?
<holstein> so, from there, you can rename the users config. or a live iso..
<delt> go back to tty6 and just type "mv .config .config_"
<wachin> ohhhhhhhh
<holstein> might need ~/.config ..
<wachin> je je,
<delt> then try to login again in the graphic system
<wachin> je je, I am avanced user to the terminal, but I will go to use you steps
<wachin> ups
<holstein> wachin: not sure what you are saying, but, in the terminal, you can rename, or move the configs for the users.. ~/.config specificially
<wachin> is: "I am not advanced user to terminal commands"
<delt> just type in tty6: mv ~/.config ~/.config_
<wachin> yes I did it right this time
<delt> now try to login again in the graphic system.
<wachin> whell I will go back
<wachin> see you later
<wachin> see you later holstein
<delt> you're using irc on the guest account now?
<wachin> yes
<wachin> good by
<delt> weird, software-center somehow got uninstalled from my desktop machine....
<delt> apt-get'ing it now...
<holstein> i know exactly where mine went ;)
<delt> yeah, a few packages mysteriously vanished on this box....
<delt> my brand new hard disk better not be bad...... >:(
<studio-user626> hello
<studio-user626> :)
#ubuntustudio 2014-12-02
<studio-user274> hola
<delt> "crazy" and "atheist" are kind of synonymous :D
<delt> jk
<holstein> i suppose you meant that for another channel?
<delt> 23:05 Crazy_Atheist (~Crazy_Ath@unaffiliated/minori) has quit (Quit: WeeChat 1.0.1)
<delt> nah nm
<delt> kind of off topic
<delt> anyway, here's a good one... i want to redirect the output of an ftp command "ls" to a file on the local system, without having to select a huge amount of clipboard/copypaste data from my terminal window. how should i do it?
<kyruf> sorry guys, i installed Ubuntu Studio a few minutes ago. Can you tell me the alternatives to sony vegas (cutting, adding audio, transitions and simple things) i have? thanks
<delt> tried ftp | tee <outputfile> etc etc......
<holstein> kyruf: audacity usually does that. otherwise, the DAW's can be a bit overkill
<holstein> kyruf: if you want to open something and edit a wav file, i say, try audacity.. you dont need to learn JACK.. if it doesnt fit your needs, check out..
<holstein> !proaudio
<ubottu> For information on professional audio tools in Ubuntu, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/ProAudioIntro
<holstein> where, you 'll want to learn about using JACK, for the more "advanced" tools
<kyruf> thanks i'll try both :)
<holstein> delt: i might just ask in a server channel, or the main #ubuntu ...or a general linux channel.. nothing really specific about studio addresses that, or command line work like that.. i would think a bash script would work
<holstein> kyruf: i really wouldnt
<holstein> kyruf: you can actually just break your audio , starting an application that uses jack.. i say, if audacity works, just use it..
<delt> he asked about sony vegas.... i thought it was about video editing
<kyruf> yep also videos
<holstein> when i used vegas *years* ago, it was for audio
<holstein> nothing about linux or ubuntu or ubuntustudio prevents sony from making vegas available for linux
<delt> at any rate.... cinelerra isn't in the ubuntu repos iirc.....?
<holstein> its all open, and if you want vegas, you should let sony know you are interested in them making it for the operating system you are using
<holstein> otherwise, there are *many* editors.. kdenlive is a nice one that *is* in the repos
<holstein> !info kdenlive
<ubottu> kdenlive (source: kdenlive): non-linear video editor. In component universe, is optional. Version 0.9.8-1ubuntu2 (utopic), package size 1597 kB, installed size 6264 kB
<delt> !info bash
<ubottu> bash (source: bash): GNU Bourne Again SHell. In component main, is required. Version 4.3-11ubuntu1 (utopic), package size 576 kB, installed size 1556 kB
<holstein> http://www.linux.com/news/software/applications/693365-top-3-linux-video-editors
<holstein> there is the commercial editor lightworks for linux as well.. http://www.lwks.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=19&id=83622&Itemid=81
<kyruf> from the screenshot, cinelarra seems what i am looking for. do you know it? how is it?
<holstein> kyruf: its not in the repos..
<holstein> kyruf: it works great.. i like kdenlive better, personally, but i literally edit a video every 4 years
<holstein> kyruf: you'll just have to load them all up and see what works.. which will likely be a mixture of them all..
<holstein> well, not all, but a few
<holstein> https://launchpad.net/~cinelerra-ppa/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
<holstein> !ppa
<ubottu> A Personal Package Archive (PPA) can provide alternate software not normally available in the offical Ubuntu repositories - Looking for a PPA? See https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ppas - WARNING: PPAs are unsupported third-party packages, and you use them at your own risk. See also !addppa and !ppa-purge
<holstein> !info cinelerra
<ubottu> Package cinelerra does not exist in utopic
<kyruf> ahaha :) ok so awarded kdenlive
<kyruf> and audacity for audio cutting
<holstein> that should work well, and you wont need JACK..
<holstein> unless you do..
<kyruf> to be honest, i don't know what jack is. i now perfectly photoshop and cinema4d because i come from windows, but it feels too laggy on my slowy netbook
<kyruf> and now a friend of mine wants to make YT videos with me :P
<holstein> i never do any production on my netbook.. period..
<holstein> i have a netbook that i track audio on ,because it has a pci express slot, and i can run my firewire device, but, i transfer the project ASAP
<holstein> but, these days, you can just edit the youtube videos in the web browser, after you upload
<delt> !info jack
<ubottu> jack (source: jack): Rip and encode CDs with one command. In component universe, is optional. Version 3.1.1+cvs20050801-29 (utopic), package size 105 kB, installed size 458 kB
<delt> ...?
<kyruf> i don't have a PC or a notebook - unfortunately i spent all my money for the phone
<delt> i don't think that's the right info for jack..
<holstein> delt: thats not the jack audio connection kit
<holstein> kyruf: in most cases, you can upload right from the phone, and edit there, as well
<holstein> anyways.. i wouldnt expect "magic" from linux while trying to do video editing on an underpowered rig... im sure if you are patient, it'll do the job
<cfhowlett> "serious" editing is a dying art.(?)
<kyruf> tomorrow i will try and make you know how YT editor is because i'm doubtful of its professionalism
<holstein> kyruf: its youtube.. youtube is not about professionalism
<kyruf> that's the point :) we want people like our videos
<kyruf> as well as we saw other's
<holstein> kyruf: "like" is not equal to quality..
<holstein> kyruf: anyways, you'l just have to see what you need, and make it happen.. im just stating facts
<holstein> no one will tell you using a netbook for production is a good idea.. but, im sure you can do it, if you need to... which you shouldnt.. but, you can
<kyruf> also it's not a common netbook. it's a packard bell really old one :D and it's not mine at all even if i can use it. seriously that's the only way
<holstein> kyruf: i have about 10 of them..
<holstein> folks make youtube vids with phones all the time.. if thats what you have that is modern, and capable..
<kyruf> using the YT editor? because i tryed every app and none of them where great
<holstein> kyruf: i dont know, friend.. i dont make them, or use my phone for editing.. but, its done..
<holstein> i would start with something like http://mashable.com/2013/06/05/video-edit-apps/
<holstein> or, get a machine that can handle what you are trying to do
<holstein> i have an older dual core with 8 gigs of ram that can handle what i do, and i didnt pay anything for that machine when i got it a few years ago
<kyruf> BTW yes the phone is great
<kyruf> how did you do?
<holstein> do what?
<kyruf> i mean how did you get it?
<holstein> get what?
<holstein> the computer? i bartered some data recovery for it.. it was not functioning and i had to reseat the CPU
<kyruf> ow i'm starting now a ITIS so i don't know much about hardware
<delt> trying out openbsd in a VM... seems like a nice, compact OS, kind of a pain to setup the disk partitions tho
<holstein> im out.. try #opensourcemusians if you need more advice, kyruf
<holstein> #opensourcemusicians **
<kyruf> no i know what a cpu is. i know just basics
<delt> Velho_: Hello, welcome back
<delt> did it work out fixing your login?
<Velho_> delt, login? what do you mean?
<delt> Velho_: you were here earlier today, right? you had problems with logging in to your ubuntu studio account?
<delt> oh wait.... that wasn't him :/
<kyruf> lol
<Velho_> delt, maybe that wasn't me :) but thank you so much for the care <3
<delt> Velho_: oh, if i remember you asked about a firewire audio interface, right?
<delt> the fellow from portugal
<delt> just bought some RAM on ebay... cant wait for it to get here
<delt> 4gb mem in this machine
<delt> running vm's all over the place etc etc.... gonna run a lot smoother when i've tripled it to 12gb :D
<andrew__> hi im new here and have a question
<andrew__> Im using ubuntu studio and would like some of the plugins from kx studio
<andrew__> i have the repos installed.Ive been using US for some time now and it is great i never have xruns and my latency is down under 10ms
<andrew__> the problem i have is whenever ive tried to install kx studio stuff my xruns shoot up and latency is not good.So i would like to stay away from cadence and just use qjackctl
<andrew__> with the kx plugins
<leazgot> hi
<holstein> o/
<jackie_> hello?
<ubuntu-studio> heeello my friends!!
<ubuntu-studio> Im new to UbuntuStudio and Im running it in Live CD. Im making several changes. Is there a way to save all these changes? UbuntuStudio is running on a DVD-RW
<jackie_> hello?
<ubuntu-studio> jackie_, hey!
<jackie_> hi
<jackie_> it's kinda quiet in here, yes?
<jackie_> i wish i knew how to answer your questions but i am as new at this as you
<jackie_> so anything i could say is would be the blind leading the blind
<ubuntu-studio> jackie_, thank any way, my dear
<ubuntu-studio> do you have UbuntuStudio?
<jackie_> jeepers, i am not even sure what that is.
<ubuntu-studio> Im considering UbuntuStudio and KXStudio. Dont know the differences yet
<jackie_> is it for radio stations?
<ubuntu-studio> professional audio production
<jackie_> okie dokie
<jackie_> that;s one of my areas of interest, so i will be persuing it later
<delt> Hello
<delt> i might be able to help....
<delt> for saving changes, you have to install it to your hard disk.
<holstein> ubuntu-studio: what i would do is, install onto a USB stick
<delt> or that (:
<holstein> ubuntu-studio: you can have the portability of a live iso with the changes you want to save
<holstein> ubuntu-studio: or, you can read about setting up perstence.. but, i like the full install onto a USB stick.. or just roll your own live iso
<delt> but for the changes you made in the livecd, if you install, i think only the network configuration gets copied
<ubuntu-studio> holstein, thats great!! and will it be compatible to any pc, as long as connected to internet?
<delt> you just need internet access to download new programs.
<holstein> ubuntu-studio: the PC will need to be responsible for the compatibility.. internet connection is not needed
<holstein> ubuntu-studio: ubuntu, linux, and ubuntustudio are not preventing *all* computers from running it. its open, and any hardare vendor can support linux
<ubuntu-studio> holstein, I think the best option is to dual boot
<holstein> ubuntu-studio: if they do, then it'll work. if they dont, or dont make it easy for linux to be supported, then, it wont
<holstein> ubuntu-studio: the "best" option is whatever fits your needs..
<holstein> !dualboot
<ubottu> Dual boot instructions: x86/AMD64: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DualBoot/Windows - Macs: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro https://help.ubuntu.com/community/YabootConfigurationForMacintoshPowerPCsDualBoot
<ubuntu-studio> holstein, sorry, windows mentality here! not used to free stuff working fine
<holstein> ubuntu-studio: i never said it'll work "fine".. its just important to put the responsibility where it needs to be
<holstein> ubuntu-studio: when you buy a machine that states "supports windows" the company pays experts and makes sure that you are provided windows support.. if the company wants, they can do the same for linux.. if the dont, then the hardware may not support linux
<holstein> typically, modern hardware "just works" with linux.. and the modular drivers "baked" into the kernel work "out of the box"
<ubuntu-studio> holstein, although im not an experienced linux user, i have played with linux for more then 10 years. I remember drivers not being supported. Since then this got so easy for Linux? these are great news!
<holstein> ubuntu-studio: its as i say.. *any* manufacturer can do what they do for other operating systems.. they can, and could have always supported linux
<holstein> ubuntu-studio: imagine taking, for example, apple OSX, and trying to load that onto something like an android phone.. its just not intended.. there is nothing "broken" or "wrong" becuase that doesnt work
<holstein> linux is *all* open, and and anyone can, and is welcome to support it, and make it run well on the hardware they create
<holstein> but, this is far from what your orginal question was.. this was just in refernce to the live USB stick, or your installation on USB stick being "moduar"
<holstein> modular*
<ubuntu-studio> holstein, thank you for the explanation
#ubuntustudio 2014-12-03
<VelhoP4> hello frie3nds!
<VelhoP4> Im running UbuntuStudio on a live DVD, trying to connect FA-66. It has ffado pre/installed, but what should I do next, to make the system recognise this sound board_
<VelhoP4> ?
<holstein> VelhoP4: literaly nothing
<holstein> VelhoP4: have you learned to set jack up on *any* device?
<holstein> have you looked at..
<holstein> !proaudio
<ubottu> For information on professional audio tools in Ubuntu, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/ProAudioIntro
<VelhoP4> holstein, Ive read it and follow it
<VelhoP4> still no sucess >*
<holstein> VelhoP4: so, you have *not* setup jack with the internal audio device? or *any* device
<holstein> VelhoP4: i suggest, unplug the edirol, and set jack up with the internal device
<holstein> otherwise, in qjackctl, you will see the driver "firewire" under the driver drop down in the "setup" area
<holstein> you select the firewire driver, and click "start"
<VelhoP4> holstein, and whats the interface? default?
<holstein> VelhoP4: for what?
<VelhoP4> i also have plughw0 and hw0
<holstein> VelhoP4: using the firewire driver?
<holstein> VelhoP4: i'll *literally* try them all.. since there are just a few, and the labels can be wrong
<VelhoP4> holstein, for the firewire driver. for edirol fa-66
<holstein> VelhoP4: you only have the one firewire device, so, "default" should be it
<holstein> VelhoP4: but, as i said before, you can have issues with the chipset
<holstein> VelhoP4: you havent stated your firewire chipset
<VelhoP4> holstein, how to resolve the chipset problem?
<holstein> VelhoP4: yo udont
<holstein> VelhoP4: but, do you have a chipset problem?
<holstein> VelhoP4: the "chipset problem" is, the chipset manufacturer doesnt support linux.. you cant make them support linux
<holstein> VelhoP4: what chipset do you have?
<holstein> VelhoP4: you can run lspci and share the output
<holstein> !paste
<ubottu> For posting multi-line texts into the channel, please use http://paste.ubuntu.com | To post !screenshots use http://imgur.com/ !pastebinit to paste directly from command line | Make sure you give us the URL for your paste - see also the channel topic.
<VelhoP4> holstein, i dont know. how can i discover the answer to that question?
<cfhowlett> VelhoP4, at the purchase point, you have to ensure you've selected a linux-friendly hardware. after purchase hacking is a lot more painful than pre-purchase planning
<holstein> VelhoP4: by opening a terminal and typing the text from above.. "lspci", then, you press the enter key on your keyboard, and you can copy paste that into a pastebin
<VelhoP4> holstein, thank you so much for your patience
<holstein> VelhoP4: sure.. we're here :)
<holstein> no problem
<VelhoP4> http://paste.ubuntu.com/9352332/
<holstein> VelhoP4: i dont see it listed..
<holstein> VelhoP4: not very hopeful.. do you see it? cfhowlett ?
<VelhoP4> holstein, im running ubu7ntustudio on a live dvd. dont knoiw if that matters
<holstein> VelhoP4: nope
<holstein> VelhoP4: are you sure the firewire is enabled in the bios?
<VelhoP4> cfhowlett, right now I have this Edirol fa-66 and would like to use it with linux, if possible. if i cant do it, iIll considering buying a supported sound card. But, from what I read, this sound card is full supported
<VelhoP4> holstein, not sure
<VelhoP4> holstein, the bios, you mean BEFORE the OS?
<holstein> VelhoP4: correct.. the machine will have to have the hardware enabled
<VelhoP4> or is there any bios inside linux?
<VelhoP4> holstein, well, it works with windows
<holstein> VelhoP4: ok.. but, you can confirm that its on, by checking again in windows, to be sure, or looking in the bios settings
<holstein> VelhoP4: *if* the firewire hardware is not present, and supporting linux, then the firewire device wont work
<holstein> VelhoP4: are you using an 14.04 live CD?
<holstein> this, among other things, is why i suggest *not* taking all this on at once
<holstein> i say, unhook the firewire audio device, and get jack running on the internal device
<VelhoP4> holstein, that, i get working!
<holstein> VelhoP4: im sorry i dont clearly understand what you are saying
<holstein> VelhoP4: are you able to use jack and configure it to run on the internal audio device?
<holstein> VelhoP4: can you, for example, route something like yoshimi over jack on the internal audio device?
<VelhoP4> holstein, im rooting a Calf plugin after Ardour, wich is reproducing a track. and its working with my internal sound board. FA-66 is connected, but dont know how to make it work
<holstein> VelhoP4: and you *cant* make it work, if your firewire device doesnt show up
<holstein> VelhoP4: if your hardware doenst promise you that it will work with linux, then you can have a challenging time
<holstein> what would i do? take the device to a machine with a supported texas instruments firewire chipset, boot the live iso, test the edirol
<holstein> VelhoP4: i ask again, are you using ubuntustudio 14.04 live?
<holstein> VelhoP4: i suggest 14.04 and *not* 14.10..
<VelhoP4> holstein, ubuntustudio 14.04 live
<holstein> VelhoP4: what im saying is, since you *dont* see your firewire device when you run "lspci", then, you will *never* see *any* firewire devices..
<VelhoP4> holstein, the problem is there i dont know were to find the firewire
<holstein> VelhoP4: sure. its *not* there, friend
<holstein> VelhoP4: it doesnt have to work with linux.. you were not promised that it would
<holstein> VelhoP4: but, that will be necessary *before* *any* firewire devices show up in linux for you
<VelhoP4> holstein, ah, get it! but what does full support means, then?
<holstein> VelhoP4: we are *not* talking about the edirol
<holstein> VelhoP4: as i said, you can literally unhook it
<holstein> VelhoP4: we are talking about the *actual* firewire on the device
<holstein> VelhoP4: on your compupter
<holstein> computer*
<holstein> VelhoP4: i you have a firewire hard drive, for example, you can plug that in, and it also, will *not* work.. since, the firewire device on your computer is not supporting linux
<holstein> VelhoP4: this is a prerequisite to the edirol, or *any* firewire device working
<holstein> VelhoP4: it would be like, taking a USB stick and plugging it in in windows and *not* having the USB drivers installed for the motherboard USB hub
<holstein> VelhoP4: the USB stick in that scenario would *not* work, but that is not related to the USB stick
<VelhoP4> holstein, hmm. Im using a PCM cia - i think thats whats called - to connect the firewire cable
<holstein> VelhoP4: ok
<VelhoP4> holstein, i dont have a firewire input built in my laptop
<holstein> VelhoP4: when you bought the thing, it *never* stated "linux support".. so, it doesnt have to work with linux.. they never promised you it would
<VelhoP4> maybe thats why liunux cant see the soundboard?
<holstein> VelhoP4: no.. that *is* *exactly* *why*
<holstein> VelhoP4: thats what im saying, friend
<holstein> VelhoP4: if you mean, the edirol, when you say "sound board", then, *yes*.. thats what i mean
<VelhoP4> holstein, so Edirol FA-66 works under linux or not?
<holstein> VelhoP4: the firewire PCI card will *need* to work *before* *any* firewire will work
<holstein> VelhoP4: i am not edirol or edirol support
<holstein> VelhoP4: ubuntustudio is doing nothing to prevent that edriol from working with it
<holstein> VelhoP4: will it work? i dont have one here to say, first hand
<holstein> VelhoP4: i looked at the official ffado site and linked to you where they state the edirol is fully supported
<holstein> VelhoP4: you *cant* confirm that, since, you dont have firewire on your computer that supports linux
<VelhoP4> holstein, ah!
<holstein> VelhoP4: step one, as i said, get firewire that works in linux
<holstein> VelhoP4: i have several texas instrument chipsets for just that occasion
<VelhoP4> holstein, got it!!
<holstein> VelhoP4: as i also said, instead of buying that, go to a machine with a firewire chipset and test the edirol, first hand
<holstein> *if* it works, you can get a texas instruments chipset
<VelhoP4> holstein, im using a dual boot machine, fa-66 works fine on windows 7
<holstein> VelhoP4: sure, and that doesnt mean *anything*
<holstein> VelhoP4: when you bought all that hardware, you *were* promised driver support for windows..
<holstein> VelhoP4: all that means is, the hardware is likely functional..
<holstein> VelhoP4: if you dont see the firewire chip in lspci, then you will *never* get *any* firewire devices in linux on that machine
<holstein> VelhoP4: details can help me help you
<VelhoP4> holstein, since this adventure is takingt me more time then what ive expected, i will install ubuntustudio, and play with if through my laptop internal sound board, that works fine
<holstein> VelhoP4: what pci firewire card do you have?
<VelhoP4> holstein, let me check
<VelhoP4> holstein, this one http://www.lindy.co.uk/components-tools-c7/add-on-cards-c308/firewire-c311/firewire-card-2-port-expresscard-34-p3339
<holstein> VelhoP4: so, you can see Chipset: Texas Instruments XIO2200A
<holstein> VelhoP4: they are typically well supported
<VelhoP4> holstein, <3
<holstein> VelhoP4: i say, try booting the live CD, with the firewire card *out*.. and put it in after boot
<holstein> pull it out and put it back in right now, and try "lspci" again
<VelhoP4> gonna do that right now, just a moment
<VelhoP4> holstein, you mean reboot everything and then do the lspci?
<holstein> VelhoP4: i mean, *literally* experiementing in every way
<holstein> VelhoP4: i would pull the card *right* *Now*, and put it back in..
<holstein> leaving it out for about 20 seconds or so
<holstein> then, i would run lscpi..
<holstein> if i dont see it, i reboot with the card out. and wait til the machine is booted, and put it back in after its booted, and run lspci
<holstein> i want to see the device listing a texas instrument chipset in a terminal in lspci
<VelhoP4> holstein, so, i must find the text TEXAS INSTRUMENT with the lspci?
<holstein> VelhoP4: friend.. its like this. that device will need to work in linux before anything you plug into it will
<holstein> VelhoP4: its that simple.. now, making that happen can take *any* amount of fiddling around..
<holstein> VelhoP4: a team of professionals worked for what could have been years, making sure all of your hardware worked out of the box and well in windows.. you are taking that responsibility on yourself when running linux, since, no one has promised you linux support
<VelhoP4> holstein, got it!
<holstein> VelhoP4: what do i do? i literally try *everthing*
<VelhoP4> holstein, i can be patient. i really want edoril fa/66 to work on my linux system
<holstein> boot with out the thing.. boot with the thing.. take the thing out.. try another thing to isolate if its the thing or not that is causing the issure, or if its the other thing
<VelhoP4> holstein, yes, i understand
<holstein> VelhoP4: again, we are not talking about the edirol, at all
<holstein> im talking about the pciexpress card
<VelhoP4> holstein, yes, we are talking about the pcmcia firewire adapter
<VelhoP4> holstein, im newbie, but im not that dumb, lol
<VelhoP4> holstein, I dont know how to thank you, you re being so supportive
<holstein> im not saying you are dumb.. im just clarifying..
<VelhoP4> thank you so much for not leaving me alone, and giving me your hand on this
<VelhoP4> holstein, thank you for all you patience, and making an efford to understand my awfull english when Im sleepy
<holstein> sure. but, i do need to run.. you can try #opensourcemusicians or #xubuntu #ubuntu for the expresscard support..
<holstein> cheers!
<holstein> and good luck...
<VelhoP4> holstein, cheers!!
<VelhoP4> hello folks! ive just installed UbuntuStudio in my dualboot laptop. I noticed there are Extra Applications in each menu. were can I find detail info about whats included?
<VelhoP4> included with the Extra Applications, I mean
<holstein> VelhoP4: pretty much any package manager.. or you can search online
<holstein> i like synaptic for a GUI Package manager..
<delt> VelhoP4: i just type in a terminal: apt-cache search [package name]
<holstein> also, here..
<VelhoP4> holstein, Ive searched online and found no info. thats why im asking here
<holstein> !info yoshimi
<ubottu> yoshimi (source: yoshimi): software synthesizer based on ZynAddSubFX. In component universe, is optional. Version 1.2.2-1 (utopic), package size 330 kB, installed size 1118 kB
<delt> !info zynaddsubfx
<ubottu> zynaddsubfx (source: zynaddsubfx): Realtime software synthesizer for Linux. In component universe, is extra. Version 2.4.3-4 (utopic), package size 1615 kB, installed size 2383 kB
<delt> !info zynaddsubfx-dssi
<ubottu> zynaddsubfx-dssi (source: zynaddsubfx): dssi plugin of zynaddsubfx. In component universe, is optional. Version 2.4.3-4 (utopic), package size 233 kB, installed size 591 kB
<holstein> VelhoP4: sure.. and we are doing our best to help you.. try one of the few suggestions above, or tell us how what you searched online failed...
<VelhoP4> holstein, thanks! I thi8nk im getting it
<delt> this is weird.... on this machine qjackctl doesn't show a menu from the system tray / notification area.... it just shows a small line, like the rest of the menu isn't appearing....
<holstein> delt: i would check the settings and make sure i have it set to be shown there, then, i would try as a different user, and try launching from the terminal to see error messages..
<VelhoP4> these Extra Apps are just additional packages I can get from synaptic
<holstein> VelhoP4: i dont know what you are asking about..
<delt> http://www.deimos.ca/miscjunk/qjackctl-glitch.png
<holstein> VelhoP4: you can ask about any particular application by name
<delt> holstein: it looks like this ---> http://www.deimos.ca/miscjunk/qjackctl-glitch.png
<holstein> delt: that looks as i would expect.. expecially if i had resized my panel
<VelhoP4> holstein, lol, nevermind, I got the answer I needed
<delt> uh? the little grey line is at the outside of the panel
<holstein> ok
<VelhoP4> !info ardour
<ubottu> ardour (source: ardour): digital audio workstation (graphical gtk2 interface). In component universe, is optional. Version 1:2.8.16+git20131003-2 (utopic), package size 3135 kB, installed size 12378 kB
<holstein> delt: just keep configuring,and trying the suggestions above
<holstein> delt: i'll find that compositing can effect that sort of UI element
<VelhoP4> !info ardour3
<ubottu> ardour3 (source: ardour3): digital audio workstation (graphical gtk2 interface). In component universe, is optional. Version 3.5.380~dfsg-3 (utopic), package size 6180 kB, installed size 28665 kB
<holstein> i mean,for me, 'if it aint broke', i dont fix it
<delt> holstein: that little grey line appears instead of the menu
<holstein> VelhoP4: you can query the bot, as well
<VelhoP4> holstein, how so?
<holstein> delt: ok.. so, any mesages when launching from the terminal? does it happen as another user?
<delt> also, quick suggestion for the ubuntustudio distribution: set the default xfce font to "Ubuntu", it looks really nice :D
<holstein> VelhoP4: i use "/q ubottu "
<delt> anyway, back to this qjackctl thing....
<delt> holstein: my laptop is running the exact same setup, with no problems.
<holstein> delt: you would file a wishlist bug, or email the dev list
<holstein> delt: sure.. so,are we talking about the laptop?
<delt> nope.. this bug appears on the desktop machine
<delt> disabling compositing doesn't seem to fix the problem...
<holstein> delt: the suggestions above are for the *same* machine.. start qjackctl from the terminal and see error messages,and try as another user, to see where the issue is
<VelhoP4> holstein, that command doesnt seem to work on xchat... nothing appears
<holstein> delt: sure.. you are assuming a few things. that, its a bug, and that its broken
<holstein> VelhoP4: you can typically right click on the nick and query it, or try "/query ubottu "
<holstein> https://toxin.jottit.com/xchat_help_commands
<delt> holstein: starting qjackctl from a terminal, no output ... compositing disabled in window manager, still getting just a little grey line instead of the menu.
<holstein> delt: and, as another user?
<delt> it's not such a HUGE issue, since running qjackctl again pops up the window.
<delt> that's what i'm going to try next.
<VelhoP4> holstein, cool! thanks
<vlt> Hello. Itâs 2014 â so what do I want to use for basic non linear video editing? I have several different sources (1280p/720p h.264, DV ...), want to arrange them on tracks on the timeline, create (sub)titles and edit audio levels. I tried openshot but I havenât figured out how to move a whole bunch of clips around. Any idea what to use?
<delt> ok, i'm in the guest account... trying now
<delt> enabling system tray icon in qjackctl
<holstein> vlt: i like kdenlive, but, it realy just depends on what fits your needs.. i would try kden and the cinellera ppa.. and lightworks is a commercial option
<delt> same bug happens: just the little grey line.
<holstein> pitivi
<holstein> delt: sure. but, as you say, its not happening on the other box, so, why assume its a bug?
<delt> compositing on or off, makes no difference
<holstein> delt: i mean, its an issue, correct? a bug would be something i can reproduce, and something you can on your other machine
<delt> ok, so we know the problem isn't caused by something in my ~
<holstein> delt: what would i do? look for and apply updates.. look at my sources for relevant PPAs such as kxstudio ones.. i would then look for a bug, and file one, and try and get someone to confirm it, after i confirm it on my other machine
<vlt> holstein: Thank you. Iâll try kdenlive first.
<delt> vlt: also check out cinelerra, iirc it's not in the ubuntu repos, you have to add their ppa
<holstein> http://www.techdrivein.com/2013/09/top-5-video-editors-for-ubuntu-linux.html
<delt> holstein: maybe uninstall and reinstall qjackctl? 2 sec i'll just log back into my normal account
<holstein> thats the cinelerra ppa i referenced.. https://launchpad.net/~cinelerra-ppa/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
<holstein> delt: i already said what i would do..
<holstein> that could be a fix.. but, you really dont know what the issue is yet
<vlt> delt: Thanks.
<delt> holstein: you mentioned resizing the panel might cause this problem... how would that be?
<holstein> delt: when i misunderstood the issue
<delt> oh....
<VelhoP4> Is there any advantage on installing UbuntuStudio 64 vs 32 bit? I just discovered one disadvantage: I cant install the package dssi-vst
<holstein> VelhoP4: you cant do what? why?
<VelhoP4> holstein, !info dssi-vst
<VelhoP4> !info dssi-vst
<ubottu> dssi-vst (source: dssi-vst): Adapter for VST an VSTi audio plugins. In component multiverse, is extra. Version 0.9.2-1ubuntu5 (utopic), package size 167 kB, installed size 633 kB (Only available for i386)
<VelhoP4> holstein, - (Only available for i386)
<holstein> VelhoP4: you can run 32 bit apps on 64bit
<holstein> VelhoP4: you have to stop saying "cant" and assuming.. and just ask how..
<holstein> http://howtoubuntu.org/how-to-install-a-32bit-program-in-64bit-ubuntu for example
<holstein> these days, if a machine can to 64bit, i install 64bit on it.. if it has 4gb's of ram..
<holstein> now, hosting windows vst's in 64bit may be a problem, but, thats not related to linux at all
<holstein> anyone can make *anything* they want for linux.. its all open
<holstein> if they dont, then, you have to do your own support
<holstein> if windows VST's were a deal breaker for me, id run windows.. if i wanted to try them in linux, id use 32bit
#ubuntustudio 2014-12-04
<wachin> Hi ubuntustudio support, have a question, there is a way to make a shortcut to this channel to give clic on the desktop shortcut and activate this program automatically
<holstein> wachin: o/
<holstein> wachin: you can make a shortcut to the irc client you are using, and have it autojoin
<wachin> go to search this option
<wachin> ups, i don't find a way to make this
<holstein> wachin: right click on the irc client. .make the shortcut
<wachin> I use "XChat" program that come with UbuntuStudio
<holstein> wachin: in the irc client, set it to auto join
<holstein> http://xchat.org/faq/#q22 for example, or in the gui
<vlt> holstein: Thank you so much.
<holstein> it still looks a lot like this. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/XChatHowto#Settings_for_Networks
<vlt> I just experienced the easiest getting to know a new program. A whole night with kdenlive and my movie is nearly done :-)
<holstein> vlt: i seemed to get work done easier in kden.. but, sometimes, i need a few programs to get things done
<vlt> (And only eight crashes so far.)
<wachin> ok, fine
<Arthur__> Hey
<Arthur__> does anyones know how to check system info in ubuntu studio?
<Arthur__> In my system tab in the application finder and on the main menu, there are no options
<holstein> Arthur__: depends on what you want to know about what,but, you can use anything from xubuntu
<holstein> you might want..
<holstein> !info hardinfo
<ubottu> hardinfo (source: hardinfo): Displays system information. In component universe, is optional. Version 0.5.1-1.2ubuntu4 (utopic), package size 210 kB, installed size 486 kB
<holstein> you can "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install hardinfo" in a terminal
<Arthur__> thats exactly what I needed
<Arthur__> thanks a lot
<vlt> holstein: Haha ... I heavily used a "rendered stuff" track for my project and now I found the "proxy clips" feature :-D
<lucaXA> ciao
<belalobo> hello everyone. I just did an update on my ubuntustudio and before restarting my laptop I login and nothing appears on the desktop. no panels and nothing appears. any help please??
<cfhowlett> belalobo, what ubuntustudio # were you on before and how did you update?
<belalobo> I did the update with update manager
<belalobo> ubuntustudio 14.04
<cfhowlett> belalobo, and you're on what ubuntu? 14.10?
<belalobo> now?
<belalobo> ubuntustudio 14.04
<cfhowlett> belalobo, logout. login to the guest accout
<belalobo> now it just shows the mouse cursor but it does nothing
<cfhowlett> *account*
<belalobo> ok
<belalobo> I'll have to restar the laptop. I'll be right back
<belalobo> ok in the guest acount everything seems to be fine
<belalobo> how can I fix this?
<cfhowlett> belalobo, log in to your account? if that still fails, ask #xfce or #xubuntu
<belalobo> it fails
<cfhowlett> belalobo, but you ARE logged in, right?
<belalobo> I log onto my account and it's just the mouse cursor that shows. no top nor lower panel
<belalobo> nothing just my backgroung image and the mouse cursor
<cfhowlett> belalobo, ok, open file manager
<belalobo> open file manager in guest account?
<wachin> I need a help. I am spanish parlant, at the first time run ubuntustudio 14.04 instalation I put the language on English. When I enter on my session, I see this folders:
<wachin> "Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Public, Templates, Videos"
<cfhowlett> belalobo, can you get terminal in your account?
<cfhowlett> belalobo, work with hedgework in #xubuntu. I'll watch
<belalobo> I'm logged into my account in the virtual terminal
<wachin> I delete this folders to put: "
<wachin> Descargas Documentos Escritorio Imágenes Música Plantillas Público VÃdeos
<wachin> "
<wachin> how I can said to my system that the desktop are on the folder: "Escritorio" y no en "Home"
<cfhowlett> !es | wachin
<ubottu> wachin: En la mayorÃa de los canales de Ubuntu, se habla sólo en inglés. Si busca ayuda en español entre al canal #ubuntu-es; escriba " /join #ubuntu-es " (sin comillas) y presione intro.
<wachin> ubottu: My system not recognize this folders: 'Descargas Documentos Escritorio Imágenes Música Plantillas Público VÃdeos' how own
<ubottu> wachin: I am only a bot, please don't think I'm intelligent :)
<cfhowlett> wachin, english only in this channel or use #ubuntu-es
<wachin> my system when I first run create this folders:'Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Public, Templates, Videos'
<wachin> I delete all this folders
<wachin> because I am a Spanish parlant
<cfhowlett> wachin, why did you delete the folder?
<wachin> was my mistake run my session on English
<cfhowlett> wachin, you deleted the folders ... so?
<wachin> because I not use this folders on english, I use this folders on spanish
<cfhowlett> wachin, what is your goal
<wachin> I am asking is if anyone knows how to tell the system recognizes other folders as their own, these:'Descargas Documentos Escritorio Imágenes Música Plantillas Público VÃdeos'
<wachin> because the default I delete all
<ObrienDave> you want to switch the default folder names from english to spanish, yes?
<wachin> I always use the UbuntuStudio on spanish, but the folders of the HOME was created on english because was my mistake run my session on English
<wachin> Yes
<wachin> :)
<cfhowlett> wachin, change your language settings to spanish and make new folders. OR change the language settings to spanish, make a new user and the folders will magically create
<wachin> now my language settings are on spanish, but my system only recognize the mentionet folders on english
<cfhowlett> wachin, make a new user. switch accounts. should be in spanish
<wachin> Is very important to my that my system recognize the "Escritorio" folder how "Desktop" for all other things, like mount partitions on the desktop
<wachin> no, I cant, I have many thinks here
<wachin> mani configurations are here,
<wachin> in this session
<cfhowlett> wachin go to your /home make new folders, name them as you like
<wachin> I think there should be somewhere in the system must have the ability to change this setting, some file in the root system '/'
<cfhowlett> wachin, ANY file you create under /home will be in your /home ...
<wachin> wich ask you my is best that I do with a Live CD, with a live CD now I go to move all files and folders that I have on HOME, put then in other place and next go to my wachin session
<wachin> See you later
<velho> Huston, I have a problem!
<velho> sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kxstudio-debian/kxstudio
<velho> Cannot add PPA: 'ppa:kxstudio-debian/kxstudio'.
<velho> Please check that the PPA name or format is correct.
<holstein> !ppa
<ubottu> A Personal Package Archive (PPA) can provide alternate software not normally available in the offical Ubuntu repositories - Looking for a PPA? See https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ppas - WARNING: PPAs are unsupported third-party packages, and you use them at your own risk. See also !addppa and !ppa-purge
<holstein> velho: i personally suggest *not* using ppa's, until you are confortable with the risk
<holstein> https://launchpad.net/~kxstudio-debian/+archive/ubuntu/kxstudio is the ppa..
<holstein> sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kxstudio-debian/kxstudio *should* be working..
<holstein> velho: i just opened a terminal, and ran "sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kxstudio-debian/kxstudio" and it worked as expected
<holstein> velho: i am on ubuntu 14.04
<velho> holstein, I didn't know that adding PPAs was risky :o
<holstein> velho: sure.. they are unsupported, 3rd party applications
<velho> holstein, what harm can they make?
<holstein> velho: literally *any* harm the creators of the packages want them to make, or accidentally make
<holstein> velho: they are not ubuntu pacakges. we dont maintain them
<holstein> velho: and, thats fine.. i literally just added that ppa ^ and i know and trust falk who makes them
<cfhowlett> holstein, which is great but RARELY the case, yes?
<holstein> velho: but, the question is, why are you no able to? and why are the directions at http://kxstudio.sourceforge.net/Repositories now working for you?
<velho> holstein, I tried the command again, i get the same lines I posted before
<holstein> cfhowlett: ppa's typically *always* break for me on some level
<holstein> being unmaintained, or abandoned.. or, just after years, not working with my installation..
<holstein> i mean, i add them.. but, i know the risks.. and i realize where the burden of support is
<velho> holstein, so you don't advise to install KXStudio PPAs with UbuntuStudio? Have you run into any problems?
<holstein> velho: as i said, i know, and trust falk who creates and maintains the kxstudio ppas
<holstein> velho: i literally ran the command falk gave at http://kxstudio.sourceforge.net/Repositories and the ppa added, no problem
<holstein> velho: the kxstudio ppa is *large*, and adds a lot of system files.. that is not bad or good.. its just something that you need to be aware of, and know that, you are not using ubuntu anymore at that point
<holstein> velho: *if* you understand the risks, and want to add the sources, open the terminal, and input "sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kxstudio-debian/kxstudio" and share the *entire* error output..
<holstein> !paste
<ubottu> For posting multi-line texts into the channel, please use http://paste.ubuntu.com | To post !screenshots use http://imgur.com/ !pastebinit to paste directly from command line | Make sure you give us the URL for your paste - see also the channel topic.
<cfhowlett> adding the ppa works for me ... http://ur1.ca/izble
<velho> holstein, I would like to know more about the actual risks of adding kxstudio repos. I was advised to install kxstudio repos in ubuntustudio, to get the best of both worlds. So, I don't understand the risks, because I don't know it there are any, but I would love to read about what risks I may encounter by adding the kxstudio repos
<velho> holstein, cfhowlett the command works now! I did nothing different, except typing "clear" in the terminal. O well, the command is working now and that's what matters
<cfhowlett> velho, :0
<velho> cfhowlett, sometimes I really feel stupid using the command line. I need to get more used to it :)
<cfhowlett> velho, I'd strongly encourage that lll
<velho> cfhowlett, lll?
<cfhowlett> velho, ... I've worn the nubs off my keypad so my fingers sometimes travel
<cfhowlett> :)
<velho> cfhowlett, haha! traveling fingers :)
<velho> SO, what are the risks of installing KXStudio? I've googled about it, but found nothing relevant...
<velho> let me rephrase that...
<velho> Wwhat are the risks of installing KXStudio PPAs in UbuntuStudio? I've googled about it, but found nothing relevant...
<ObrienDave> basically, you run the risk of the PPA not being maintained, installed packages breaking your system, and not being an official package, not receiving any support here if it does bork your system
<ObrienDave> in other words, you're on your own with a PPA
<velho> Well, I've been reading a lot about PPAs, and I found anything wrong about installing KXStudio PPAs on UbuntuStudio. I've read that PPAs can be risky, but these are KXStudio PPAs, aren't they stable?
<delt> power failure :/
<delt> anyway, back online.....
<delt> and this happened exactly when i was configuring network stuff.... had to call ISP to make sure everything was OK on their side, before remembering some scrpit that i wrote on my server which checks connection once per hour, and tries to bring it up if it's not.....
<Ivan1022> hey guys
<Ivan1022> does anyone know if there are any major issues with the Unicorn release for Ububtu Studio, should I not download that release and do the Tahr release? it's gonna be a clean install
<Ivan1022> well, I'll guess I'll try one and test to check... see ya guys
#ubuntustudio 2014-12-05
<holstein> velho: the "actual" risk is.. its *not* ubuntu anymore
<holstein> velho: they are not our sources, and we (ubuntu/ubuntustudio) cant say they are stable or not
<holstein> velho: now, i *do* know, and trust falk, as i said before.. falk is the kxstudio developer
<velho> holstein, I wish to have the best of both UbuntuStudio and KXStudio worlds. If I see any incompatibilities, I'm willing to resolve them. Solving problems = learning :)
<holstein> velho: you will be running kxstudio
<holstein> which is fine
<velho> holstein, I'm still running UbuntuStudio. I didn't add the kxstudio desktop (yet), just the apps+plugins repos
<holstein> velho: if you added the repos, then, thats what you are using.. *not* ubuntustudio
<holstein> velho: which again, is fine.. but, its *not* ubuntustudio anymore.. they are not the ubuntustudio applications anymore
<velho> It seems to me that the kxstudio has more programs and plugins, but after updade, upgrade, and distro-upgrade everything, I didn't see ardour3. I found it very strange... thought if would be a default to US and KXS
<holstein> velho: it is
<holstein> falk packages and maintains an ardour3, and ubuntustudio has been shipping with it since it was released
<velho> holstein, it was not on my system. had to install it alone
<holstein> velho: its on mine,
<holstein> velho: it ships with ubuntustudio
<velho> holstein, I thought so! that's why I found it so strange...
<holstein> velho: sure.. but, its not so strangs
<holstein> strange*
<holstein> velho: you "play around" with the system, a lot.. which is fine, but, you can remove things and change things and not realize what is happening in the background
<velho> holstein, I'm a danger to myselt in Linux, lol :D
<velho> still learning how its supposed to work. want to understand the core system, specially for audio
<holstein> well, it ships as its supposed to work.. but, you are welcome and encourages to change it as you please
<holstein> i always install ardour from the ardour site directly, anyways.. i pay for the prebuilt binary rigth from paul
<velho> holstein, are there aditional ardour packages in synaptic?
<holstein> velho: check and see.. ardour2 should still be there
<holstein> there is just ardour..
<velho> I only installed ardour3. Any problems if I install ardour allong ardour3?
<holstein> velho: i have them both installed.. you should be careful with your sessions..
<velho> holstein, by "carefull" you mean: separate project folders for different ardour versions, I guess?
<holstein> why guess?
<holstein> i can only tell you what i do.. which is, what i read to do at the ardour site..
<velho> holstein, gonna check the site ;)
<holstein> a2 (which is ardour2) sessions open in a3 (ardour3).. but, you get a new session name
<holstein> so, what do i do? i copy.. and i maintain different copies
<holstein> though, i dont use ardour3 anyways..
<holstein> i just keep it for testing.. i personally use the commercial product mixbus, which is based on ardour2, and the sessions are ardour2 sessions
<holstein> i am equally careful with those sessions. i always make a backup, using the 3 2 1 rule, for missions critical data
<holstein> i'll track, then, i'll *immediately* make a copy onto a drive or 2 and let someone else have a copy at a different location, if its that important
<holstein> if its something im paid to make sure happens, i make sure it happens..
<holstein> im actually quite experiemental as well.. but, i have backups, and test as much as i can before doing anything in production
<holstein> when i ran the kxstudio ppa's on my system regularly, i ran 2 machines.. i would update one, and test *everything* before updating my production machine
<holstein> now, i go with more of an AVlinux "appliance" approach, and just dont update my production rig, and dont have it online anyway
<velho> holstein, inteligent stratergy ;)
<velho> holstein, why don't you use ardour3, except for testing? is it buggy?
<holstein> velho: no
<holstein> velho: i dont need anything it provides, so i dont use it
<holstein> velho: im not interested in doing midi with it.. and i like/understand/am-comfortable-with ardour2, so why upgrade?
<holstein> when i need something ardour3 provides, or, when mixbus is based on ardour3, and i move on to it, then, i'll use it
<holstein> otherwise, im used to a2..
<holstein> when i read "new version released", these days, i'll ask "do i need/want a new version?" and "whats my upgrade path?" and "how long to train myself to use the new stuff?"
<velho> holstein, well, I hope not to take too long to start making music in linux
<delt> Hello
<delt> quick question about dns... how can i force the resolver to use my /etc/resolv.conf and not overwrite it?
<delt> i'm having problems with some hosts on my network if it just contains "nameserver 127.0.0.1"
<rustyraptor> I just installed some programs for cuda. Mainly named "libcuda"
<rustyraptor> and xorg crashed.
<rustyraptor> it seems like it uninstalled a lot of other packages too.
<rustyraptor> I am able to get onto the guest account from recovery mode but I can't fix anything because it doesn't let me sudo or anything.
<rustyraptor> what do?
<delt> problem solved: moved the file (symlink), made a new copy of it, and did chattr +i on it
<delt> btw holstein: i found what was causing that problem with qjackctl
<delt> .... there's a "notification area" and an "indicator plugin" - it depends on which one the icon appears, which on my desktop machine is always the indicator plugin, and on my laptop, the notification area
<delt> for some reason.
<studio_> im very close but still cant get any sound from any linux distro using ardour...
<studio_> presently using ubuntu studio
<studio_> didnt think that coming from windows 7 cakewalk to linux would be soooo dificult
<holstein> studio_: sure
<holstein> studio_: you are promised, explicitly, support for windows 7 and cakewalk
<holstein> the creators of your hardware dont promise you the same support for linux
<holstein> what i suggest is, unplug any audio interfaces, and learn to use jack on the internal audio device
<studio_> what should be my first steps to get midifiles running in ardour?
<holstein> *dont* start with ardour.. close it as well.. and start with something like audacious set to the jack driver
<holstein> studio_: or, yoshimi
<studio_> ok
<holstein> studio_: hear literally *anything* on *any* device.. step one
<holstein> simlify the applications and devices as needed..
<studio_> so ok
<studio_> i can gear sounds fine when using hydrogen
<holstein> studio_: sure.. but, over JACK?
<studio_> not sure ill check brb
<studio_> i cant see in hydrogen where the sounndfad is coming from but i can hear it from the laptop speakers by de
<holstein> sure.. so, what i suggest is, unplug any extra audio devices.. usb or firewire.. stop *everything*, and make sure jack isnt running
<studio_> ok
<holstein> lauch *only* qjackctl or jack control.. set up jack with the default device.. see that jack starts when clicking the start button and runs with no errors
<holstein> *then* only after jack is running.. start yoshimi
<holstein> you can go back to qjackctl connect and see that the audio is routed properly
<studio_> starting jackctl
<holstein> then, you can go to yoshimi and use the keyboard in the menu, the virtual keyboard, to generate sounds
<studio_> qjackctl started with no errors
<holstein> studio_: no
<holstein> studio_: qjackctl is the GUI to start jack with
<holstein> studio_: qjackctl would launch without errors.. you would the use that tool to configure JACK and press the start button, which would attempt to start JACK
<holstein> is that what you mean?
<studio_> i have started qjackctl as you suggested
<holstein> studio_: ok.. *so*.. following the steps above.. *please* in setup, select the default audio device.. and start jack
<studio_> ok
<holstein> !proaudio
<ubottu> For information on professional audio tools in Ubuntu, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/ProAudioIntro
<studio_> starting jack produces a drumbeat.1...2....3....4....etc
<studio_> jack started
<holstein> studio_: ok. so looking above where i mentioned steps, you *then* can open yoshimi
<holstein> studio_: in qjackctl, you'll see "connect".. there, you can connect then things that show up in JACK
<studio_> ill try brb
<holstein> studio_: in "connect", you connect yoshimi to your audio device.. in the "audio" tab
<holstein> *then*, you go to yoshimi, and open, as i stated above, the virtual keyboard from the menu.. you can then click notes on it, and see that you are hearing them
<holstein> you shouldnt hear a drumbeat when starting jack, since, nothing else should be on, or open. because i asked you to close everything
<holstein> you should literally have qjackctl open.. and now be opening yoshimi
<holstein> *nothing* else
<studio_> ok yoshima open
<studio_> clicked on connect and have connected left and right to yoshma
<holstein> *great*.. thats how you connect *everything*
<studio_> gotit ok ta
<holstein> if you hear yoshimi, then, JACK is working properly..
<holstein> do you?
<studio_> not sure how to produce notes with yoshima
<holstein> studio_: as i stated, in the menu you will see "virtual keyboard"
<holstein> studio_: you click on the menu item to launch it.. then, when you click on the virtual keybaord, you hear yoshimi..
<studio_> gotit
<holstein> *if* things are working
<studio_> shows playing but cant hear anything
<holstein> studio_: so, you *dont* have jack working properly, then
<studio_> it seems so
<holstein> studio_: there is *no* reason to go opening ardour, or *anything* else
<holstein> studio_: you stay *right* there, til you hear something
<studio_> ok
<holstein> studio_: open a terminal, and run "alsamixer" see that nothing is muted, and eveything is up to some level
<studio_> ok
<holstein> studio_: check *all* mute buttons and hardware switches
<studio_> cannot see if anything is muted...doest look as if it is
<studio_> all meters say 100
<holstein> studio_: in "connect", see that you are connecting properly
<studio_> one meter says mm
<holstein> studio_: you cant trust *any* labels
<holstein> studio_: so, just tweak *all* of those settings
<studio_> ill have a good fiddle
<holstein> thats step one
<studio_> gotit yoshima playing...coulnt hear the lower register notes
<holstein> studio_: ok.. so, now you know
<holstein> studio_: thats how you route things..
<studio_> gotit
<studio_> thanks a lot
<studio_> to play midi do i connect midi capture to midi playback?
<LinuxGold> what is the command line for pulseaudio manager (volume control)?
<LinuxGold> trying to set up samson c01u mic for audacity
<LinuxGold> nvm, got it
<LinuxGold> thanks
<Unit193> pavucontrol? or paman? padevchooser? Depends on what you want to do.
<LinuxGold> alsamixer got it done.
<Unit193> Heh, that's a handy one.
<LinuxGold> oh yes
<LinuxGold> :)
<LinuxGold> http://vxlabs.com/2013/04/24/samson-c01u-usb-condenser-microphone-on-ubuntu-12-04/
#ubuntustudio 2014-12-06
<LinuxGold> what is the best alternative to audacity?
<LinuxGold> I'm trying to set up a good laptop for my son who plays piano -- a real piano, not electronic stuff
<LinuxGold> trying to find a very good software running on Ubuntu
<LinuxGold> He is currently using console piano
<Unit193> Well, for one, what's wrong with Audacity? There's also Ardour and others, could search the repo for whatever exactly you need, or checkout a site such as http://alternativeto.net/software/audacity/?platform=linux
<LinuxGold> trying to find the best. if audacity is the best software to use, then fine, so be it :)
<studio_> i seem to have yoshima working ...now how can i play a midifile and hear and edit it?
<Drabuntu> hallo ich spreche Deutsch.
<studio_> still trying to get sound from ardour
<holstein> studio_: it'll be *just* like getting sound from yoshimi
<holstein> the issue is, you are diving into midi
<holstein> studio_: what do i suggest? take things in steps.. and slowly
<studio_> thats what i thought but it doesnt work
<holstein> studio_: open yoshimi, as i described before, and make certain audio is working
<holstein> studio_: then, open ardour, import a *known* good audio track, and route that
<studio_> its ok for wav files but not for midi
<holstein> *then* move on to midi
<holstein> studio_: so, you are having more specific issue with ardour then, not "you cant get audio from ardour"
<holstein> studio_: there is, in qjackctl, in "connect", a midi tab as well
<holstein> studio_: you can do advanced midi routing there..
<studio_> its specific to getting midi sound yes
<holstein> but, i suggest *not* starting with ardour for midi
<holstein> studio_: this is the way it would work
<studio_> ive already got it going in muse
<studio_> and qtractor
<holstein> studio_: open something like yoshimi, or a midi soune player.. route the audio.. then, create a midi track in ardour, and route the midi
<holstein> studio_: its the *same* in ardour, its just not automatically connecting
<studio_> ok ill try again
<holstein> you can try #opensourcemusicians and/or #ardour
<holstein> studio_: the ardour manual will be quite helpful as well
<holstein> studio_: you can also use *any* of those other applicaions for your midi with ardour for your audio
<holstein> studio_: you can use qtractor *instead* of ardour, or, with ardour
<Drabuntu> richt jemand deutsch?
<Drabuntu> Spricht jemand deutsch?
<holstein> !de
<ubottu> In den meisten Ubuntu-Kanälen wird nur Englisch gesprochen. Für deutschsprachige Hilfe besuche bitte #ubuntu-de, #kubuntu-de, #edubuntu-de oder #ubuntu-at. Einfach "/join #ubuntu-de" eingeben. Danke für Dein Verständnis!
<Drabuntu> Also meine Frage für die Deutschen: Hallo, wie kann ich die Ubuntustudio CD/DVD von HDD aus so steuern das eine Installation nicht möglich ist?
<studio_> will i have to make all these seperate connections EVERYTime i need to work with sound in linux
<holstein> !de | Drabuntu
<ubottu> Drabuntu: In den meisten Ubuntu-Kanälen wird nur Englisch gesprochen. Für deutschsprachige Hilfe besuche bitte #ubuntu-de, #kubuntu-de, #edubuntu-de oder #ubuntu-at. Einfach "/join #ubuntu-de" eingeben. Danke für Dein Verständnis!
<holstein> !restricted | Drabuntu
<ubottu> Drabuntu: For multimedia issues, this page has useful information: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats - See also https://help.ubuntu.com/12.04/ubuntu-help/media.html - But please use free formats if you can: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FreeFormats
<holstein> studio_: there are connection managers.. there are *many* ways to do it
<Drabuntu> Ich dachte eher an Kickstarterdateien oder was ähnliches!!
<holstein> Drabuntu: please try the german channel
<studio_> seems so time consuming compared to windows....
<studio_> it suggests that linux sound needs a complete rethink from the ground up
<holstein> studio_: *all* the software you are used to, and want, from windows.. can be made for linux
<holstein> studio_: invite them to make it for you.. but, they may not
<holstein> studio_: the positive thing about the linux work flow is, *all* the items *can* be connected..
<holstein> no one is benefiting commercially from locking anything down
<holstein> studio_: from the ground up, its just that simple
<holstein> jack, is open.. *anyone* can write for jack.. when they do, you can connect the items
<holstein> if i want to, for example, stream my insrument to the internet, while running through software effects, while tracking wet and dry tracks to ardour, while in sync, live, with a drum machine, or prerecorded track from *any* other appplication, while mixing in something from a hardware midi module, i can do that
<holstein> no doubt, that can be done in windows/OSX, but, you must, as you mention, starta from the ground up, and purchase with that integration in mind
<holstein> studio_: no doubt, this takes an investment.. an investment of time.. and, there is no company that provides you support for your hardware
<holstein> i feel that i spend a signifigant amount of time re-learning audio production when i moved to linux.. like, realistically, 8 months or more
<holstein> was it worth it? to me, yes.. you only know if that is worth it to you
<studio_> do you need to use these systems for you livelyhood
<holstein> linux is, realistically, not "good" or "better".. its just different.. and it either fits your needs or not.. i personally prefer it.. and, its avialable for *anyone*
<holstein> studio_: are you asking if i use linux professionally?
<studio_> yes
<holstein> i use linux exclusively
<holstein> but, there was a learning curve
<studio_> as part of you everyday job...ie music production
<holstein> studio_: as i said, friend.. i use it *exclusively*
<holstein> job.. personal.. *everywhere*
<holstein> windows doesnt work for my needs/wants anymore.. i feel just as you do now when i try and use windows or osx
<studio_> do you need your lixux sound system to earn a living
<holstein> that doesnt mean they are "bad" or dont work
<holstein> studio_: i *only* use linux, friend
<holstein> studio_: in my audio production, i use linux.. i use *nothing* else
<holstein> studio_: if you are asking if i make money from that, i do
<studio_> what do u produce
<holstein> studio_: its not my only source of income.. i mostly play music for a living
<holstein> studio_: but, i do whatever im hired for
<studio_> as i do
<holstein> http://www.freejazzblog.org/2014/07/shane-perlowin-jacob-wick-objet.html for example
<holstein> something i mixed but didnt track http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/spork1
<holstein> my personal projects http://holsteinmusic.com/
<holstein> demo stuff http://byronhedgepeth.mikeholstein.info/
<holstein> etc..
<holstein> linux audio is *all* open, and if someone wanted to "rework it" from the ground up, they are welcome to
<holstein> studio_: i do not do much midi production.. and this channel is mostly empty
<holstein> studio_: i suggested, and still suggest asking in #opensourcemusicians
<holstein> ffrom there, you will meet users who do what yo are trying to do
<studio_> ok thanks
<holstein> think about how long you used windows before doing any audio production.. and how slowly you crept into the work flow
<holstein> you are re-learning a lot all at once
<studio_> yes i think so ...thanks for your help
<holstein> what i did was, i actualy stopped my migration
<holstein> i then loaded linux *only* on a laptop,a nd used that daily.. trying to solve any issues i ran into
<holstein> copying data on usb sticks.. ripping audio from cd's.. whatever i needed to do, i tried to do it *only* in linux
<holstein> i did that for a year or more.. *then*, when it came to migrating the studio, i wasnt learning the OS as well
<holstein> for example, if i gave you an OSX machine and protools, you would be having similar "growing pains"
<studio_> thats what i have done over the last year....but as i have stared teaching guitar again i now need to get going with my backing tracks and other thing ...i am running out of time
<holstein> no doubt, that is considered the industry standard, and if you paid the 3 grand investment that takes, you'd make *sure* you learned it
<holstein> studio_: "Time" is what it takes
<studio_> yes i see
<holstein> i mean, you can make it happen.. but, its up to you
<holstein> there is no "linux" or "ubuntustudio" making sure you are happy with the product you bought.. just you and me, and the rest of the community
<studio_> im more than happy with the general linux such as the web browsing updating and everything its just the sound side thats so time consuming and problematic
<holstein> i suggest finding someone doing *exactly* what you are doing
<studio_> yes i will ok thanks
<holstein> that channel i suggested a few time, #opensourcemusicians , really helped me find that person
<holstein> this channel is mostly quiet
<studio_> ok i check it out
<holstein> you cant join this channel and expect an answer quickly
<studio_> ok
<Ivan1022> hey all
<holstein> o/
<Ivan1022> anyone know how to unpack the tracktion demo songs?
<Ivan1022> they're in like a .trkarch file extension
<holstein> unpack? is it a tar?
<Ivan1022> no
<holstein> Ivan1022: where are you getting what from?
<Ivan1022> they are tracktion demo song downloads from www.tracktion.com
<holstein> Ivan1022: how do they say you are to use them?
<Ivan1022> tracktion is a DAW
<Ivan1022> it's prob some sort of .zip format that only windoes can extract
<Ivan1022> *window
<holstein> Ivan1022: its not zip,correct?
<holstein> you can right click on a zip
<holstein> i think we are assuming many things here.. what did you get?
<Ivan1022> I tried opening it with archive manager and get an error
<holstein> and where from? http://www.tracktion.com/downloads
<Ivan1022> you know what... I wonder if I can drag it to the program and if it will extract it that way
<holstein> Ivan1022: probably not "extract" it at all
<holstein> its probably a session file, for the DAW
<holstein> i would just try opening the file in the DAW
<Ivan1022> that did it... Ic an't believe I didnt think of it until now....
<Ivan1022> thanks
<deak> 10 things to do b4 udie
<deak> Understand jackd
<holstein> i learned a lot by experiementing with the settings in a live enviroment
<holstein> at that time, i used the 64studio live cd, which didnt have an installer.. it was a different time
<deak> Yea just have to play with it
<holstein> but, for me, and i think for most, the freedome to be able to configure *everything* with the ease of reverting is key
<deak> Your talking to studio_ holstein ive swaped nicknames
<deak> Im getting there slowly
<deak> Just some tweaking of the midi settings and im home and dry
#ubuntustudio 2014-12-07
<Joscha> Is this a good Chanel to ask things about FFado, Jack, Pulseaudio and so on? I have no experiance and try to connect my Saffire pro 40 .
<holstein> Joscha: sure
<holstein> Joscha: you can also try #opensourcemusicians
<holstein> it *should be as simple as, open qjackctl, or jack control.. have the firewire device plugged in, and i would have *only* that one firewire device plugged in.. open "setup" and select the "Firewire" driver.. save and hit "start" and see that jack starts without fail
<holstein> if not, then, you go from there, troubleshooting
<J0scha> Ok. So my Plan is to use my Saffire pro40 as normal audio output for the System and with a daw for musikrecording. I've got the Ffado-mixer to work. I can set levels for all the Faders (testet it with an SPDIF Input, but i wasn't able to get Anything out of my Computer to the Interface. I heard the "normal" Programms are going to Output into a pulseaudio-server? and I need and bridge to get these Signals into Jack and then routing
<holstein> i can tell you how i do it, and how otherwise do it
<J0scha> o Idea how to do that.
<holstein> what do i do? i dont do "casual" audio on my production machine
<holstein> i actually disable the pulse audio dbus in jack, and i dont do any flash or "normal" audio from the system on my firewire device
<holstein> what do others do? just launch jack, and route the pulse audio sources using the dbus that is running by default out of the box
<holstein> you'll see it in "qjackctl" in "connect".. the pulse audio sources can be routed there to your firewire device
<J0scha> in qjackctl in the Connect dialog there are 2 Outputs (System) and 6 Inputs (System) But these numbers don't refer to my Interface.So i think the System output is the Thing i want to rout into my Interface?
<holstein> J0scha: nope.. i really dont think so, but, it literally wont hurt to try it
<holstein> J0scha: are you using 14.04?
<velho> holstein, good night my friend :D
<J0scha> using Ubuntu mate 14.10. Should have said that at first. Found This IRC in a Forum.
<J0scha> But it's a fresh install, so if there are good reasons for a change on ubuntu studio i could do it without loosing configuration, becouse there is no yet
<holstein> J0scha: i suggest 14.04 for firewire
<holstein> J0scha: mate doesnt matter.. should work fine in mate
<holstein> J0scha: but, the 14.04 base might
<holstein> J0scha: i wouldnt bother changing now.. just try and set it up
<holstein> J0scha: you are in the audio group?
<J0scha> I think so. I did sudo usermod -a -G audio with no errorsusername]
<holstein> J0scha: is jack running without error?
<J0scha> whoops, writeing is hard... "sudo usermod -a -G audio [username]"
<holstein> if it is, then, you are probably setup just fine
<holstein> look in "qjackctl" under setup in the misc tab for the jack dbus make sure that is turned on
<J0scha> Dbus is activated and i didn t notice any errors? Is there an error log or something? Or would there errors be visibil in a pop up?
<holstein> J0scha: just try jack, friend
<holstein> dont overthink it.. route something like yoshimi, and use the virtualkeyboard in the menu to make sound
<J0scha> wait... typing jack in the terminal resultis in a "The Programm Jack isn't installd...", but my qjackctl is running... Maybe i missd installing Jack.
<holstein> J0scha: qjackctl is just the gui
<holstein> when you hit "start" it'll start jackd
<holstein> "jack" really is not a package
<J0scha> qjackctl tells me itÅ working t 48Khz and since 49 minutes and there was no error. Does this mean qjackctl startet a Jack, wich in not installd on the System...? I'm getting confused.
<holstein> J0scha: JACK is installed, and running
<holstein> J0scha: you dont need to type jack in a terminal.. ;)
<J0scha> just tought about some help page and maybe an errorlog.
<holstein> J0scha: so anyways, you should see, in "connnect" the firewire sources,a nd the pulse system soures.. route them together, and test your sytem audio
<holstein> J0scha: you dont have any errors, yet, friend
<holstein> J0scha: you dont need to troubleshoot errors yet :)
<J0scha> So my Problem is that my Interface obviously doesn't show up in qjackctl
<holstein> J0scha: why?
<holstein> J0scha: you state you see it.. route *something*
<holstein> J0scha: open yoshimi, and try it
<holstein> J0scha: im assuming you are using the firewire driver, as i said to do before. are you?
<J0scha> yes. It told me to restart the jackserver. in qjackctl the buttons in the left top corner are the correct ones to restart the server?
<holstein> there is a "stop" button
<holstein> you stop it, see that it is configured for the firewire driver, and not the alsa internal audio device, which, is what it seems you were setup for
<J0scha> Ok, I did this and there is still not 1 in-/output from my interface
<holstein> J0scha: what makes you say that?
<holstein> it wont say "the well supported focusrite ins and outs here"
<holstein> they could be labeled anything..
<J0scha> becouse the count doesent fit and the a labeled System
<holstein> J0scha: please read that sentence, and try again..
<J0scha> So i took Yoshimi, connected the apprering Yoshimi Outputs in Jack to all 6 Outputs of the System and turnd all Chaneles up in the FFado Mixer but i still do not hear a sound.
<J0scha> Is a Reboot needed while installing all these Audiodrivers?
<cfhowlett> J0scha, shouldn't be but it's possible
<J0scha> gonna try it
<holstein> J0scha: you are not installing any drivers
<holstein> they are baked into the kernel.. its modular
<holstein> J0scha: i *dont* use the ffado mixer with my firewire hardware
<holstein> J0scha: you can also try the ubuntustudio 14.04 live iso and see if everything "just magically works" out of the box
<holstein> J0scha: if it does, you can just insatll ubuntustudio, and add mate to it.. that would be much easier.. assuming the hard part of setting up the audio is already done for you
<J0scha> Well, i have to lern much more about Linux in general. I need the Mixer for some 0-latency monitoring.
<J0scha> Allready downloading 14.04
<holstein> no you dont
<holstein> you also *never* get zero latency monitoring
<holstein> if you mean, you can bypass the unit, and hear live, you shouldnt need the mixer for that either..
<holstein> yeah, i found it helpful to spend a year+ using general linux on a laptop as my daily machine
<J0scha> But at first i'll try the reboot. The Download will take at least 40 mins The Feature is calld like that even if this is not possible.
<holstein> lol
<holstein> J0scha: on my unit, i have a knob that fades beteen the system audio from the computer, and what is "live" in the inputs.. *before* the computer
<holstein> you *can* call that "zero latency" if you want.. but, its not
<J0scha> I used Linux on my only mashine for 2 Years but it is a few years ago and i was pretty young. (like 12 or so)
<holstein> i mean, it even takes time for the sound to travel through the air to your ears
<J0scha> It's near enough for not hearing it while playing drums. Thats enough for me :D
<holstein> not hearing what?
<J0scha> Now reboot. Bye
<J0scha> the latency
<holstein> J0scha: its analog, thats why
<holstein> which *still* has latency..
<J0scha_> yes, the reboot made everything is working. Now I just have to get this pulseaudio sound into jack.
<J0scha_> also got this working. That you very much for your time! holstein!
<studio_> have sorted most of the sound problems with midi....but now after using jack or qsynth i lose all sound in my browser and spotify..anyone know why
<LightAce> Hello?
<deak> ive sorted most of the probs with my midi sound output now and have been able to start using midi with audio...
<LightAce> anyone not afk?
<holstein> yes...
#ubuntustudio 2015-11-30
<ubuntu-studio> zequence, It seems some of the install things have been corrected.
<Len1604> I am no longer asked to resize the partition if I haven't changed the size and I can reformat during install now.
<Len1604> I have to install so I can logout and in to try different default config options.
<Len1604> Create new users etc.
<Len1604> This is the best way to try out different things.
<Len1604> install seems much quicker too
* Len1604 reboots
<Vuokko> Hello!
<Vuokko> Does live DVD environment have dvgrab?
<sirriffsalot> I prefer using PCman instead of thunar, is there a way of removing thunar separately without having to remove crucial things such as ubuntu-desktop?
<OvenWerks> Vuokko: It looks like it. kdelive depends on it.
<OvenWerks> sirriffsalot: thunar is used for the desktop background.
<sirriffsalot> OvenWerks, ok?
<OvenWerks> That means it is pretty much embedded into xfce I think.
<sirriffsalot> Ah
<OvenWerks> you can set the default file manager to be something else though.
<sirriffsalot> Right.. that would explain it
<sirriffsalot> I know, I'm just somewhat annoyed at having double programs lying all over the place, hehe. Guess I
<sirriffsalot> guess I
<OvenWerks> We used to do that with nautilus.
<sirriffsalot> I'll have to *
<sirriffsalot> Never liked nautilus, but yeah I'll do that for PC I guess :) Cheers
<OvenWerks> what does PCman have?
<sirriffsalot> Nothing special really, I just like the way they organize their stuff and look
<sirriffsalot> OvenWerks, how do you feel on Dolphin, I quite like that file manager too
<sirriffsalot> Began tweaking my mini-studio laptop... I'm flipping through all of these terminal-fonts and can't imagine people using even half of them :D
<sirriffsalot> And these fonts that change our alphabet entirely, why do people design these elaborate stars-alphabets anyhow?
<sirriffsalot> "geeks be makin' codes no one wants to intercept anyhow" type of thing?
<OvenWerks> I thought Dolphin was an older fork of nautilus.
<OvenWerks> Nope, can't be.
<OvenWerks> That must be what my wife uses then. I like the preview part, but not how it reacts to clicks on files :)
<sirriffsalot> That annoys me too, hence I don't use it hehe
<sirriffsalot> Probably alterable though
#ubuntustudio 2015-12-01
<michel__> installer ubuntu 14.04.3
<michel__> xxx
<NoklaM> Trying to setup a pc with studio that I can access from a difrent pc, basicaly - 1st PC Monitor Keyboard TV - 2nd PC just turned on and running, is there other ways of doing it other than a KVM switch?
<sakrecoer_> my battery is dead and i keep getting my screen flooded with powermanagment notifications switching from "battery loaded" to "battery charging" so i'm trying to find a way to disable those specific notifications. Anybody knows how?
<studio-user326> hello
<studio-user326> everyone
#ubuntustudio 2015-12-02
<angretlam> Hi all.
<d0cK> hey there anyone on a cigarette break want to spend a second for helping me in a jack firewire related issue?
<d0cK> I shortly type it down, if anyone read it and know a fast way to point me on the right direction it would be greatly appreciated:
<d0cK> /dev/shm/jack-1000 directory is missing.
#ubuntustudio 2015-12-03
<lunatic-> hey
<shepster> OK
<shepster> anyone wanna talk about failed upgrades?
<cfhowlett> shepster, https://inkscape.org/media/cms_page_media/56/ask-smart-questions.pdf
<cfhowlett> pages 4, 7
<shepster> thanks cf
<lunatic-> anybody want to help me?
<cfhowlett> !ask | lunatic-
<ubottu> lunatic-: Please don't ask to ask a question, simply ask the question (all on ONE line and in the channel, so that others can read and follow it easily). If anyone knows the answer they will most likely reply. :-) See also !patience
<lunatic-> oh sorry
<lunatic-> How do I create a bootable usb stick that has ubuntu studio on mac?
<cfhowlett> !usb | lunatic-
<ubottu> lunatic-: For information about installing Ubuntu from USB flash drives, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick - For a persistent live USB install, see: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveUsbPendrivePersistent
<lunatic-> thank you
<cfhowlett> happy2help!
<shepster> My system upgraded from 3.13.0-68-lowlatency to 3.13.0-70-lowlatency through automatic notification and muon updater, done. Yesterday I was looking at the muon application and I thought I would run it to see if any more updates were available. It said there was a system update available so I clicked install and it proceeded to install 3.13.0-68-lowlatency and actually rolled back to the previous upgrade. Now my KDE desktop is hope
<shepster> lessly f'ed up. How do I get 3.13.0-70-lowlatency back?
<cfhowlett> reboot, at grub go to advanced options, choose your kernel.
<shepster> only 68 is available there
<cfhowlett> shepster, only 1 kernel?!
<shepster> yes
<shepster> I also only have 68 in the boot folder
<cfhowlett> shepster, sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
<shepster> I can do that...
<shepster> be back soon...
<rls> cf - can you resend the apt commands re: sudo apt update && sudo apt full_upgrade
<rls> I need to see if I did it right but I had to logout to get to the right user so as not to use root for irc.
<rls> shepster
<rls> thanks
<NoklaM> sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
<shepster> .!
<ssj71> I want to patch the lowlatency kernel, but I'm not sure how to apply the config to the kernel src
<ssj71> I ran apt-get source linux-image-lowlatency and all it has is the debian dir
<ssj71> do I just copy that directory into the kernel source?
<zequence> ssj71: Yes. -lowlatency is just a small config diff, plus some debian/control differences.
<zequence> So, patching -lowlatency is not much different from patching -generic. Question is, which kernel config do you want to use, and which dependencies for the kernel?
<ssj71> I want the lowlatency kernel, + a little patch for my backlight
<ssj71> but when I tried to apt-get source linux-image-$(uname -r) it defaulted to the generic kernel source
<ssj71> I tried with linux-image-lowatency which is the meta package IIUC and all it gave me was the debian folder
<ssj71> Its currently compiling with make (I was going to try manually installing) but once thats done I'll try copying the folder and using the debian/rules
<ssj71> zequence: doing so gave me "no rule to make target 'binary-headers' stop"
<ssj71> ls
<zequence> Been a while since I tried building the lowlatency kernel, and I have never tried since it was merged with -generic.
<zequence> Somehow, all of them are built from the same source
<zequence> You could ask for some quick tips on #ubuntu-kernel
<zequence> Like "How to build -lowlatency kernel?". And, mention you are going to patch it before you build it.
<ssj71> zequence: ok. thanks!
<zequence> ssj71: btw, the patch for your backlight, is that something that gets included in newer kernels?
<zequence> You could just install the kernel from the development version of Ubuntu, if it already has that
<zequence> You could try adding the newer repos to your apt sources, then do: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade linux-lowlatency
#ubuntustudio 2015-12-04
<ubuntu-studio> ubuntustudio
<ubuntu-studio> hello
<NoklaM> hi
#ubuntustudio 2015-12-05
<studio-user115> hi everybody
#ubuntustudio 2015-12-06
<studio-user253> anybody know when the update error is going to get fixed?
<hispeed67> for some reason, my CPU utilization is constantly at 80% or so.. with no apps running.. intel i3 with 8 gigs RAM.. any thoughts?
<hispeed67> intel i3-3110M @ 2.40 Ghz
<kjij> hello
<mirf> looks like shaketracker is no longer in the repo?
* OvenWerks looks up shaketracker
<OvenWerks> Hmm ubuntu does have a directory for it but it is empty.
<OvenWerks> The source packages are still there.... have not been updated since 2007.
<OvenWerks> It apears that even then the code was old. I found a home page which list "recent releases" jan 2002.
<OvenWerks> mirf: good chance this is not even buildable at this point. Most of the GUI libs have moved on and if the author has not kept the code up bitrot will be there.
<mirf> it's pretty darned old yeah OvenWerks
<OvenWerks> mirf: We have lost smoe good software that way. I would still like to have GCDMaster around.
<mirf> I have been having trouble building from source because of this
<mirf> does it rely on gtk 1 or something?
<OvenWerks> anything that uses the gnome2 libs is basically dead.
<mirf> what's the link to the directory?
<mirf> ah gnome 2
<OvenWerks> I have this one: http://freecode.com/projects/shaketracker But I am not sure how up to date that is.
<OvenWerks> https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/i386/shaketracker/0.4.6-5build2
<mirf> yeah this is what I've grabbed, it redirects to 0.4.6 from sourceforge
<OvenWerks> even the glib may have changed since
<mirf> yeah a lot has moved on since it was written
<OvenWerks> (glibc maybe?)
<OvenWerks> mirf: you might want to ask on the linux audio users mail list what other sw is similar.
<mirf> yeah there is tutka with similar functionality
<mirf> fairly sure I've had that built in the last year
<OvenWerks> QT4 is still supported so it should be fine.
<OvenWerks> last release is 2014 too.
<AndChat|437241> Hello everyone
<AndChat|437241> I'm confused with my scarlett 8i6 and jack
<AndChat|437241> How can i get the sound to my monitor hw output?
#ubuntustudio 2016-12-05
<cfhowlett> welcome Vysty
<Vysty> Word.
<Vysty> Where would I post stuff about my workflow?
<cfhowlett> Vysty, facebook group, ubuntustudio forums .... even the wiki!
<Vysty> Oof.
<Vysty> Is that the link to the forums up there?
<Vysty> Blargh, how about: what is the link to the forum?
<cfhowlett> Vysty, wait 1
<cfhowlett> https://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=335 and https://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=334 for ubuntustudio and multimedia software
<Vysty> I'll probably come in here asking you for that again later.
<cfhowlett> we really should have them in the channel header. I'll ask our channel mod
<Vysty> BOOM!! Converted!
<cfhowlett> eh, whot?
<Vysty> I finally got it to work!
<Vysty> I literally have been battling this problem for weeks and solving it involved buying a new computer.
<cfhowlett> easy peasy. As I tell my students, it's all in the wrist.
<Vysty> I just saw the fruit of my labors that I started weeks ago.
<cfhowlett> now that you saved dough from NOT buying hardware, max out your ram?
<Vysty> No, I already bought the new computer.
<cfhowlett> alright then.
<Vysty> It was time. I was working with a laptop I got in 2011.
<Vysty> How do I max out my RAM?
<ObrienDave> buy more
<ObrienDave> how much depends on the max allowed by your system and your wallet ;P
<Vysty> ObrienDave: I had aimed that question at another guy. Just bought a new system. :)
<ObrienDave> Vysty, it's ok, many people here can advise and help at the same time
<Vysty> ObrienDave: Appreciated!
<Vysty> ObrienDave: The RAM comment was kind of a side thing. Now I need to figure out how to use WinFF for what I want to do.
<ObrienDave> i know nothing about WinFF, sorry
<Vysty> ObrienDave: Do you have an... answered my question. :D
<cfhowlett> Vysty, truly easy to find http://winff.org/html_new/documentation.html
<Vysty> The official documentation has a 404 error
<Vysty> In English, anyway.
<ObrienDave> i have dabbled with kideo editing. KdenLive for example
<ObrienDave> *video
<Vysty> Kdenlive is on my workflow list for what I'm doing.
<ObrienDave> yea, i've tried a few but have had them crash when I try to meld very large videos together. sot sure what the issue is
<ObrienDave> *not
#ubuntustudio 2016-12-06
<studio-user277> hello there, im using ubuntu studio 16 in a intel chipset laptop, with a graphic card SiS mirage 3, 771, ist it a way to use it in 1024xxx resolution just like in the Installation disk? it appears with 640xxx as default, may day my friends! im really new!!
#ubuntustudio 2016-12-07
<tumulte> Jack crashes in the middle of a session with : JackAudioDriver::ProcessAsync: read error,
<tumulte> then impossible to restart it
<tumulte> command line : /usr/bin/jackd -P95 -m -dalsa -dhw:F410 -r48000 -p256 -n2
<tumulte> hi
<tumulte> how do IÂ restore the sound applet on the top right
<tumulte> hi
<tumulte> how can I restore the volume applet from the top right ?
<tumulte> hi ! Does this ring a bell ? Error (PosixThread.cpp)[ 161] Start: Cannot create realtime thread (1: Operation not permitted)
<tumulte> ffado not starting in RTÂ unless root
#ubuntustudio 2016-12-08
<MoBeats> Hello. Anyone know a good channel to discuss general music production / studio related topics?
<tumulte> hi
#ubuntustudio 2016-12-09
<avesian> hi..
<avesian> anyone knows how to update ardour on UB 14
<avesian> ??
<johnc> Hi all. I am on today's second attempt to install Ubuntu Studio on my Toshiba Satellite. I have one, possibly two issues. The first, how can I install wireless drivers WITHOUT an Ethernet connection? Second, on the first attempt, GRUB failed to install. The help docs available online seem to be outdated. For example, the path to the wireless drivers was all wrong. I greatly appreciate any help anyone can offer. Still waiting fo
<johnc> to see if GRUB installs properly.
#ubuntustudio 2016-12-10
<Aught> Hello. Iâm new to linux. Have been using Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS for about 5 weeks. Thought I would try Ubuntu Studio (Iâm a former CakeWalk user). I downloaded the iso file, burned it to disk, run a fresh install on clean hd and it crashes at the finish of install. Messages read âgrub install file canât be foundâ and âboot loader failureâ. I made a new install cd thinking I likely messed up the first one. Formatte
<Aught> the first attempt. Downloaded the iso again, created a new disk and tried another install. To no avail. The same errors occur. My machine is an AMD64 the iso I downloaded was the amd64 ver. Ubuntu 16.04.1 runs like a dream on the same machine. Not sure what Iâm doing wrong,,, Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
<krytarik> Aught: Hi. Well, it's the same installer and all, so.. >_>
<Aught> Hi krytarik I was reading that and was thinking that maybe something in the bios may be preventing the grub file. I'm not a pro at this stuff. I'm just guessing
<Aught> Thanks for your response. I'll reboot and check the bios. Have a great evening
<krytarik> You too.
<studio-user998> sometimes after installing updates the menu is corrupted... e.g. all the studio specific menu entries are removed. is there a known fix for this?
<krytarik> studio-user998: Not sure it can be related to installing updates, but LP bug 1430571.
<ubottu> Launchpad bug 1430571 in MenuLibre "ubuntu studio menu items disappear after adding new launcher" [Undecided,Confirmed] https://launchpad.net/bugs/1430571
<johnc> Hi all. Can someone tell me the EASIEST way to install wireless in Ubuntu Studio WITHOUT an ethernet connection? I can use another laptop with wireless to download files if absolutely necessary. Thankyou.
<sirriffsalothp> johnc: it's really a lot easier to just move the machine to an ethernet cable... in the library or something :)
<studio-user813> Hola desde Argentina, instalando ubuntustudio
<studio-user813> Hi from Argentina, installing Ubuntu-studio
<studio-user813> i'm musician and repairman of wind instruments
<studio-user813> and Ubuntu's fanatic
<sirix> hi there
<studio-user813> hi sirix
<studio-user813> have you experience with ubuntu-studio?
<studio-user813> where you are?
<sirix> sirix: yeah, but only old vwersions
<studio-user813> for example
<sirix> 9.04
<studio-user813> ohhh sirix sorry, the installation is finish, later i will are here, ok? by
<sirix> since them, it has change a lot
<sirix> see ya
<studio-user813> i play all clarinets, saxophones and repair this instruments, flute, trumpet, tuba, included
<sirix> that's nice
<studio-user813> and sufficient knowledge on Audacity, pulseaudio, graphic programs, something of video, but i need more knowlege on that /sorry my english is not good
<studio-user813> later i connect here with you, thank you for your time
<sirix> studio-user813: your english is perfect
<OvenWerks> johnc_: To be honest, wireless has always just worked.
<OvenWerks> What wireless chipset do you have?
<OvenWerks> johnc_: Also, have you asked in #ubuntu or #xubuntu? Both channels have more people in them and wireless is just ubuntu standard in Studio, there is nothing extra or omitted.
<caim> hey! whats up?
<caim> i have a little problem, i hope anyone can help :C Brasero doesn't show me my usb drive, neither multisystem... i want to mount a windows iso image on it and i can't
<sterlinglee> Hello, anyone help me with a Steam install?
<sterlinglee> When I run Steam it wants to install additional packages and and dialog box opens to do this that asks for my password. I am unable to type anything. I can hit enter/return and it simply says try again, but can't type anything else.
<krytarik> !password | sterlinglee: This perhaps?
<ubottu> sterlinglee: This perhaps?: Forgot your password? See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LostPassword What's the root password? See !sudo. Don't see *** in password prompts? That's normal. Sudo doesn't ask for your password? It remembers you for several minutes. Please use strong passwords, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/StrongPasswords
<sterlinglee> I know my password, it doesn't let me enter anything.
<sterlinglee> http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/uu5/sterlinglee38/steaminstall_zpsetseazmn.png a picture of what I see
<krytarik> sterlinglee: Yes, that's what I thought - read again.
<sterlinglee> Ok, I'm pretty new to linux and not a genius, but are saying that it won't ask for the password but automatically input it if it knows it? I'm confused, because Ubuntu constantly asks for my password and knows it very well. Your answer is totally confusing, using only part sentences. Root password? I'm assuming that the password I enter when Ubuntu does security checks., Sorry, guess I'm not getting it
<krytarik> sterlinglee: See http://askubuntu.com/questions/112069/nothing-shows-up-in-the-terminal-when-i-type-my-password
<sterlinglee> Wow, man, why didn't you just say, "it doesn't show when you type, but it is actually entering it, just type your password and hit enter. Could have saved a lot of time. Thanks for your help
#ubuntustudio 2017-12-05
<killavilz> -m server irc.elisa.net
<killavilz> okay its been 10y. last i used irc and i have been without a computer past year....
<killavilz> hhhmm i gotta learn to use Putty again and config a nice irc like i had years ago :>
<killavilz> bye bye!
#ubuntustudio 2017-12-06
<soundracks> Hello!
<soundracks> I've just installed ubuntu studio but have a couple of issues I need to get sorted before I start actually making music.
#ubuntustudio 2017-12-07
<inhahe_> what version of Ubuntu is Ubuntu Studio 17.10 based on?
<inhahe_> i see, 17.10 i guess.
<studio-user525> HI I replaces my Manajro Linux with current UbuntuStudio 17.10. When I lock the screen to go and come back Ialways have to restart the PC because the login screen does nto come. Screen black always. Super annoying
#ubuntustudio 2017-12-08
<studio-user457> hello.
<studio-user457> i'm leaving.
<Unit193> Uh, OK?
<studio-user206> hey all fairly new to studio. (running Xenial)..I used to use sound converter for audio conversion. Whats the studio recomendation?
<studio-user304> Hi! I've just installed Ubuntu Studio 17.10 and Ardour doesn't launch.
<studio-user351> how are you
<elemental> Ubuntu, my true love.
#ubuntustudio 2017-12-09
<chesty> hm i kinda have a problem
<lero-user071> hello Beautiful World
#ubuntustudio 2017-12-10
<chrimbus> i just installed ubuntu studio. i'm trying to tweak the theme. installed both unity and gnome tweak tools... changing those settings doesn't work... what am i doing wrong?
<chrimbus> i thought it was unity but tried gnome jic
<krytarik> chrimbus: Studio is using Xfce as its DE.
<chrimbus> doh!
<chrimbus> what does DE stand for?
<krytarik> Desktop Environment. Also, there are tools for this installed by default already.
<chrimbus> krytarik: thanks for your help
<krytarik> Sure.
<chrimbus> i see, i was thrown off by the way it looked. DL'
<chrimbus> ing themes and installing now
<chrimbus> n00b here ;)
<MicroMars>
<chrimbus> ok another question.. i'm trying to move a theme dir into the themes directory
<chrimbus> ~/.local/share/themes
<chrimbus> per this: http://wiki.xfce.org/howto/install_new_themes
<chrimbus> but i don't have /themes
<krytarik> Yes, then just create it.
<chrimbus> ok
#ubuntustudio 2018-12-03
<OvenWerks> studio-user392: do you have more than one audio interface?
<Ex> Hello my name is ex
<Ex> und zwar
<Ex> istenz
<Guest46033> warum?
<Guest46033> why?
<Guest46033> you are ugly
<Guest46033> bye
<windowsrefund> hello
<windowsrefund> sorry if this question gets asked all the time but I'm curious why the distro doesn't provide a rt linux kernel?
<windowsrefund> I'm running lowlatency but am still curious
<studio-user843> Trying to install Ubuntu Studio 18.10 from the ISO (Install to computer option). The dialog box freezes after select US keyboard defaults. Found numerous posts related to this problem going to several versions. I remember the last few times I tried to install having the very same problem.
<studio-user843> I can install Ubuntu 18.10 without any problems at all
<studio-user843> only Ubuntu Studio 18.10 has this problem.
<studio-user843> :(
<studio-user843> Such a shame something like this doesn't allow folks to even get out of the gate. For now, I'll load up all the apps to my Ubuntu 18.10 machine and try again next year. Just wanted to pass this information along
<studio-user843> One day, this problem may be fixed.
* windowsrefund checks the channel for a pulse
<boscaiolo> evening all
<windowsrefund> hello
<mrz80> afternoon
<studio-user392> sorry, no, I only have one audio interface. my motherboard has built in audio, but i have no intentions of using it
<OvenWerks> studio-user392: So you have the internal audio turned off in bios?
<OvenWerks> studio-user392: can I assume the interface you use is USB or is it PCI?
<studio-user392> it's USB. your standard Focusrite 6x6
<studio-user392> i don't have internal turn off in bios, but i have my card selected in the pulse
<studio-user392> will turning it off via the bios make it default to my audio interface?
<studio-user392> i can give that a try
<OvenWerks> windowsrefund: the lowlatency kernel has almost all of the RT kernel patches already applied. The only difference is that the RT kernel _can_ be locked up by a badly behaving application. With the low latency kernel I can run my ice1712 based audio card at 16/2 with no xruns.
<OvenWerks> windowsrefund: reason two is that there are not enough people to keep an rt kernel up to date. You are welcome to create and maintain an RT kernel.
<OvenWerks> windowsrefund: I suspect that the debian RT kernel would work just fine for that matter. I have built the odd kernel from the kernel site with no running trouble too. The main problem with using various kernels is proprietary graphics drivers like the nvidia drivers which will not be included in the RT kernel... they are included in the low latency kernel.
#ubuntustudio 2018-12-04
<Azukawa> Hey friends!
<Azukawa> when i start my system, my computer doesnt recognize my soundcard (presonus audiobox) before i unplug and replug the usb
<windowsrefund> OvenWerks: thank you
<studio-user937> Hello ubuntu studio users, just got into the game. Anyone familiar with using Davinci Resolve and Reaper on Linux Ubuntu Studio or similar software? And most of all: Is anyone using ubuntu Studio for Voice Over recording and editing? All the best, Steffen
<studio-user743> Hy, I speak Italian and I have a problem, help me
<studio-user743> help me in italy
<studio-user385> Hi there
<studio-user385> after trying other desktop and theme and such i'd like to return to ubuntu studio default settings. how to do this? reinstall studio over the current install?
<studio-user385> it's studio 18.10
<OvenWerks> studio-user385: the quickest way is to logout to the login screen and use ctl-alt-F1 to get a terminal prompt
<OvenWerks> then login there and do rm -r ~/.config/xfce4
<OvenWerks> ctl-alt-F7 should put you back at the login screen so log in and you _should_ be back to default
<OvenWerks> If you have been playing with the menus via libremenu or alacarte
<OvenWerks> then you would also rm -r ~/.config/menus
<OvenWerks> maybe also ~/local/share/applications
#ubuntustudio 2018-12-05
<slidinghorn> Just wanted to apologize for disappearing from here :/ living situation has been less than stable, unfortunately
<windowsrefund> I'm interested in upgrading to the latest version and wonder if the traditional approach of simply changing the URLs under /etc/apt/sources.list.d is the way to go?
<slidinghorn> What version are you currently running? (only half at my keyboard, sorry for this and future delays)
<studio-user850> anybody online?
<OvenWerks> ya, I guess you are not any more though :P
#ubuntustudio 2018-12-06
<studio-user199> ello? hi
<OvenWerks> o/
<studio-user868> hi
<slidinghorn> studio-user868, and studio-user199 you both might want to change to something a little more unique so it's easier to identify and help you :)
<studio-user868> hi slidinghorn, just having a look, test, first time here, thanks
<studio-user868> never done this before, if I do whois slidng horn, then it say you using secure connection
<studio-user868> why does it not say secure connection for me?
<slidinghorn> I have my IRC client configured to use SSL to connect
<studio-user868> ok i see, i came to this channel via ubuntu-studio's own link in the XFCE menu, so viewing this in Firefox
<studio-user868> webchat
<studio-user868> of the current list of users, who are devolpers or cintributers to the usbuntu studio ISO's? ty
<studio-user868> meaning the cotributors to studio
<slidinghorn> studio-user868, a few of the folks here work directly on the project. I was going to for a while but had some things come up that prevented me from being online almost at all. Feel free to just ask the chat in general if you have a support question, though. Anyone can answer if they're able
<studio-user868> ok, good on you slidong horn, thanks for the answer
#ubuntustudio 2018-12-07
<studio-user557> helouuu
<studio-user557> is anyone here
<slidinghorn> o/ studio-user557 (you might want to change your name so its easier to talk to you
<studio-user557> which is best editing software for linux
<studio-user557> video
<studio-user557> editing?
<slidinghorn> kdenlive
<slidinghorn> imo
<windowsrefund> hello
<windowsrefund> if I use the 18.10's new Ubuntu Studio Controls to configure jack, should I stop using qjackctl?
<OvenWerks> windowsrefund: yes, stop using qjackctl to start or stop jack. Let controls do that. However, qjackctl's connections window is ok to use for making connections if that is easier than using patchage.
<windowsrefund> interesting
<windowsrefund> ok
<windowsrefund> what about a2jmidid?
<windowsrefund> i've been using qjackctl to start it
<OvenWerks> windowsrefund: controls will auto start that
<windowsrefund> oh
<OvenWerks> controls starts jack at session start (if that is enabled) has pulse set to only see jack as a device, allows other devices to also be connected to jack via zita-ajbridge, start a2jmidid.... and autoconnects any new usb device that get plugged in.
<OvenWerks> It is made for new users who just expect to be able to do anything with anything even though they shouldn't :P
<OvenWerks> the idea is to help those with a USB mic that figure they now have a pro audio setup...
<windowsrefund> cool
#ubuntustudio 2018-12-08
<studio-user112> hello
<studio-user112> anyone here ?
<smeddy1> Hello All, I read that Ubuntu Studio 18.04 currently does not have LTS....I really like this Distro and looking to see how I can help.
<smeddy> smeddy1 = smeddy
<qg5screens> Trying to get 5 monitor screens working in extend mode ( to drag mouse from 1st screen to last in a horizontal line) All monitors show up in Settings Manager > Display, however they overlap on top of each other and will not be dragged or moved side by side. Mirroring instead of extending. What steps should I take?
<M_aD> Hi guys, i have a older Lenovo Thinkpad T410 and wonder if it's sufficient to use it for audio/music production: http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/c5FWKYzdgH/
#ubuntustudio 2018-12-09
<studio-user629> Is this thing on?
<krytarik> Depeeends!
<OvenWerks> zero, one and maybe?
<studio-user629> New Ubuntu Studio user looking for basic help with audio production. I was trying to follow https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/AudioHandbook but not having success
<studio-user629> And not sure where to go for that kind of basic introduction and trouble shooting
<OvenWerks> what is or is not working? which version of Studio are you using
<studio-user629> Downloaded the other day, whichever version that is...
<OvenWerks> cat /etc/os-release shows?
<OvenWerks> second line is fine
<OvenWerks> or the last
<studio-user629> I'm trying to get recording to work, I can get Audacity to record external source but not internal (Hydrogen). Also can't get Audacity to play to speakers (though Hydrogen does)
<studio-user629> 18.10
<OvenWerks> so you have jack running?
<studio-user629> yes
<OvenWerks> how did you start jack?
<studio-user629> qjackctl
<OvenWerks> ok, so when you start jack it takes control of te audio device and nothing else can use it.
<OvenWerks> have you tried using ubuntustudio-controls to start jack?
<studio-user629> ok
<studio-user629> no I haven't
<OvenWerks> -controls allows more than one device to be used at a time and sets the pulse jack bridge up for you.
<studio-user629> need to start from command line?
<OvenWerks> you would have to set audacity to use jack as it's audio device rather than either pulse or alsa
<OvenWerks> look in your menu system-> ubuntu studio controls
<OvenWerks> Ya it needs to show in the audio production menu as well I know :)
<studio-user629> OK, use defaults?
<OvenWerks> probably
<OvenWerks> do you also have a second audio device?
<studio-user629> not sure what you mean
<OvenWerks> are you using only the internal computer audio or do you also have a USB audio device
<studio-user629> Yes the latter
<studio-user629> I was able to record that but not internal
<studio-user629> In Ubuntu Studio Controls I hit Start or Restart Jack, nothing obvious then happens
<OvenWerks> ok default will work and should show your internal audio as system and your usb as something else (depending on what your USB calls it self.)
<OvenWerks> probably not :)
<OvenWerks> if you open patchage you should see your devices
<OvenWerks> (you should also be able to see it in qjackctl connections but you would have to restart qjackctl to see it there
<studio-user629> In Patchage I see PulseOut-01, PulseIn, Midi Through, system, UA-4FX (the sound interface), and a2j
<studio-user629> PulseOut-01 connected to system and PulseIn connected to system
<OvenWerks> ok sounds good, your Pulseout should be connected to system 1 & 2 as well I think
<OvenWerks> good
<OvenWerks> that will allow anything connected to pulse to still sound in your computer out
<studio-user629> PulseOut-1 front-left,right to system playback_1,_2
<OvenWerks> pulse being your desktop sound
<studio-user629> PulseIn front-left,right to system capture_1,2
<OvenWerks> so skype or firefox will still work.
<OvenWerks> you will probably have to connect anything that goes to the UA manually.
<studio-user629> there also is PulseIn-01 which is not connected to anything
<OvenWerks> Thas odd, it should be connected to your system capture 1
<OvenWerks> if you have one.
<studio-user629> PulseIn is connected to system capture, not PulseIn-01
<studio-user629> PulseOut-01 is connected to system playback, there is no PulseOut
<OvenWerks> Ah, ok 01 is a bug
<OvenWerks> there is an u-p dated version of -controls at the ubuntustudio -dev PPA
<OvenWerks> https://launchpad.net/~ubuntustudio-dev/+archive/ubuntu/autobuild
<studio-user629> Do I need it?
<OvenWerks> what has happened is that the controls back end has for some reason been started twice
<OvenWerks> you can ignore the 01 pulse and use things the way they are
<studio-user629> but there is no PulseOut
<OvenWerks> but it is not that hard to install the new version
<OvenWerks> I tend to download the deb file and just install that
<OvenWerks> https://launchpad.net/~ubuntustudio-dev/+archive/ubuntu/autobuild/+files/ubuntustudio-controls_1.7+git-0~201810210006~ubuntu18.10.1_all.deb
<studio-user629> one sec...
<rsholmes> ok, can you send that url again? I was on another computer
<OvenWerks> https://launchpad.net/~ubuntustudio-dev/+archive/ubuntu/autobuild/+files/ubuntustudio-controls_1.7+git-0~201810210006~ubuntu18.10.1_all.deb
<rsholmes> thanks
<rsholmes> Do I need to stop jack?
<OvenWerks> no, but after you install it yu will want restart controls and restart jack from that.
<studio-user629> I get the same thing, PulseIn and PulseOut-01 and PulseIn-01 and no PulseOut
<OvenWerks> you may have to logout and in.
<studio-user629> (sorry about talking from two different places...)
<studio-user629> well, after logout and login I now have PulseIn, PulseIn-01, PulseIn-02, and PulseOut-02
<OvenWerks> wow
<studio-user629> restart?
<OvenWerks> you can try but that shouldn't happen
<studio-user629> all right, after restart there is just PulseIn and PulseOut
<OvenWerks> good... ya that makes sense the update was to both the GUI part and the backend.
<OvenWerks> So the old version was still running
<OvenWerks> The new version looks for other instances and tells them to die
<studio-user629> OK, now Audacity is recording Hydrogen...
<OvenWerks> cool
<studio-user629> but does not play on speakers
<OvenWerks> where are the speakers connected to?
<studio-user629> Internal laptop speakers
<OvenWerks> so system playback 01 and 02
<studio-user629> In audicity prefs Playback is HDA Intel MID: HDMI 0 (hw:0,3)
<studio-user629> ah, changed to default and now working
<OvenWerks> so alsa, you want to change that to either pulse or jack
<OvenWerks> default will be pulse
<studio-user629> yep
<studio-user629> very low level on the recording though... set to 0dB in volume control
<OvenWerks> you can also in Audacity under Edit->preferences->Devices change Host from ALSA to Jack
<OvenWerks> with pulse you can increase level above 0 if you like
<studio-user629> only -24 on Audacity monitoring
<OvenWerks> Ya that low
<OvenWerks> is that from a mic?
<studio-user629> no, from Hydrogen
<OvenWerks> so hydrogen to pulse to audacity?
<OvenWerks> is it actually connected that way
<OvenWerks> (using patchage)
<studio-user629> Oh, I see... it was system input not Hydrogen
<studio-user629> using the audacity controls
<OvenWerks> so you were hearing hydrogen through the mic maybe
<studio-user629> I don't see audacity in Patchage, is it under some other name?
<OvenWerks> it will be pulse
<studio-user629> Hm, Hydrogen is connected to system and PortAudio
<OvenWerks> unless you use jack for it in which case it will be ya port audio
<studio-user629> OK, making sense now
<studio-user629> Thanks, starting to get somewhere
<OvenWerks> it is a bit more manual to do things, but many more things are possible
<studio-user629> ok, now how do I connect the external audio?
<OvenWerks> it should be there
<OvenWerks> just connect to that insead of system
<studio-user629> I see UA-4FX MIDI but not audio
<OvenWerks> hm
<OvenWerks> which audio ports do you see?
<studio-user629> in Patchage see PulseOut, system, Hydrogen, PulseIn, PortAudio
<OvenWerks> And your USB device is pulgged in I guess if you can see the MIDI part
<studio-user629> yes... previously when using qjackctl I was getting the audio
<OvenWerks> in controls in the audio setup tab are all four lines at the bottom checked?
<studio-user629> yes
<OvenWerks> The second line from the top should be No usb master
<studio-user629> yes
<OvenWerks> do you know if your device is one of those that does 44k1 only
<studio-user629> is that sample rate
<OvenWerks> maybe try 48000 then
<studio-user629> ah, that looks promising
<studio-user629> It connects to system
<OvenWerks> yes you can do it that way if you don't need the internal audio
<studio-user629> oh wait, that's in. out is connected to nothing
<OvenWerks> though you can also use Connect Other Audio interfaces to add the internal
<OvenWerks> can you run:
<OvenWerks> cd /tmp && wget http://jackaudio.org/downloads/adevices.sh && bash ./adevices.sh
<studio-user629> UA4FX in is connected to system playback, I don't hear anything and it doesn't get to Audacity
<studio-user629> OK I did that
<OvenWerks> and post the output to pastebin?
<studio-user629> how do I do that?
<OvenWerks> then put the url to the paste here so I can look
<OvenWerks> in the terminal under edit select all
<OvenWerks> then copy
<studio-user629> pastebin.com?
<OvenWerks> then goto pastebin.com
<OvenWerks> and paste it there
<OvenWerks> at the bottom there is a create new paste button
<studio-user629> pastebin.com/5Djkhj6M
<studio-user629> https://pastebin.com/5Djkhj6M
<OvenWerks> That shows both an input and an output for the UA4FX
<OvenWerks> it shows they are both connected to jack.
<OvenWerks> can you also paste the output of jack_lsp -c
<studio-user629> after switching to 48k they appear on Patchage but not getting to Audacity
<OvenWerks> Audacity is odd.
<OvenWerks> Audacity only shows its ports when recording
<OvenWerks> or playing back
<OvenWerks> so to record in audacity put it in pause then revord then make connections the unpause
<OvenWerks> *record
<studio-user629> I did that and still don't see it in Patchage
<studio-user629> wait...
<studio-user629> yeah, UA4FX-in is connected to PortAudio, not getting it at Audacity
<OvenWerks> it will show as portaudio
<OvenWerks> audacity has a different look than when I last used it
<studio-user629> Audacity shows system, PulseOut, and Hydrogen as inputs
<OvenWerks> Can you connect it with patchage?
<studio-user629> I just restarted audacity and now it shows UA4FX as an input
<studio-user629> and it records it
<OvenWerks> good
<studio-user629> OK... thanks!
<studio-user629> calling that enough progress for tonight I think
<OvenWerks> your welcome
<OvenWerks> I will go have supper now I think :)
<studio-user629> OK, thanks again
<M_aD> Same question as yesterday: i have a older Lenovo Thinkpad T410 and wonder if it's sufficient to use it for audio/music production
<OvenWerks> M_aD: I don't know what a T410 is in particular. "Audio production" is quite vaque too. There is a difference between recording 20 channels of audio in a live situation and using a computer as a live synth. almost anything should be able to handle the first, but setting up to use as a live synth takes more cpu and set up to get good low latency performance.
<M_aD> The T410 is a laptop: http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/c5FWKYzdgH/
<M_aD> i'd like to use it mostely to work with Ardour, use samples or create own samples to then create tracks combined with yoshimi or zynadd to creat pads and synth sequences
<studio-user967> Hi, What is presentation mode?
<OvenWerks> M_aD: Honestly I don't know. I do know that there are people on the Linux Audio Users mailing list that have used Thinkpads and may know more about how far they can go. Audio is not about speed so much as stability.
<M_aD> OvenWerks: ok, no problem. Thanks anyway. Maybe it's best to just install Ubuntu Studio and see how it goes.
<OvenWerks> if you have the laptop already ya, just try it. Even running live from a usb stick.
<OvenWerks> You can mount the drive as a place to save projects to.
<THEB1GMAN> hello?
<THEB1GMAN> Hey guys so I'm trying to install ubuntu studio as a dual boot setup on my windows machine, but it doesn't work. I make the bootable flash drive and get through the installation process until I get to the actual installation type screen where I choose how I'm gonna do my partitions, I select my free space I made (100+gb) and then click the plus icon to make a partition for ubuntu studio to install to but all that happens is
<THEB1GMAN> ons go grey
<THEB1GMAN> and it stalls forever
<THEB1GMAN> I think the problem may be that I already have 4 primary partitions on my hard drive
<THEB1GMAN> buy my hard drive is GPT not MBR (or whatever the old system was called)
<THEB1GMAN> So I can have as many partitions as I want up to 128
<THEB1GMAN> but for some reason the ubuntu installer still doesn't want to make a new partition, any ideas?
#ubuntustudio 2019-12-02
<studiobot> Friedemann was added by: Friedemann
<studiobot> skrappjaw was removed by: skrappjaw
<tony100> Hello i'm having the Bug reported here https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu/+bug/1813701 with the version 19.10 , so i installed v 18.04 and works fine.
<ubottu> Launchpad bug 1813701 in xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu (Ubuntu) "[amdgpu] Flickering graphics corruption (but none observed in kernels 4.18.10-4.18.12)" [Undecided,Fix released]
<loxar> hi. i have a problem because can't find an app downloading. can you help me?
<corshmock> Good evening, afternoon, morning to all you Ubuntu people. May the road rise to meet you, and may the wind be always at your back
#ubuntustudio 2019-12-04
<DirtyEar> Hi. I was looking for some extra effects for bass o guitar and I found the tubeAmp but I do not know how to intall it. Somebody could help me? this is the page I found https://github.com/olegkapitonov/Kapitonov-Plugins-Pack
<Johnny92> What up
<DirtyEar> Hi. I have UbuntuStudio 19.10 and I want to install "tubeAmp" that I found in this link https://github.com/olegkapitonov/Kapitonov-Plugins-Pack but I cannot. Could somebody help me with this?
<DirtyEar> I already do it. Just missing some libraries. Anyway thanks for this channel. Have fun!
<corshmock> Good evening kind folk. I hope life is beautiful for you all
<Eickmeyer> corshmock: Social chat is in #ubuntustudio-offtopic, this is support in here, but we appreciate the sentiment. :)
<AppAraat[m]> so, I've finally installed Ubuntu Studio on my X220T, and I specifically chose for the font package to be installed, but ironically both the fonts of my Chromium and FF look like absolute garbage: https://i.imgur.com/5FlFhlK.png
<AppAraat[m]> (that is Chromium btw)
<AppAraat[m]> I'm on i3 though, so perhaps that has something to do with it? Is there a package I'm missing?
<Eickmeyer> AppAraat[m]: Looks like your font hinting might be set oddly. Check that in the settings.
<Eickmeyer> AppAraat[m]: Aside from that, you might just be seeing a difference in the rendering that Linux does that you might not be used to.
<AppAraat[m]> Is that a setting of the desktop manager or is that settings of the browsers? I just copied both of my profiles from last install.
<AppAraat[m]> my last install was a KDE Neon 16.04 with i3 running on top of it.
<Eickmeyer> AppAraat[m]: Using Xfce?
<AppAraat[m]> no, i3wm
<Eickmeyer> AppAraat[m]: I know nothing about i3wm. We don't support that WM here.
<AppAraat[m]> ok, well in that case I'll try and see whether this is also the case if I'm logged into XFCE and report back.
<AppAraat[m]> Eickmeyer: still the same on XFCE I'm afraid.
<AppAraat[m]> Appearance -> Fonts: https://i.imgur.com/i9ZEZDo.png
<AppAraat[m]> This is with full hinting: https://i.imgur.com/3ChtQIO.png
<AppAraat[m]> ah wait, maybe hinting settings don't take effect until I logout/login again?
<OvenWerks> if they are environment variables that would be true.
<AppAraat[m]> I don't know if they are. Are they?
<OvenWerks> I don't know.
<OvenWerks> fonts are not something I know about.
<AppAraat[m]> well that makes two of us :p
<OvenWerks> basically, anything that is set at session start is passed to the application from from the application menu which gets it from session start itself.
<OvenWerks> many of the gui look kinds of things are imediate, so I would expect font changes to be as well... font hints I don't know though
#ubuntustudio 2019-12-05
<floatsmahgoat> hello all and please welcome me
<floatsmahgoat> https://tinyurl.com/v3f4m65
<floatsmahgoat> yalk are hinestly pretty boring
<floatsmahgoat> love you tho
<mehmet> selam arkadaÅlar
#ubuntustudio 2019-12-06
<AdianAntilles> Hey there. Is there a channel on the freenode server for questions about website hosting, website maintenance or suchalike? I am having trouble with a site.
<OvenWerks> AdianAntilles: That is kind of vague. Do you mean how to set up a website? do you mean you found a website with a problem? Is it a freenode website?
<AdianAntilles> No, its a website some friends are hosting. We're trying to set up https, but there is a ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR when some people visit that site. I kinda exprected an self-issued cert error, but this error is different and has only user-site workarounds, it seems.
<OvenWerks> AdianAntilles: weird There is on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IRC/ChannelList no channel listed for server.
<OvenWerks> There is #ubuntu-server
<OvenWerks> and #ubuntu-stack
<OvenWerks> Both of these assume you are running ubuntu-server or a server on a ubuntu base
<OvenWerks> because it will be based on the webservers and software that come with ubuntu
<AdianAntilles> Oh, okay, that isn't the case, afaik. I try to find another irc server then. Thanks for your help :-)
#ubuntustudio 2019-12-07
<goatia> Hi all, please can ayone help me setup my line in and mike in audio inputs, I am unable to utilize them
<jubo2> Are there mixers that will take analog and USB sources? If it had a good routing system it'd be nice
<jubo2> hi goatia. are you using an external sound card?
<goatia> no not as yet, im trying to get 3 inputs via my onboard
<goatia> the mike mono is working fine but the system is not detecting my line in sterio
<jubo2> what kind of connector your microphone has?
<jubo2> Line in does not provide power for mics afaik
<jubo2> line in expects an active source sending
<jubo2> goatia: so you got some kind of adapters for your mics?
<goatia> yes theat all good the mike will be pluged in directly and it works fine , but I want to plug my guitar to the line in which is not detected
<jubo2> goatia: as I told you line in does not provide any power for the thing plugged into it (iianm) and mics expect some power, some even 48V Phantom Power
<jubo2> so you can get 1 mic and 2-track with inbuilt ports, unless you on some advanced desktop soundcard thingy
<jubo2> goatia: You might be interested in buying a cheap and good sounding USB-mic
<jubo2> they show up in jack audio patchbay like "plop" enabling you to extend your N-tracking one-by-one
<goatia> I do understand, I have a floor pod effects unit that will be pluged into the line in, I then wnt to patch that to sooper Looper and audio out
<jubo2> doesn't sound feasible
<jubo2> or maybe it is if your floor pod effects unit provides power and your desired sound
<goatia> I can do this via the mike input and it works but I am limited to only that port, as the board has a mike input and a line input, I want to utilize both, but only the mike inputs are available and not the line.
<jubo2> You know that ok external sound cards start from under $50 ?
<jubo2> And that USB condenser mics start from around $35 or thereabouts ?
<jubo2> goatia: 4-track audio interfaces start from 100â¬
<goatia> Ys I know, I am just confused as why the line inputs do not show. I have phantum power so that is not the problem. I have 2 devices that I want to connect...a gutar and a mike.The mike input is mono, so that means I can only either use the mike or the guitar! If I can get the line in to work, that is stereo 2 chanels Left and right, I can then use the left for the mike and the right for the guitar and patch with Jack
<jubo2> goatia: your audio card provides power?
<jubo2> goatia: could you please answer the question about the adapters being utilized in your setup
<jubo2> goatia: line-in does not provide power, so you are using some kind of device. Unless you have an external mixer or some gizmo that takes the mono plugs and sends out stereo that will not work
<goatia> sorry there are no exernal adapters, im using the onboard interface
<jubo2> what kind of plugs does it have?
<jubo2> you got 3.5mm or 6.3mm ?
<jubo2> if it is 2 x 3.5mm plugs, you gonna need a powered device between your mic and your guitar and the computer
<goatia> Its the standard, mini jack plug sockets, pink, green and blue. They are situated on the motherboard of the pc. Pink is the Mike in mono, Blue is the line in stereo, and green is the line out stereo. when I open Jack or patchbay I only have the mike input to patch, the line input does not show therefore I cannot route the inpu
<jubo2> I dunno about GNOME sound settings. You want to look at them, you can switch some simplex-duplex thingy there, at least on Kubuntu (with Ubuntu Studio suite installed) one can.
<jubo2> and line in should be in patchbay as 'system' with 'capture_1' and 'capture_2'
<jubo2> and you gotta have some powered device, you did speak of some such but you ain't confirming if it powers your mic and guitar
<jubo2> In Ubuntu Studio on Kubuntu I need to shut Jack down to access and change the sound card configuration. Another thing is that your soundcard sounds so old config that perhaps it just does not have enough A/D to do 3 streams
<goatia> Thats correct I do see it as capture 1 and capture 2 but both cap 1 and 2 are for the mike input the pink slot not the blue, if it was the blue socket all would be fine...but the problem is that cap 1 and 2 are not seperate, they both are from the mono source, so 1 mike in the pink socket is on cap 1 and 2, its mono only 1 chanel
<jubo2> go to audio settings and disable the mono in and start Jack again would be my guess
<jubo2> goatia: have you looked at how your in- and outputs are in alsamixer? you can start it in a shell with 'alsamixer'
<goatia> ok thanks, let me try that....thanks a lot jubo2
<DirtyEar> Hi. I have a mixer Behringer XR18. The mixer has an app to work with it in Linux, but the app does not work. I found an older versionof the app and it works, but I want to try the last one. Any idea of what is missing in my PC?
<DirtyEar> When I had Ubuntu 18 the app worked very well but in Ubuntu 19.10 does not work and I found some people with the same problem but in Ubuntu 18. I think is some library I have to install but I do not know wich one. This is a forum with the same problem but in Ubutu 18. If somebody may help me I will really appreciate it
<DirtyEar> https://community.musictribe.com/t5/Recording/X-AIR-Edit-starts-and-runs-on-Linux-Ubuntu-18-04-but-doesn-t/td-p/269529
#ubuntustudio 2019-12-08
<ki4ufa> Hello all
<jubo2> Hi ki4ufa
<ki4ufa> well jubo2, I was just beginning to accept the fact that I was all alone in here
<jubo2> nah. there are people. this channel is a bit special because it is not only a support channel, but also for creative talk. In a support-only channel no irc channel traffic is good
<jubo2> coz if there is a bunch of traffic in a support channel it means the software got bugs ... or more likely brokenness caused by inadept action on part of someone who just installed the software, isntead of the people who write it
<ki4ufa> ahh...thanks for the info. This is actually the first time I've really sat down and explored the whole IRC world. Literally minutes ago finished downloading a client and getting set-up. And yes,
<ki4ufa> I agree, most issues are user created
<ki4ufa> I'm dealing with one right now in fact...LOL
<jubo2> ki4ufa: the first ever irc client and irc server were written by Mr. Jaakko Oikarinen in Oulu, Finland in 1989
<jubo2> ki4ufa: I remember in 1994 I got on a BBS that was connected to the Internets
<ki4ufa> That could come in handy next trivia night. I feel at home in this client...It's more "terminal" like. LOL
<jubo2> took me for ages to figure out to write 'irc' and press enter. Then it took me even longer to figure out to write /list or /help or /join #channelname, but once I got those and joined a channel.
<jubo2> So I find myself talking with a Chinese bloke in China about what's the time and what's the weather (those were common things to exchange on irc, at least where I was)
<jubo2> Then I tell people around me that there's this thing called Internet and it gonna be huge. Local Xian youth worker basically communicated that I'm a nerd for saying "This Internet thing is gonna change things vastly"
<ki4ufa> so much easier than point and click. The world has gone and gotten pampered...too lazy to type now. I somewhat remember the bulliten boards back in the early days...my teens and early twentys is when digital exploded. I regret today that I didn't keep the passion I had as a child when Daddy put a Commodore 64 on my desk. I was instantly addicted. Had I stayed with it, who knows what I would be doing today.
<jubo2> I had a very rare Commodor C64 .. the luggable version with inbuilt disk drive (that needed a hit on the right hand side of the machine sometimes) and awwwwwesome 7" CRT color display and a way to instert program moduls
<ki4ufa> Man my program module was in the form of a cassette tape. Didn't even know internal storage existed then.
<jubo2> My dad bought it 2nd hand for me. Came with the original Elite, which was awesome as it was the 1st 3D computer graphics game for home computers afaik
<jubo2> ki4ufa: It had 5.25" floppy drive, not a hard drive
<jubo2> For disk drives there were turboloaders, and they worked. Load the game in a tiny fraction of a time than the normal loader took
<jubo2> anyways, great games but everyone pirated them instead of paying and then people moved on to Amiga 500 and do the same thing
<jubo2> ki4ufa: If I run into money I could be interested in buying a C64 reimplementation, preferably with thousands of games. Perhaps talking about memories of old computers not point of this channel
<ki4ufa> ahh...I misread that. I can still remember how to program simple stuff in BASIC. Who knew programming would turn into something so complex compared to BASIC.Again, I wish I had continued down the digital path at that age. I've always somewhat kept up with the basics throughout the years, but in the last two years I've gotten back into sitting in front of a monitor ( or three ) pretty much most all the time.
<jubo2> 10 GOTO 20
<jubo2> 20 GOTO 10
<ki4ufa> constant loop. My friend I gotta go give my first born some help with a task, I look forward to speaking with you again soon.
<jubo2> Ok, take care, talk again
| {
"pile_set_name": "Ubuntu IRC"
} | 0.000013 |
Teacher stress, depression and suicide
It concerns me that so many teachers now talk of stress, depression, and the need to get out of the profession for their health. It is not light-hearted when teachers talk of being unhappy then add in “… thank goodness for the kids.” Sometimes the children are all that are keeping a teacher going.
But why are teachers so stressed?
Often the stress is blamed on the constant changes, not because of the changes themselves but because there is little faith the changes are well thought out or improve student achievement and so it feels like a lot of extra work for no good reason, often at the expense of time to do other work that the teacher feels is more valuable.
People will tolerate a lot when they can see value in it – conversely, they are weighed down by what feels valueless.
There is also a feeling that teachers have no say in the direction that education is taking, and little to no control of their own profession. When I asked a group of teachers whether they would send in submissions against the Education Amendment Bill (2), they asked what’s the point, citing that thousands of submissions against charter schools were simply ignored.
Teachers feel helpless – done to rather than part of.
To what degree is teacher health suffering?
Well that’s just it – I’m not sure that anyone is researching this. If there are any studies under way looking at stress and depression in relation to New Zealand teachers, please do let me know. You might wonder why we need to research the problem? And what we might want to ask?
What I think we need to ask is this:
– are teachers happy in their jobs?
– do teachers feel supported and well looked after?
– are they considering leaving the profession due to stress/ill health?
– has the rate and direction of education reforms in NZ over the past few years had an impact on teacher health?
– Do you feel there is more of a problem now than five or ten years ago?
Something that concerns me very much is that in the UK that teacher suicide rates are now around 40% higher than for ‘all occupations’. Is it the same here in Aotearoa? Despite being a very difficult subject, it is something we have to confront. NZ already has a serious problem with high depression and suicide rates, and no-one wants to see that get worse.
Another thing to be aware of is that there is anecdotal evidence that when a teacher in England is looking for critical illness insurance cover it is only available if mental conditions and stress-related illness are excluded. Do teachers in NZ have similar problems? I know of at least one teacher who is no longer covered for mental health since having time off due to stress – is that widespread?
It really is something we need to keep an eye on. The last thing we need is a depressed profession – just imagine the impact that would have on individual lives and on the quality of education. It would be a lose/lose situation that no-one would want to see happen
Getting Help
If you feel stressed, do not leave it until it gets worse. If you are on edge, not sleeping, feeling edgy or tearful, dreading work, and so on, then you owe it to yourself to get support and help immediately. Please do not feel you have to plod on alone – you don’t. Talk to people close to you, if you can, discuss the problems with a supportive manager, speak with your doctor, and make use of support services that are available (below).
If you recognise someone is stressed, please reach out to them and offer support and help. They may just need an ear. You could point them to the help listed below. Either way, they will welcome your kind support and it makes all the difference to know that people understand and care.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP):
Free counselling is available for most NZ teachers. The program gives staff access to three sessions of free confidential counselling and advice each year that is either face-to-face, via telephone, or online chat. EAP registered practitioners can help with relationship breakdowns, alcohol and drug issues, workplace bullying, family issues, depression, financial stress and personal trauma. Check whether your school is subscribed to the EAP as part of their Health and Safety strategy. You can book online.
Other help:
Below is a list of other New Zealand services that offer support, information and help. All services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week unless otherwise specified.
14 thoughts on “Teacher stress, depression and suicide”
We don’t need more management jobs!!! We need people who are working with our children who need some one-one approach, besides their normal time in the classroom. Those are the children the teachers worry about. Those are the children we can reach if we have people who can take some time out with them. Children need to be listened to, so we can meet their needs and then we can reach their potential.(and lift standards) NOT WITH MANAGEMENT JOBS!!
We need field workers to take some of the load of the teachers!!
I think one of the biggest components of teacher stress is time – or rather, lack of time. We are expected to fit so much into our non-contact time.
But when certain kinds of management choose to fill up that time with meetings on top of all the other meetings, planning, sorting, making, marking, filing, putting away, collecting…. teachers need to do… well, then time becomes a problem.
We then find the planning and the making and the marking gets pushed into the time that should be spent on family and friends and exercise/leisure activities and housework and those other jobs.
Everything gets compressed… relationships suffer, the house looks a bombsite, health suffers… we tend to prioritise our class and our work-life balance tips…. and stress compounds.
We’re only human. Let us be humans please.
I totally agree, it has cost me the relationship between me and my son. Why? Because when he was 3 years old, I was out doing teacher practicums and being made to stay behind after hours to ‘experience’ teacher responsibilities. I knew right then and then that this was what it was going to be like, a full on, MORE THAN FULL TIME job. But I wanted to help children learn, YOUR children people, we as teachers actually care about them. BUT there is a dark side….. it robbed me of my life from my son. As a solo mother with a son… my so called dedication to my job robbed me from spending time with my son to do homework together, to watch a movie together, to go camping together….. slowly my job took over my life without me knowing. Stupid fucking management fooled me into thinking I was going to take this role on, or get that promotion…. I gave up on all that… but still struggle trying to bring my relationship back with my son. He’s 11 now and he’s never really had a relationship with me like most kids do with their mothers…. his has always been working or stressing out on covering the bills.
In 2011, an Illinois teacher named Mary Eve Thorson stood in front of a moving semi-truck an ended her like on Thanksgiving Day. I am the director/producer of the documentary, DYING TO TEACH: The Killing of Mary Eve Thorson, “Educators Who Bully”. The film was requested by Save Our Schools for its conference in Washington, D.C. in August of 2012. I have received countless letters from teachers across the country requesting copies of the film. I decided to place it on Vimeo for any interested teachers, future teachers, and parents. I am providing the link. There is no cost involved to watch or download the film. Please pass it along. Thank you.
Oh Myra, that is a devastating thing to hear. And sadly, Mary Thorson is not the only one. This is devastating. When your film is uploaded, do let me know and I will share it with the SOSNZ readership. Kia kaha, Dianne
Good morning Dianne,
I have posted the link to the documentary on your facebook page; I am doing the same here. Mary died so that teachers and children could be protected. She wanted this issue to reach the public. It amazes me that teachers are continuing to commit suicide. I’m certain it’s because this matter still isn’t given the attention that it warrants. How sad when we are more concerned with stars and who they choose to keep company with, than what’s happening to teachers in front of our children. It’s shameful!
The documentary link:
Introduction of film and topic in Washington, D.C. at Save Our Schools conference: | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} | 0.000118 |
Q:
Algorithm for covering population with minimum tags
My data is of people and tags, with a many-to-many relationship.
I need an algorithm that will find a minimal set of tags such that the union of the groups of people tagged with each tag in the solution will cover the entire population.
Any ideas?
A:
This is an NP-hard problem. It will take a LOT of processing to make sure that you do, in fact, have the absolute minimum number of tags required.
The pretty quick and easy solution that I would use is to
while there are users left in the pool:
find the tag that represents the most users
add that tag to the list
remove all the users that that tag represents from the pool
If you want, you can then loop through and make sure there aren't any
unnecessary tags //but that probably won't help much
There are, of course, a number of ways that tags could be laid out such that that's not the best way and won't find an optimal solution. However, I'm pretty sure it should get pretty close.
| {
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
} | 0 |
SAN SALVADOR (AFP) - An official with El Salvador's leading political opposition was angry at US Vice President Dick Cheney for comparing his country's civil war in the 1980s to the current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In his debate late Tuesday with Democratic contender John Edwards in Cleveland, Ohio, Cheney reacted to charges by his rival that violent insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan were making democratization difficult in those countries.
"Twenty years ago we had a similar situation in El Salvador," said Cheney. "We had -- guerrilla insurgency controlled roughly a third of the country, 75,000 people dead, and we held free elections. I was there as an observer on behalf of the Congress."
El Salvador's civil war was fought throughout the 1980s, and ended when the US-backed government reached a peace agreement with leftist rebels that was mediated by the United Nations.
The agreement, signed in January 1992, led to democratic reforms, put the military under civilian command, and got rebels with the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) to disarm and become a political party.
According to Cheney, "the terrorists would come in and shoot up polling places; as soon as they left, the voters would come back and get in line and would not be denied the right to vote.
"And today El Salvador is a whale of a lot better because we held free elections," he said.
But for the FMLN, there is "no relationship" between what Cheney said and the situation in El Salvador, FMLN spokesman Eugenio Chicas told AFP.
El Salvador's civil war was rooted in social injustice, while the war in Iraq and Afghanistan are part of a preventive conflict unleashed by the United States, Chicas said.
"Politically and militarily they are two different contexts: in the case of Iraq the struggle is resistance against US occupation, which installed a government of their liking," said Chicas.
"And in the case of Afghanistan, the United States wants to decide its electoral future" while an armed resistance also fights the occupation, he added.
Salvadoran leftists were thugs who got violent because they weren't in charge. Just like the Saddamites and other Jihadist in Iraq. And like the DNC and their union thugs are getting with shooting at, storming into or just stealing computers at RNC offices.
7
posted on 10/06/2004 1:48:53 PM PDT
by KarlInOhio
(If they couldn't stand up to ...Howard Dean..., how can we expect them to stand up to Al Queda?)
I guess that attacks upon US soil that kill 3,000 citizens and guests don't count as social injustice. I guess sponsoring terrorists that have killed US citizens and allies doesn't count as social injustice.
El Salvador's civil war was rooted in social injustice,... blah, blah, blah
We need the School of the Americas(I know it has a different name now) to be opened up again and run 80's style.
The poor people of Central America are the ones that have to pay for the half-assed remedies of U.N. supervised deals. The same leftists are now in political power and will slowly destroy these countries.
At least when they were armed thugs in the jungle you could shoot them dead, now they rug elections and you can never get rid of them.
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} | 0.000286 |
An integrative approach to the proteolytic control of the cell-mediated cytotoxicity.
The possible role of intracellular proteases in the control of the cell-mediated cytotoxicity of NK or CTL type, as components of the sequential molecular events leading to the target cell lysis, is emphasized by an integrative structural and functional approach. Starting from the own cytochemical researches and based on recent data, the effector cell proteases are analysed concerning their cellular and ultrastructural compartmentalization and their involvement in the sequential stages of the cytotoxic cycle. Membranous, granular, lysosomal and cytosolic compartments of the proteolytic activity are differentially elicited to interfere in the stimulus-secretion pattern of the cytotoxic function. Serine proteases (trypsin and chymotrypsin-like) and thiol proteases (calpain, cathepsins B and L) are specifically involved in the receptor-mediated signal transduction by the phosphatidyl inositol pathway, in the programming of the secretory machinery, in the exocytosis of the cytotoxic factors and in the final lytic phase. An integrative model of the cell-mediated cytotoxicity is proposed including the protease compartments of the effector cell and their specific involvement in the triggering, the modulation and the control of the cellular and molecular events, as main components of the informational networks of the cytotoxic cells. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} | 0 |
Q:
How to preload data from Core Data in a NSPersistentDocument?
I have a NSPersistentDocument with a given Core Data model, etc.
I have a file, created by this document, let's say it its preload.xml. It "contains" several NSManagedObjects.
I would like to load these objects in all my new documents, so that when I create a new document, the new document automatically "has" the objects "living" in preload.xml. So far, here is what I did :
I copied preload.xml in my project.
In the initWithType:error: method (the method called when a new document is created), have the following code :
NSURL *preloadURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:[[NSBundle mainBundle]
pathForResource:@"preload"
ofType:@"xml"]];
NSError* err = nil;
[self readFromURL:preloadURL
ofType:@"xml"
error:&err] ;
This doesn't work because, when I try afterwards to save my document to, let's say myNewDoc.xml, this file is empty but all my new data is saved to preload.xml.
I am wondering if I need to create a new store or contextor storeCoordinator or something else. I never dealt with such objects since I always used NSPersistentDocument.
A:
Get the saved objects :
NSPersistentStoreCoordinator * newPersStoreCoord ;
newPersStoreCoord = [[NSPersistentStoreCoordinator alloc] initWithManagedObjectModel:theDoc.managedObjectModel] ;
NSString * path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"preload"
ofType:@"xml"];
NSURL *preloadURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:path];
[newPersStoreCoord addPersistentStoreWithType:NSBinaryStoreType
configuration:nil
URL:preloadURL
options:nil
error:NULL] ;
NSManagedObjectContext * auxMOC = [[NSManagedObjectContext alloc] init] ;
[auxMOC setPersistentStoreCoordinator:newPersStoreCoord] ;
copy them to your "living" MOC
[self loadPreloadedDataFromTheMOC:auxMOC
toTheMOC:theDoc.managedObjectContext
forTheDoc:theDoc] ;
with the help of cloning techniques
- (NSManagedObject *)cloneInContext:(NSManagedObjectContext *)context
withCopiedCache:(NSMutableDictionary *)alreadyCopied
exludeEntities:(NSArray *)namesOfEntitiesToExclude
excludeAttributes:(NSArray *)namesOfAttributesToExclude
{
NSString *entityName = [[self entity] name];
if ([namesOfEntitiesToExclude containsObject:entityName])
{
return nil;
}
NSManagedObject *cloned = [alreadyCopied objectForKey:[self objectID]];
if (cloned != nil)
{
return cloned;
}
//create new object in data store
cloned = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:entityName
inManagedObjectContext:context];
[alreadyCopied setObject:cloned
forKey:[self objectID]];
//loop through all attributes and assign then to the clone
NSDictionary *attributes = [[NSEntityDescription entityForName:entityName
inManagedObjectContext:context] attributesByName];
for (NSString *attr in attributes)
{
if (![namesOfAttributesToExclude containsObject:attr])
{
[cloned setValue:[self valueForKey:attr] forKey:attr];
}
}
//Loop through all relationships, and clone them.
NSDictionary *relationships = [[NSEntityDescription entityForName:entityName
inManagedObjectContext:context] relationshipsByName];
for (NSString *relName in [relationships allKeys])
{
NSRelationshipDescription *rel = [relationships objectForKey:relName];
NSString *keyName = rel.name;
if ([rel isToMany])
{
id sourceSet ;
id clonedSet ;
/*
On gère selon que la relation est ordonnée ou non
*/
if (![rel isOrdered])
{
//get a set of all objects in the relationship
sourceSet = [self mutableSetValueForKey:keyName];
clonedSet = [cloned mutableSetValueForKey:keyName];
}
else
{
sourceSet = [self mutableOrderedSetValueForKey:keyName];
clonedSet = [cloned mutableOrderedSetValueForKey:keyName];
}
NSEnumerator *e = [sourceSet objectEnumerator];
NSManagedObject *relatedObject;
while (relatedObject = [e nextObject])
{
//Clone it, and add clone to set
NSManagedObject *clonedRelatedObject = [relatedObject cloneInContext:context
withCopiedCache:alreadyCopied
exludeEntities:namesOfEntitiesToExclude
excludeAttributes:namesOfAttributesToExclude];
if (clonedRelatedObject)
{
[clonedSet addObject:clonedRelatedObject];
}
}
}
else
{
NSManagedObject *relatedObject = [self valueForKey:keyName];
if (relatedObject != nil)
{
NSManagedObject *clonedRelatedObject = [relatedObject cloneInContext:context
withCopiedCache:alreadyCopied
exludeEntities:namesOfEntitiesToExclude
excludeAttributes:namesOfAttributesToExclude];
if (clonedRelatedObject)
{
[cloned setValue:clonedRelatedObject forKey:keyName];
}
}
}
}
return cloned;
}
| {
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
} | 0 |
Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan barrier
The Uzbekistan–Kyrgyzstan barrier is a border barrier built by Uzbekistan along its border with Kyrgyzstan to prevent terrorist infiltration. Construction began in 1999 after bomb attacks in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent were blamed on Islamic terrorists originating from Kyrgyzstan. The fence, unilaterally erected in disputed territory has caused economic hardships in the poor agricultural areas of the Ferghana Valley and has separated many families in this traditionally integrated border region.
History
The border dispute between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan centers on Uzbekistan's unilateral demarcation of the border and its alleged seizure of large tracts of Kyrgyz agricultural land which had been lent to Uzbekistan for temporary usage during the Soviet period but never returned.
The 1999 Tashkent bombing in February 1999 which were blamed on foreign Islamic militants and the subsequent incursion of the Kyrgyz region of Batken by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who were based in Tajikistan and opposed to Uzbek President Islam Karimov, led to Uzbekistan sealing its border and commencement constructing a barbed wire fence around long sections of its border with Kyrgyzstan in the Ferghana Valley.
Uzbekistan's efforts in 1999 and 2000 to secure its previously porous boundaries the Ferghana Valley have shown that any neat division of territory on the basis of ethnic mix or economic activity is almost impossible, and the complicated history of integrated use of border land makes it hard to determine ownership. However, neither the land ownership considerations or the daily difficulties being experienced by ordinary inhabitants of the valley discouraged the Uzbek state from demarcating and militarizing its border as quickly as possible in order to prevent possible attacks.
In June 2004 the foreign ministry of Kyrgyzstan protested over Uzbekistan's attempt to build a border fence in the Tuya-Moyun area in southern Osh, near the Kerkidon reservoir in Kyrgyzstan, adjacent to Uzbekistan's eastern Fergana Region. It said the fence would have cut into southern Kyrgyzstan territory by 60m in violation of the state border which has been delineated by the Kyrgyz-Uzbek intergovernmental commission on delineating the Kyrgyz-Uzbek state borders.
It was later reported that Uzbekistan had temporarily stopped erecting the fence. The Kyrgyz Republic's Foreign Ministry subsequently sent a memorandum to the Uzbek Foreign Ministry on May 28, 2004. It expressed Kyrgyzstan's position that "such unilateral moves by Uzbekistan run counter to the norms of international law and do not comply with the provisions of the Eternal Friendship Treaty signed by the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Uzbekistan on December 24, 1996".
Effects and consequences
Economic consequences
Occurrences, such as the removal of a 2-meter section of the fence on the road between the southern Kyrgyz regional capital of Osh and the small provincial town of Aravan in January 2000, highlighted the frustration experienced by the local population straddling the border region, after it turned out that it was local Uzbekistani citizens who cut through the border fence to smuggle goods to sell in Kyrgyzstan.
On May 14, 2005, a day after the Andijan massacre, Uzbek locals seized control of Qorasuv, a town on the border with Kyrgyzstan, driving away the government officials. Angry crowds set alight government buildings and attacked the mayor. As thousands tried to flee the country and escape the political unrest, two bridges across the border were rebuilt in an effort to revive trade with Kyrgyzstan.
Disputed natural resources
The region has always been short of water. Rivers and streams that have traditionally irrigated the lands snake down the valley, now passing into different countries as many as 20 times. The new borders have set community against community in their attempt to access the water, resulting in violent clashes.
Reduced freedoms
Transport links have been seriously impeded in the Ferghana Valley by the barrier. The routes from Osh to almost all other towns in the south of Kyrgyzstan pass at least once through newly established or recently strengthened Uzbek checkpoints. Buses can be taken only to the border, where they stop and turn back, leaving passengers to walk through customs and take another bus to the next checkpoint. Journey times to some outlying mountainous regions have increased threefold, and costs have been pushed up not only by the need for more buses but also by bribes to be paid at checkpoints. Such costs hit hard in an area of rural poverty.
Inter-communal strife
Southern Kyrgyzstan is home to a sizeable Uzbek minority. In 1990, at the start of the barriers construction, tensions in the region between the Uzbeks and the Kyrgyz majority flared into bitter inter-communal violence leaving 170 people dead. The subsequent border disputes between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in 1999 added to the tensions.
Opinions on the barrier
Kyrgyz opinions
Political clash over violation of Kyrgyz territory
In 1999, the "border issue" became a key element in political battles between the Kyrgyz government and the nationalist opposition. Being the year leading up to parliamentary and presidential elections, the government avoided almost all mention of the dispute, emphasizing instead President Askar Akayev's "Silk Road diplomacy" of regional co-operation, which, it said, would solve all border problems in the long term by re-opening the ancient trade routes to Europe and China. The opposition dismissed these as empty words, and pointed to the government's perceived failure to prevent Uzbekistan from advancing border posts into Kyrgyz territory as indicative of the presidential administration's weakness.
See also
Uzbek-Afghanistan barrier
References and footnotes
Category:Minefields
Category:Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan border
Category:Border barriers | {
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
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As a test engineer you work in the test department of the R&D organization. Your main interfaces are the R&D ...
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As a test engineer you work in the test department of the R&D organization. Your main interfaces are the R&D ... | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} | 0 |
Mailbag
Claim: Rosemont Mine Opposition is NIMBYism, Could Lead to More Harm
Tim Vanderpool wrote an impassioned story ("Rosemont Revision," Jan. 4) about the demise of the Santa Rita Mountains from the acquisition and proposed mining by Augusta Resource Corp. I realize that, living in Texas, I do not have your same passion over saving the much-beloved scenery and halting development so that I could enjoy things "the way they were" for years to come. I do get saddened locally when old farmland full of trees and life gets bulldozed to make way for a housing development and new roads. I also spent my younger years in Colorado, where the mountains were regularly mined. I've seen the potential effects.
What I am hearing from the article that concerns me is the attitude of NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard) that seems so prevalent today. Copper is widely used in applications ranging from household plumbing and electric wires to components of hybrid-technology batteries for cars. If it is not obtained domestically, it will be obtained from foreign sources. If one is truly concerned about environmental damage caused by mining, then one should be more concerned by the Augusta mine not being developed. Because the demand for copper will not cease simply because Rosemont is not developed, it will be supplied largely from unstable Third World countries with environmental records that do not come close to the regulations that we apply here in the United States. If you wish to do the least harm to the environment, mine here, where companies are held accountable for their actions, not there, where regulations can be bypassed by buying off a local official or two.
Even as the Colorado mountains have been mined for years, they still are full of environmental diversity and ecological exuberance. They still awe me with their beauty. Naturally, if I had my preferences, I would prefer the beautiful, untouched, wide-open spaces and natural beauty that the pioneers enjoyed. But that is unrealistic. Your efforts would be better spent by working with the mining company to have some of your larger concerns addressed (a clean water table is indeed important), but not by opposing the mine outright. That's backward thinking.
J. Scott Brown
Did County Err When It Didn't Buy Rosemont?
I want to commend you for taking such a bold stance on this issue. It is nice to know that Wick has not completely "de-cajoned" you.
Let me play devil's advocate. Yoram Levy bought a piece of property for $4.8 million or something in that neighborhood. He offered it to the county for $11.5 million. The county did not buy it, so he sold it to Augusta for $20.8 million.
Who made the mistake here? Should the county have known the property could be bought for the original selling price? If they did, then why didn't they buy it? If not, then shouldn't they be thanking Yoram for giving them a chance to buy the property a second time at half its current value?
What about the folks who sold it to Yoram? Couldn't they have put deed restrictions on the future use of the land that would have kept it in its present pristine condition? If they did, don't you think that anybody interested in making a profit would not have bought it?
I hope the mining project or any other major development in that area never happen. Could this whole thing have been avoided?
Richard Shapiro
'Weekly' Hearkened Back to Old Newspapers, Performed a Service
What a wonderful service the Weekly has done for our community with its reporting on the Rosemont mine. You have done the research and investigation necessary to present the facts about this great injustice to your readers.
Your work has inspired and energized all of us who want to do the right thing for our community. Whether we are successful or not, everyone recognizes the importance of your contribution. There was a time when all newspapers did work like this. It was a different time.
John Kromko
Cox's E-mail Propaganda Is Not Appreciated
I, too, was surprised to see an e-mail from Cox Communications in my paid-for Cox e-mail account ("Spamalot," The Skinny, Jan. 4). Cox is giving the impression that the bad-old government is trying to take something good away from the people. Just what we need--more junk TV with 40-plus minutes of commercials per hour.
I promptly replied for them to stop spamming my Cox e-mail account with their personal-agenda e-mails. Shame on you, Cox; you should know better.
Michael Krueger
Claim: Banning Smoking in Bars Will Lead to... Prostitution?!?
It was quite interesting reading the response to your article ("Butt Battle," Currents, Oct. 26) on the smoking bans. What I read showed me how little people believe in personal freedoms. An establishment owner should have the right to cater to a clientele of his or her choosing, and to offer an atmosphere for the clients. The smoking bans essentially remove that right and empower a larger group to force their morals and beliefs on another, even if it destroys that person's livelihood.
Quite interesting, isn't it? I see this as truly self-centered activity. When will it be perfume?
Another fact is that when the Tempe area enforced a smoking ban, 150-200 bars went out of business. Everyone said the smokers were just jumping municipality lines to other establishments. Now they say that won't happen, as we have a level playing field statewide! Think again. The bans do not affect clubs and lodges. The Indian nations are also not affected.
There is the potential in California and New York City that more than 2,500 bars may close statewide due to the bans, and around 30,000 employees will be left out in the cold. Interestingly, about 90 percent of service providers are female. This will swamp the job market and force some women into--or back into--untenable situations. Save them from smoke by putting them on the street--good choice there!
The ramifications reach even further than what I have touched on here, as there is now a quiet movement afoot to follow up with a proposition that will place a 25- to 75-cent duty on all alcohol served in an establishment of any type. Where will it stop?
Glynn A. Burkhardt
Next Year, Kick Bad Radio Out of Town!
I heard recently about an incident wherein some guy risked his life to help another who had fallen on the subway tracks with a train oncoming in New York. The hero was interviewed and turned out to be less than articulate. My sources knew of this by listening to the Opie and Anthony show and thought it was hilarious that the two were making fun of the guy's intelligence.
I have listened to Opie and Anthony enough to know that it is stupid "shock radio" crap, but this latest thing really chaps my butt. It's amazing to think that obnoxious idiots can have a syndicated show and a national following simply by virtue of being obnoxious idiots.
I regret that Opie and Anthony were not recently asked to get out of town (Dec. 24). | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} | 0.000288 |
sport, brumbies
Wallabies captain Michael Hooper says the team will take a stand for marriage equality, joining the Football Federation, Cricket Australia and the NRL to support the 'yes' campaign. The ARU unveiled a rainbow marriage equality logo on social media on Tuesday as a mark of the organisation's support as Australia braces for a marriage law postal survey. It comes two years after former Wallabies captains David Pocock and Stephen Moore took an on-field stance against homophobia when a slur was used in a game between the ACT Brumbies and NSW Waratahs. Pocock and Moore's decision to speak up sparked debate about sport's role in supporting and fighting against major issues in society, but the ARU was swift in issuing a $20,000 fine to Waratahs forward Jacques Potgieter. Now the ARU and the entire Wallabies squad are throwing their weight behind what looms as a pivotal moment in Australian history. "For a lot of guys, they're about footy and our job is rugby, but sport has ability to cross boundaries," Hooper said in Canberra. "We're all very supported of the 'yes' campaign and this is the approach we've taken. I know guys at the Waratahs have done work with the Sydney Convicts [Australia's first gay rugby club]. "If that helps influence people, then fantastic. We're fully supportive of that and anything we can do." FFA chief executive David Gallop confirmed the sport's long-running support for same-sex couples to marry on Tuesday and in doing so, the country's biggest participation sport joined rugby league, rugby union and cricket in united support.. "FFA is a founding member of Pride in Sport and supports its charter including marriage equality," an FFA spokesperson said. "Everyone is welcome to be a part of the football community, regardless of their age, gender, sexual preference, ability or beliefs. "David Gallop, CEO of FFA, was one of the first CEOs in the country to publicly support same-sex marriage over two years ago." Australia's football governing organisations - AFL, NRL, ARU and FFA - have history supporting the cause, supporting a float at the 2015 Mardi Gras. Players showed their intolerance for homophobia during the last A-League and W-League season, supporting the 'rainbow laces' campaign. Sydney FC players also carried a rainbow flag to the pitch during a match timed alongside Mardi Gras in March as part of their inclusivity campaign. Matildas and Canberra United striker Michelle Heyman was named sports personality of the year at the inaugural Australian LGBTI awards in March. Her national team coach, Alen Stajcic, said he saw the round-ball code as a welcoming sport - irrespective of background or belief. "Football has been the leader in Australia in giving people equality in all aspects of life," he told AAP. "Whether it's sexuality or race or any different groups that we have in the country. "Football has always been a leader in that space. I see it being a leader in this space in the future as well." The postal survey, which asks Australians whether they support or oppose same- sex couples marrying, begins today. Responses will be collated in November. - with AAP
https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/2dcde5ee-9eb3-4503-8cc1-f86e878d541e/r0_166_1999_1295_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg | {
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Q:
What is the best way to select the first two records of each group by a "SELECT" command?
For instance I have the following table:
id group data
1 1 aaa
2 1 aaa
3 2 aaa
4 2 aaa
5 2 aaa
6 3 aaa
7 3 aaa
8 3 aaa
What is the best way to select the first two records of each group by a "SELECT" command?
If there is no good way to do so, what routine do you suggest?(in PHP)
(model outcome)
1 1 aaa
2 1 aaa
3 2 aaa
4 2 aaa
6 3 aaa
7 3 aaa
I knew that cross-joining by a.id >= b.id in a sub-query can be working but I am looking for a more scalable solution that can be applied on a table with millions of records. Thanks
A:
select a.*
from Tablename a
where
(
select count(*)
from Tablename as b
where a.group = b.group and a.id >= b.id
) <= 2
SQLFiddle Demo
A:
I like this trick, that makes use of GROUP_CONCAT aggregate function, and FIND_IN_SET:
SELECT
Tablename.*
FROM
Tablename INNER JOIN (
SELECT `group`, GROUP_CONCAT(id ORDER BY id) ids
FROM Tablename
GROUP BY `group`) grp ON
Tablename.`group` = grp.`group` AND
FIND_IN_SET(Tablename.id, ids)<=2
ORDER BY
Tablename.`group`, Tablename.id
Performances can't be too good, as it can't make use of an index.
Or you can also use this:
SELECT t1.id, t1.`group`, t1.data
from
Tablename t1 INNER JOIN Tablename t2
ON t1.`group` = t2.`group` AND t1.id>=t2.id
GROUP BY
t1.id, t1.`group`, t1.data
HAVING
COUNT(*)<=2
ORDER BY
t1.`group`, t1.id, t1.data
| {
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} | 0 |
Q:
Web Form BOT Protection transparent to user
I was thinking a lot for last few days on how to protect the web form that Bots uses.
The usage is kindly abuse, around 800k bot's queries in ~8hours.
Let's take a quick situation overview, any missing info - please ask for.
The bot:
The bot have different IPs.
The bot changes it's user agents to the really existing ones.
The unknown point whether the bot loads js and have a cookie or not.
The problems:
The form couldn't use hidden token field as may be submit from
outside resources. The resourses such as different websites, that doesn't know about CSRF tokens, and can't generate them. Making impossible to use CSRF.
The website MUST be cached in browser and the cache maybe reset only
under exceptional situations, like suspected behavior.
Database can't be used intensively(!).
The way it is now:
Cookie counter with expiration hashed into something + additional chars only systems knows when they inserted.
If browser couldn't handle cookies, database logging used. Here is some difficulty with browser cache, when user doesn't reach the server - result: verification is not running, counter is not incremented.
reCaptcha applied for user who exceeds attempts limit during X time.
The ideas that came up:
Serving iframe with some content and expires 0. iframe making simple cookie logic.
Iframe : if cookie is not set - set it, if cookie is set, verify. if user didn't exceed the limit - set counter +1, if exceeded - send to specific page, that will show the warning with cache reset.
The difficulty here, what if bot doesn't support cookie and the content being served from cache... the db doesn't write anything as the user doesn't reach the server. However if user changes keyword, it will reset the cache and the logic behind will work.
The second difficulty: what if bot doesn't support JS (he will be thrown out when he switch keyword). but, cant be redirected while content served from cache.
The third difficulty: What if bot deciphers ReCAPTCHA ? :)
*The Questions: *
What you were doing in this situation ? Please describe the steps you are thinking.
Really appreciate your point of view on the things.
Every idea will may be refined with other ideas and we can come up with a great protection scheme!
Thank you, guys!
A:
So My Idea to fight the user's cache was:
Using iframe 1x1.
it's content being sent with Expires: 0, the iframe is served every time even when page loaded from cache.
Another idea i just came up is to record mouse events.
the onmousemove and onkeydown, these two catchs even F5 keydown.
report to a server and set the flag.
FINAL RESULT
It is decided to use cloaked CSS, that sets system's variable that the user is loading contents normally.
However, if "user" loading content normally, exctra protection is to implement javascript's events tracking (onmousemove,onkeydown,onclick) and receive send it to server to flag it.
The request sends to server only once, when event first occurred and then doesn't track.
| {
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It’s difficult to speak about harassment or abuse of any kind but when also coupled with the fear of losing employment, it’s even more daunting. That’s why we were surprised to see one individual make a clear accusation online of sexual harassment. While backlash was expected and did happen, reaction from Cartoon Network was also swift.
The first reaction of many when talk of abuse comes up is to ask for proof instead of showing concern for the person coming forward, and that’s problematic to say the least. Women shared personal experiences with harassment of all kinds recently with #YesAllWomen, and while some do feel comfortable talking about it, others don’t. Some talk about it but not using their real name, some of which we saw when the #thatwoman hashtag emerged. Some do speak under their own name but do not reveal the name the person they’re accusing like when cartoonist MariNaomi talked about being harassed on a convention panel (Scott Lobdell went on to out himself as the harasser in question). Around that same time, Tess Fowler came out, after long consideration, to say comic writer Brian Wood had sexually harassed her. It’s not easy.
So when we saw creators in the animation industry tweeting about Cartoon Network’s Skyler Page, writer for Adventure Time and creator/writer of Clarence, we were surprised. But apparently the issue had been brewing for a while. Maré Odomo tweeted this on June 30th.
Skyler Page, creator of Cartoon Network’s “Clarence”, is known to grope women without their consent. Don’t be left alone in a room with him. — maré odomo (@mareodomo) June 30, 2014
As you can imagine, it got the usual “those are serious accusations,” “do you have proof to back that up” responses but it also got others talking until Emily Partridge came forward with this.
okay dudes, this Skyler Page Fiasco everybody is talking about happened to me, you can stop hounding my friends for “proof” — Emily Partridge (@empartridge) July 3, 2014
I’ve been encouraged by multiple people I trust that I am safe and supported in coming forward about this, so here I am it’s no secret that I deal with mental health issues. I’m incredibly sympathetic towards mental illness. being “sick”, however, doesn’t – – excuse you from toxic, manipulative, cruel behaviour, especially when these events are repetitive and specific. I had heard rumours about Skyler being “quirky” but nothing about his fucked up behaviour towards women until AFTER what happened to me if I knew what I know now, I wouldn’t have let him catch me alone or be near me. I don’t want the same thing to happen to anybody else. my friends have been speaking out for me while I was too scared to come forward and I appreciate that a lot. the fact that twitter needs ME to speak is distressing, but I feel responsible to other women in the industry. don’t trust this guy. what’s also distressing is the overwhelming silence from certain parties. you’ve made a lot of people feel less safe this week…it makes me feel fucked up that people are saying how brave it is for me to say something. this is how unsafe we all feel. I immediately regret dealing with this. to people who are saying this should have been discreetly dealt with by HR or something: a) HR is already dealing with it. b) discretion does not keep other people safe.
She continued in a series of tweets
It’s a tough situation to deal with, one that person can feel pressured to handle in isolation and/or that a whole industry may sweep under the carpet for too long (we’ve seen it happen). Thankfully, in this case, fairly swift action has been taken. A Cartoon Network spokesperson told BuzzFeed “Skyler Page is no longer an employee at Cartoon Network Studios,” and that the show would continue. Others made sure to note this shouldn’t be held against the series:
Let’s continue to support Clarence, which will continue without his involvement. A lot of talented folks work to make this show great! — Megan Nicole Dong (@sketchshark) July 3, 2014
Creator Patrick Harpin also had this to say to those concerned about the show on his tumblr:
Skyler’s asshole behavior (though not yet sexual assault) was the main reason I quit the show more than a year ago. I can’t imagine how fans of the show are feeling right now. But the reason you like Clarence, in spite of it’s creator, is because the “creator” had very little to do with the show. Despite what it says in the credits, Skyler never wrote a single episode of Clarence. It was created by the writers (me and Spencer Rothbell) and the talented board artists (people like Charlie Gavin, Derek & Diana). We took Skyler’s idea of “a fat dumb kid” and made a character out of it. Skyler mostly “kept the couch from floating away”, and read whatever lines we gave him. There’s been enough victims of Skyler Page, don’t punish the talented crew that actually raised Clarence.
Events have rolled swiftly on this story today, and should more be revealed we will bring you an update.
[UPDATE] Partridge has provided the following information on her tumblr:
I want to go curl up in a hole, but I feel like it’s my responsibility to address some things first (some are more important that others): I work on Adventure Time, not Clarence.
I’m a storyboard revisionist, not a storyboard artist.
I did not personally act to get Skyler fired. Cartoon Network made that decision on their own without involving me, and the situation between Skyler and I was not the only reason for his termination.
Clarence will continue without him. it hasn’t been canned. nobody should boycott the show, it has a great staff.
Skyler didn’t rape me. this is a really messed up rumour that needs to stop being propagated. sexual assault does not equate rape.
I’ve heard a lot about how people just assumed that girls knew to stay away from him. I didn’t. I hadn’t even met him before; a lot of us didn’t go to CalArts, guys, and we need to work harder to keep each other safe. a lot of other women have come to me in private with really similar stories. we need to stop letting this happen.
that Cartoon Brew article is gross and sensationalist (“exclusive!!! wow!”), it’s a decent compilation of information but please stop spreading it if you have some other option.
Jeff Rowe made an important post about Skyler’s mental health: http://jeffrowegifs.tumblr.com/post/90700109592/skyler-page
Emily Quinn tacked some more important stuff onto his statement: http://emilord.tumblr.com/post/90707412751
despite my anger, I really hope that this dude gets help. I’m incredibly hesitant to lay all of his behaviour on mental illness after hearing (private) accounts of people’s personal experiences with him, but I’m not a doctor, nor do I know him personally.
no matter what side you’re on or what you believe, please don’t be an asshole.
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Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com | {
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The present invention generally relates to systems for replacing/changing lubricants in internal combustion engines. More specifically, the invention relates to systems for automatically or semiautomatically effecting such lubricant replacement/change.
It is well-known that the life of an engine can be greatly affected by the frequency with which the lubricants or oils thereof are replaced/changed. Engine life generally is increased with more frequent oil changes. Spent oil generally contains grit and other abrasive particles that cause undue engine wear and the removal of the spent oil reduces engine wear by removal of these abrasive particles.
Systems for replacing/changing the oil in an internal combustion engine are known. Typically, oil replacement systems include a new oil reservoir and a spent oil container coupled to the oil pan of an engine via appropriate valves and pumps. Generally, spent oil is expelled or pumped from the oil pan and then the oil pan is filled with new oil.
Several systems are claimed to perform this oil replacement/change automatically. One such system is a system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,447,636. The disclosed system includes a unit that is removably mountable in a motor vehicle that effects replacement of oil in the engine. The system connects to the electric supply system of the motor vehicle and, upon actuation of a switch, is stated to effect the replacement of the oil. An indicator lamp is employed to indicate oil replacement system operation.
Engine oil changes for a motor vehicle generally are determined by the mileage the vehicle has traveled since the last oil change. Oil changes for other engines can be determined by the amount of time the engines have been in operation since the last oil changes.
Both of these methods for determining when to change engine oil fail to fully account for actual engine wear. With respect to motor vehicles, engine wear can continue even though a motor vehicle is at rest. For example, an automobile engine idles and thus, continues to wear while the automobile is stopped such as at a stop light or moving slowly such as in a traffic jam. With respect to static engines, i.e., engines mounted at fixed locations, engine wear similarly varies depending on the loads placed thereon and the speeds at which they are run. | {
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"(Distant train passes)" "Seven o'clock Friday, they bring the money out and walk to the van, here." "(Second boy) The butcher's shop's here, opposite the church." "(Third boy) Only two old geezers with all that money." "Who's doing the tyres?" "(First boy) We can hide anywhere in here." "(Air hisses)" "(Coughs)" "(Man) Wait!" "Hey!" "Oh, no, you don't!" " (Boy) Let go!" " Ah, you won't get that from me, chum!" "(Yells and bangs)" "No!" "You won't have it from me, boy!" "Right!" "Got it!" "(Whistle)" "(Rumpole) "But trailing clouds of glory do we come" ""From God, who is our home" ""Heaven lies about us in our infancy!" ""Shades of the prison-house begin to close" " "Around the growing Boy"" " Rumpole!" "You're not talking about your son, I hope!" "You're never referring to Nick." "What? "Shades of the prison-house begin to close"?" "No, not round our boy." "Not Nick." "Shades of the public-school house have closed round him." "The 1,000 quid-a-year remand home!" "He is breaking up this morning." "Ah!" "Shades of the prison-house begin to open up for the hols!" "Nick has to be met at Victoria at 11:15 and given lunch." "When he went back to school, you promised him a show." " You haven't forgotten?" " Of course I haven't!" "The only show I can offer is a robbery with violence, number two court at the Old Bailey." "Oh, I wish it was a murder!" "Nick so enjoyed my murders." "I must fly!" "Daddy gets so crotchety if anybody's late and he does love his visits!" "Our father who art in Horsham..." "Give the old sweetheart my regards." ""Old sweetheart" is hardly the way you used to refer to your Head of Chambers." "It's difficult to remember to call my Head of Chambers "Daddy"." "(Woman hollers) Tell Nick I'll be back in time to give him his supper!" "Your wish is my command!" "(Woman) Try not to make the kitchen look as if it's been bombed!" "I hear, oh, Master of the Blue Horizon!" "(Door slams)" "She Who Must Be Obeyed." "Ah!" "(Doors clank)" "Son!" " Dad!" " Hello, son!" "Got special permission to see you, you being a lad of tender years." "You've got to know the ropes here." " Mum all right, is she?" " Of course she is." "Come over here." "She's got your best jacket out the cleaners." "Take that off." "Now, remember, stand up straight, hands out of your pockets." "The red judge at the Old Bailey is called My Lord." "Don't call him Sir or Your Honour." "Don't show your ignorance." "Peanuts Molloy is giving evidence for the prosecution." "Don't worry." "Your brief will take care of him." "We got you the best there is." "Mr Rumpole?" "Remember, stand up straight and do what Mr Rumpole says." "Good luck!" "We're all out there." "The whole family's behind you." "Don't forget that tie!" "Yes, right you are, then!" "Oh, we've got your indecent-assault papers, Mr Erskine-Brown." "Really, Albert?" "I told you I wanted something civil." "I'm sick of crime." "A person who's sick of crime is sick of life!" "Mr Frobisher, you're doing your nuisance at Bloomsbury court." " Civil work!" "That's what I need." " It's marked not before two o'clock." "I can see that." "One has to hang about so to do a nuisance nowadays." "I shall go to the library, Albert, to look up some law." "Morning, Rumpole." " Hello, George!" " Coming to the library?" "The library?" "I'd rather spend the day in the morgue, old man!" " Anything for me?" " No, Mr Maclay." "Another day off for you!" "Ah!" "Your "dangerous and careless" is on the mantelpiece, Mr Hoskins." " No cheques, I suppose, Albert?" " Not today, Mr Hoskins." "Henry!" "Mr Tree?" "You want me at Clerkenwell Court with Mr Hoskins?" "We don't want you near any court!" "Not till we've learnt to clean our nails and shine our shoes of a morning." "You could make me a cup of instant." "(Mutters) I didn't go into law to make coffee!" "No!" "No cheques for me either." "You know the saying, "crime doesn't pay"." "Well, not for a very long time!" "Tony, if you're not busy, why don't you join me at the Bailey?" " You can take a note or something." " You wouldn't mind?" "I'd be grateful." "Where are we, Albert?" "The robbery's 11:30, court number two, before Everglade." " Mr Guthrie Featherstone against you." " Oh, aging me, Featherstone!" "Apparently!" "I had an all-night sitting down at the House last night." "Your robbery won't be much of a worry." "Oh, no, except perhaps to young Jim Timson." "Oh, Albert, Mrs Rumpole's gone down to see her father in... er..." "Horsham." "My aunt had a whore shop in Teasham!" " How is Wystan?" "Any better?" " No, just about the same, Uncle Tom." " And how's young Nicky?" " Oh, splendid." "Ah!" "Nick!" "Albert, he's breaking up today." "He'll need meeting at Victoria at 11:15 and if you bring him along, he can watch some of the robbery in number two." "Your son's going to be in the audience, is he?" "I'd better be brilliant." "I wouldn't bother." "It's his old dad he's come to see." "(Scornful laugh) Touché, Rumpole, Distinctement touché!" "(Rumpole) Better get down to the Bailey!" " I'll walk with you." "Won't you need a stretcher after an all-night sitting with the Gas-Mains Enabling Bill, or whatever?" " Tony, see you later on." " Oh, right." "(Frantic typing and phones ringing)" " You've been at this a while, Rumpole." " Oh, yes, quite a while." "(Rumpole huffs)" "You never thought of taking silk?" "What?" "Rumpole, QC?" "Not on your nelly!" "Rumpole "Queer Customer", that's what they'd be bound to call me." "You could, with your seniority." " (Man) Morning." " Morning!" "Oh, I dare say... if I played golf with the right judges, put up for Parliament." "They might make me an artificial silk or, at any rate, a nylon." "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot." "You did put up for Parliament." "Yes." " You've never thought of it?" " No, never!" "I have the honour to be an Old Bailey hack!" "That's quite enough for me." "Lord Attlee dies!" "(Rumpole) 'In Newgate Street the City Fathers 'a stately law court did decree, 'and... there it is." "'The dome and the blindfold lady." "'Yes, well, it's much better she doesn't see all that's going on." "'Complete with murals, marble statues 'and underground accommodation for some of the choicest villains in London." "'Terrible things go on here." "Horrifying things!" "'Why is it I never go through these portals without a thrill of pleasure, 'a slight tremble of excitement?" "'A slight tremble of excitement?" "'Why does it always seem a much jollier place than my flat in Gloucester Road, 'under the strict rule of She Who Must Be Obeyed?" "'" " Morning, Harry!" " Morning, gentlemen!" "I'll have to give up, I'll have to give up, you know." "Crocked up, I'm afraid!" "Oh, nonsense, Daddy, you'll go on for years!" "No, Hilda, no." "They'll have to start looking for another Head of Chambers." "Rumpole's the senior man, that is, apart from Uncle Tom and he doesn't really practise nowadays." "Your husband the senior man, how time flies!" "I recall when he was the junior man, my pupil." "You said he was the best youngster on bloodstains you'd ever known." "Rumpole?" "Oh, yes." "Your husband was pretty good on bloodstains." "Shaky, though, on the law of landlord and tenant." "What sort of practice has he now?" "Oh, he has a tremendously busy practice!" "Rumpole hardly stops." " He's in court today." " Which court?" " I believe today it's... the Old Bailey." " It's always the Old Bailey, isn't it?" " Most of the time." "I suppose so." " Not a frightfully good address!" "Not exactly the SW1 of the legal profession." "Rumpole only went to the Bailey today because he knows the family." "It seems they've got a young boy in trouble." " Son gone wrong?" " Mmm." "Very sad, that." "Especially if he comes of a really good family." "(Voices echo)" "(Rumpole) 'Ah, the Timsons, en famille in all their glory." "'It's like a school reunion." "I've never seen so many ex-clients at one go.'" " Mr Rumpole!" " Ah, Mr Bernard." " You're instructing me." " Always in a Timson case!" "Nothing but the best for the Timsons!" "Best solicitor, best barrister going." " Shall I do the honours?" " Yes, do." " Vi, my wife." " (Rumpole) 'I got Vi off on handling 'after the Croydon bank raid." "There was really no evidence.'" "(Fred) Uncle Cyril." " Long time..." " 'What was his last outing?" "'Carrying housebreaking instruments by night?" "'" "Uncle Dennis." "You remember Den, surely?" "(Rumpole) 'Oh, yes." "Conspiracy to forge log books.'" "And Den's Doris... (Rumpole) 'Could it have been receiving a vast quantity of stolen scampi?" "'Yes, acquitted by a majority.'" "Yours truly, Frederick Timson, father." "(Rumpole) 'We slipped up with Fred's last spot of bother." "I was away with flu.'" "Well, shall we all sit down?" "(Rumpole) 'Frobisher took over." "He got three years." "Must have just got out.'" "(Fred) Now you know the whole family, Mr Rumpole." "(Rumpole) 'A family to breed from, or the Bailey would go out of business.' ...from time to time!" "I'm sure you'll do your very best for young Jimbo." "He's a good boy." "Ever so good to me while Dad was away." "(Rumpole) 'Head of the family at 14, 'with Dad off on one of his regular visits to Her Majesty.'" "It's young Jim's first appearance, like, at the Bailey." "(Rumpole) 'His bar mitzvah!" "His first Communion.'" "All those other boys got clean away with it!" "Well, that's a bit of luck." "They can't be asked if Jimbo was one of the party." "The identification by the butcher is hopeless." "Would you have a photographic impression of a young hopeful that struck you on the skull with a cricket stump?" "All they've really got is Jim's alleged confession to Peanuts Molloy." " Peanuts Molloy!" "Little grass!" " Chalky White fit him up with that!" " Chalky?" " Chief Detective Inspector White." "Why would Inspector White want to fit up Jimbo?" " Because he's a Timson!" " Because he's the apple of our eye!" "Being as how he's the baby of the family." "Chalky'd fit up his mother if it'd get him a smile off his superintendent..." " Morning, Fred!" " Morning, Chief Inspector." " Morning, Mrs Timson." " Morning, Chief Inspector." "Mr Timson, I think we'll shift our ground." "Remove, good friends!" "(Rumpole) Now, then, Mr Timson, how exactly do you say Chief Inspector Chalky White fitted up your Jimbo?" " Which is the coffees?" " Ah, thank you, love." "Just for me." "All right?" "That's it." "Thank you." "He put that grass Peanuts into Jim's painting class in the remand home." "I see." "So, your Jimbo was supposed to pour out his heart to Peanuts." ""We..." Thank you." ""We planned to do the old blokes and snatch the takings."" "As if I'd raise Jim to talk like that!" "In the nick!" "The Timsons ain't stupid!" "His dad's always told him, say nothing to anyone inside." "Bound to be a grass." "That's right." "Fred's always brought him up proper, eh, Den?" " Just like he should be." " Especially the Molloys!" " The Molloys!" " They're noted grasses." "Always were." "The Molloys is beyond the pale." "Well known for it!" "Look, how did this?" "Hah!" "How did this family feud begin exactly?" "Peanuts' grandad." "He shot my father over the Streatham Co-op robbery." " Pre-war, that was." " Streatham Co-op?" "I believe I was in that." "There wasn't much honour shown among thieves." "Then you can understand." "No Timson has even spoke to a Molloy ever since." "You're sure Jimbo wouldn't say a word to Peanuts?" "I'd give you my word of honour!" "Ain't that good enough for you?" "No Timson would ever speak to a Molloy, not under any circumstances!" " No!" " No, never." " Me, speak to Peanuts?" " (Rumpole) Yes." "No Timson don't speak to no Molloy." "It's a point of honour, like." "Ever since the Streatham Co-op case, eh?" "Your grandfather?" " Dad told you about that?" " Yes, Dad told me." "He wouldn't let me speak to no Molloy." "He wouldn't put up with it, like." "Well, Jimbo... what's the defence?" "Well, I never done it." "That's an interesting defence." "Somewhat unusual, isn't it?" "For the Timsons." " I've got my alibi, ain't I?" " Ah, yes, your alibi." " Dad reckoned it was pretty good." " Yes." "Let's hear it again." "(Bernard and Jim) Straight after school..." ""Straight after school on that Friday, June 2nd, I went to tea at my Aunt Doris'" ""and arrived there at exactly half-past five." ""At six o'clock my Uncle Den came home from work, with my Uncle Cyril." ""At seven, when this alleged crime took place," ""I was sat round the TV with my aunty and two uncles." ""I well remember." "We was watching The Newcomers."" "(Rumpole) 'The family gave him that alibi." "'Clubbed together for it, like a new bicycle.'" " Thank you." " Thank you." "(Indictinct chatter)" " (Whispers) We can't use that alibi." " Why not?" "Well, you just think about it." "Call the aunties and uncles and cross-examine them on their records, the jury will see the lad comes from a family of villains who keep a cupboard full of alibis for all occasions." "Yes, of course you're right." "Of course, the infuriating thing about the alibi is it might even be true!" "(Indistinct murmurs)" "(Polite cough)" "(Judge) Mr Featherstone." "May it please you, My Lord." "Members of the jury, I appear in this case to prosecute." "The defendant is represented by my learned friend, Mr Horace Rumpole." "Mr... who did you say, Mr Featherstone?" "Er..." "Mr Rumpole, My Lord, R-U-M-P... (Rumpole) 'That's right, spell it out for him, old darling." "'Mr Justice Everglade, known to his few friends as Florrie, 'is a stranger to the Old Bailey." "'His father was Lord Chancellor at the time" "'Jim's grandfather was doing over the Streatham Co-op." "'Educated Winchester and Balliol." "'Cracks the Times crossword in the opening of an egg." "'Most happy with trust companies suing each other 'over "nice" points of the law." "'Here for a fortnight's slumming down the Old Bailey." "(Chuckles) 'Wonder what he'll make of Peanuts Molloy?" "'" "(Featherstone)... carrying their takings to a grey Austin van, parked in Fawcett Yard, just around the corner." "Members of the jury," "I think it only fair you should know that it is alleged that Timson took part in this attack with other youths, not so far arrested... (Rumpole) "'The boy stood on the burning deck..."'" "It is right that you should tell the jury, Mr Featherstone." "Perfectly proper." " If Your Lordship pleases." " (Rumpole) 'The old chums' league?" " 'Fellow members of the Athenaeum?" "'" " I'm most grateful to your Lordship... (Rumpole) 'Why not crawl up on the bench and black his boots?" "'" "So, I imagine the young man's defence is that he wasn't ejusdem generis with the other lads?" "I'm sorry, My Lord, you asked about the defence?" "Mr..." "Rumpole." "I am reluctant to intrude on your confidential conversation with my learned friend, My Lord, but as Jim Timson's counsel," "I thought that perhaps I might know a little more about his case than the counsel for the prosecution." "I imagine your client says he was not ejusdem generis with the others?" "Ejusdem generis, My Lord?" "Oh, yes, he's always saying that." "Ejusdem generis is a phrase in constant use in his part of Brixton." "(Voice hollers) Yes!" "(Usher) Silence!" " Well done, Dad!" " Thanks, Nick." "Lovely to see you." " Sorry I couldn't turn on a murder!" " That's all right." "Nevertheless, there is strong evidence against him." "(Polite coughs)" "Members of the jury, this case isn't based on any alleged confession to the police, or indeed to anyone in authority." "I shall be calling a young man, Molloy, of the same age as the defendant to whom, you will hear, he admitted his guilt in the clearest possible terms." " Not the easiest sort of case." " (Featherstone) This young man..." " Is that your client, Dad?" " Yes, in the dock." "As usual." " Oh, my client's invariably in the dock." " He ought to be in the fifth form." "(Featherstone)... and fell into conversation with Timson..." "Oh, dear!" "Old Florrie Everglade doesn't know his business, not giving us time to get a decent lunch!" " This is fine, honestly." " One thing you can say against crime, the restaurant facilities aren't up to much." " Did you want lunch in the Bar Mess?" " Not with you here!" "Never!" "I'd rather die than have lunch in the Bar Mess!" "It's like the prefects' room in a junior public school." "Oh!" "Not your prefects' room, of course!" " Talking about school..." " Mmm." " Um..." " What?" "Trouble?" " Bit of trouble, yes." " Let me tell you at once, there's no need to say a word that might be taken down and used in evidence." "You know the old vicarage opposite the school house?" "It's been empty for years." "It's falling to pieces." " You helped it fall?" " We used to get in, Sunday evenings." " Used it for parties." " "Get in"?" "How, exactly?" "The kitchen window." "Didn't need much opening." "That's a technical break-in under the Forcible Entries Act." "What time did you effect this entry?" "Pretty late." "After chapel." "Burglary at common law and, of course, civil trespass." "What... er... what sort of parties, exactly?" "We had a poker school." " You haven't run into bankruptcy?" " I owe Crabtree £2.10." "We let a lot of people play." "Contrary to the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963." "We used to get a bottle of cherry brandy in." "Serving liquor on unlicensed premises." "Crabtree asked a couple of girls from the village." "Bagnold never heard about that." "There's no evidence of girls!" "As far as your case goes, there is no reason to suppose the girls existed!" "As for the other charges, they are serious." " Yes, I suppose they are, rather." " You were walking past the place." "You heard a noise and went in to investigate." "Dad, Bagnold came in and found us playing poker!" "I know! "My Lord, my client was only playing poker" ""so as not to appear too pious, while he lectured his fellow sixth-formers" ""against the evils of gambling and cherry brandy!"" " Dad, be serious." " Don't you want me to defend you?" "No!" "Bagnold's not going to call in the police, or anything like that." " What's he going to do?" " I'll miss next term's exeat." "Do some extra work." "I just thought I should tell you before you get a letter." "Yes, thanks, Nick." "Thank you, I'm glad you told me." " So, there's no question of the police?" " Please!" "Of course not!" "Bagnold doesn't want any trouble." "After all, we're still at school." "Still at school..." "Of course you are." "You and young Timson, yes!" "I'm sorry." "Stupid of me." "The fish and chips don't look too bad!" " (Rumpole) May I call you Peanuts?" " If you like." " You go to the same school as Jim?" " Yeah." " But you're not friends?" " Not really." "No, the, er..." "You don't speak to each other." "The Timsons and Molloys are like the Montagues and Capulets." " What did you say they were?" " Not ejusdem generis, My Lord." " (Laughter) - (Usher) Silence!" "Peanuts, how would you describe yourself?" " Is that a proper question?" " I mean, artistically." "Are you a latter-day Impressionist?" "Do your oils in little dots?" "Or perhaps an abstract?" "White squares on a white background?" "Or perhaps watches melting in the desert, like dear old Salvador Dali?" " I don't know what you're saying!" " Neither, I confess, My Lord, do I." "(Rumpole) 'Sit quietly." "All will be revealed.'" "Are you a dedicated artist?" "The Rembrandt of the remand home?" " I hadn't done no art before." " No, that's what I rather thought." "So, are we to understand, that when Jimbo poured out his heart to you," " it was at your first painting lesson?" " Yeah." " How long had you been on remand?" " Couple of months." "Done for affray." "I didn't ask you that." "I'm sure the reasons for being on remand were entirely creditable." "What I want to know is, why this sudden fascination with the arts?" "Well, the chief screw..." "So, you were told to join the painting school and get next to Jimbo?" " (Peanuts) Something like that, yeah." " What did he say?" " "Something like that", My Lord." "And you were there not in pursuit of art but in pursuit of evidence." "You knew that very well and supplied your masters with what they wanted." " Jimbo never said a word to you!" " My Lord, I don't know quite what my learned friend is saying." "Is he suggesting..." "It's an old trick!" "Put your suspect..." "bang him up with a notable grass, if you're pushed for evidence." "They do it with grown-ups!" " Now they're trying it with children!" " Your language is foreign to me." "Then let me try and make myself clear, My Lord." "I'm suggesting that the witness was put into the painting class as a trap." "You're suggesting Mr Molloy was not a genuine amateur painter?" "No indeed, My Lord, merely an amateur witness." " (Laughter)" " I see." "Go on, Mr Rumpole." "What did you first say to Jim as you drew your easel alongside?" " I don't remember." " No?" "But you did say something?" " You were on speaking terms?" " We was speaking about the Stones." "What stones were those?" "The Rolling Stones!" "A great deal of this case is taking place in a foreign tongue!" "Oh, er, jazz musicians, as I understand, My Lord, of some notoriety." "Their notoriety hasn't reached me." "Yes, go on." "We talked about their Hammersmith concert." "We'd both been to it and we talked about that." "Then Jim said he and the other blokes had done up the butchers." "Jim said... he and the other "blokes"" "had "done" the butchers." "Well..." "Would this be a convenient moment to adjourn, Mr Rumpole?" "(Rumpole) 'Convinient for Peanuts." "He'll have his second wind tomorrow.'" " (Judge) Mr Rumpole?" " Yes, My Lord, perfectly convenient." "If Your Lordship pleases." "That was very good, Hilda." "Yes, bit of an improvement on the Old Bailey canteen, Nick, eh?" " That's not saying much, I'm afraid!" " I'd better see about clearing up." "Grandpa sent you his love, Nick." "Will you remember to write?" "He's definitely retiring as Head of Chambers." "He quite appreciates that you're the senior man." " Dad..." " Yes, old son." "Will you be cross-examining Peanuts tomorrow?" "I'll try to keep it going, but I feel I've shot my bolt as far as Peanuts goes." " You really think he's lying?" " If not, it's a damn good imitation!" "Nick enjoyed the show, even though it was only a robbery." "I wish you'd been there when I was cross-examining on the bloodstains in the Penge bungalow murder." "Nick wasn't born when you did the Penge murder." "No, I know." "Bad luck, old son!" " You were great with that judge!" " Old Florrie!" "An extraordinary judge kept talking Latin." "Dad was teasing him." "You want to be careful how you tease judges, if you're to be Head of Chambers." "Head of Chambers, Dad?" "Honestly?" " I suppose it's possible." " Can I come tomorrow?" "To the Bailey?" " Of course you can." " Your dental appointment's tomorrow!" "Eleven o'clock you've got to be in Harley Street, to see Mr Drage." "She Who Must Be Obeyed!" "Never mind!" "You won't miss much." "It's a pretty run-of-the-mill case." "Although, as I'm sure you've noticed, it does have one rather extraordinary feature." "Go on, Watson." "You interest me strangely." " Do you still read those tales?" " Not lately." "Do you remember I read them to you after She had ordered you to bed?" " When you weren't busy with murders." " Walks on Hampstead Heath." " You were Holmes and I was Watson." " I remember one walk." "Tell me, Holmes, what, in your opinion was the most remarkable evidence given by the witness..." "Peanuts Molloy?" "When he said they were talking about the Rolling Stones." "You astonish me, Holmes!" "Watson, we were led to believe they were enemies." "You know, the families weren't ejusdem generis." "Go on, go on!" "Have a bit more of this." "It stimulates the detective abilities." "There they were, chatting about a concert." "Didn't that strike you as strange, Watson?" "If you ask me, it struck me as bloody rum!" "They'd both been to the concert." "That doesn't mean anything necessarily." " I mean, I was at that concert." " Were you indeed?" "I got time off from school." "I don't recall you mentioning it." "I said I was going to the Festival Hall." "Oh, very wise!" "As far as your mother's concerned," "I should think that at the Hammersmith Odeon they probably re-enact the worst excesses of the Roman Empire." "I don't suppose you saw Peanuts or Jimbo there?" "There were about 2,000 fans, all screaming." "Yes, of course." "I don't know if that helps" "I mean, if they were old mates, Jimbo might have confided in him." "No, Peanuts was lying!" "And you spotted it." "You've got the instinct!" "You've got a nose for the evidence." "Your career at the Bar is bound to be brilliant." "Tell me, old man, when are you taking silk?" "(Rumpole laughs)" "Mr Wystan was good enough to send me a letter from Horsham Hospital." "Ah, yes." "Old Daddy's not quite up to snuff." " He mentions his retirement." " Really?" "We'll manage well with you as Head of Chambers." "Oh, do you think so?" "There's not much we won't be able to sort out over a glass in Pommeroy's." "And we'll welcome Master Nick into Chambers?" "Well, he's certainly showing some legal aptitude." "It'll be a real family affair, Mr Rumpole, if you ask me." "Like father, like son." "Like father, like son." "How very nice." " Mr Rumpole, I've checked that date." " Yes?" "You clever old darling!" "Thank you very much, Mr Bernard!" "(Rumpole) When Jim told you he'd done up the butchers, did he say the date that it happened?" "My Lord, the date is clearly set out in the indictment." "My Lord, I am cross-examining on behalf of my young client, who is charged with a serious offence!" "I'd be grateful if my learned friend did not volunteer information known to all of us in court, except the witness!" "Very well." "Please go on, Mr Rumpole." "(Sighs heavily)" " Did he tell you the date?" " He never told me when." " I thought it was in the summer." " (Rumpole) In the summer." "Are you... a fan of the Rolling Stones, Peanuts?" " Yeah." " Remind me, they were..." " The musicians!" " 'Shut up, Featherstone.'" "Ah, thank you, Mr Featherstone." " And, er... and is Jim, too, a fan?" " He was, yeah." "(Rumpole) Did you discuss music before you met on remand?" " Before the nick?" "Oh, yeah!" " At school together?" " Yeah." " And, er... in quite a friendly way?" "(Peanuts) Well, we was all right, yeah." " Did you ever go to a concert with him?" " (Peanuts) We went..." " Now, think carefully." " We went to one or two concerts." " In the evening?" " (Peanuts) Yeah." "Would you call at his home, collect him?" " You're joking!" " (Rumpole) What?" " (Peanuts) You must be joking!" " I'm not joking at all." " I wouldn't call at his home!" " The families don't speak." " You wouldn't be welcome there!" " The Montagues and the Capulets?" "If Your Lordship pleases." "Your Lordship puts it extremely aptly." "(Mouths inaudibly)" "What would you do if going to a concert together?" "We'd leave school together, and just hang around the caffs." " Hang around the caffs?" " Cafés, Mr Rumpole?" "(Rumpole) Yes, of course, the cafés, My Lord." "Before you went up West?" "If Your Lordship would allow me to translate, the West End of London." "Yeah!" "So, you wouldn't be separated when you went to a concert together?" " We hung around." " Did that happen when you saw the Rolling Stones at Hammersmith Odeon?" " Yeah." " That was this summer?" " Yeah." " You left school together?" "And hung around the caffs." "Then we went up to the Odeon." " You were together the whole evening?" " I told you, didn't I?" "(Rumpole) Yes, indeed, you told me." "Thank you very much." "My Lord, perhaps my learned friend might be interested in knowing the date of the only Rolling Stones concert at the Hammersmith Odeon this year." "He might like to compare it with the date of the offence, so conveniently set out in the indictment." "(Whispers around the court)" "But you had an alibi!" "You had a proper, reasonable, truthful alibi!" "And, joy of joys, it even came from the prosecution." "Why the hell not tell me?" " Me dad wouldn't have liked it." " Your dad wouldn't have liked it!" "And because of that, you were prepared to be found guilty, to be convicted of robbery with violence?" " Dad got the family to alibi me." " Keep it in the family!" "Oh, well, I'd better collect me things." "Anyway, thanks, Mr Rumpole." "Dad said I could rely on you to win the day." "Cheers!" "No, wait!" "I didn't win the day!" "It was luck, it was a sheer fluke, Jimbo!" " It'll never happen again!" " You're joking, Mr Rumpole!" "Me Dad told me about you." "Says you never let the Timsons down." "Do you think that's what I'm here for?" "To help you in a career like your dad's?" "God, I shouldn't have asked those questions, or found out that date!" "Then you'd really be happy, wouldn't you?" "Then you'd really follow in your dad's footsteps all your life!" "Sharp spells in borstal to learn the mysteries of housebreaking and then on to a solid life of crime!" "Oh, you might do really well!" "You might end up in Parkhurst in the maximum-security wing, doing a glamorous 20 years and a hero to the screws!" "We've got his things at the gate." "Come on, Timson." " You can't stay here all night." " Well, I've got to go." "I don't know how to face me dad, really, me being so friendly with Peanuts." "No, Jim, wait!" "Just a minute, just a minute." "Look, come here." "Listen, if you're pleased with the way I did your case..." " I am!" "Frankly, I'm quite satisfied." " Oh, I'm glad." "Would you consider doing me a favour?" " Why?" "Aren't we on Legal Aid?" " Of course we're on Legal Aid!" "Listen, haven't you ever thought about leaving home?" " I couldn't do that!" "Not ever!" " Why not?" "Me mum depends on me, like when Dad goes away." "Well, she depends on me then as head of the family." "Head of the family!" "Cheers!" "(Door squeaks open)" "(Chalky) Don't look so miserable, Mr Rumpole." "You won." "Nobody won, Inspector, but truth emerges sometimes, even down the Old Bailey." "But he's a Timson." "Runs in the family." " We'll get him... sooner or later." " Yes, I suppose you will." "There we are." "Thanks very much." "Hello, George!" "(George) Hello, Rumpole." "Join us." "(Tony) Marvellous win." " Yes, I hear you've had a splendid win!" " "Trailing clouds of glory, do we come!"" " Be years before you get the cheque!" " What was it about?" "I forget." "You don't get paid for years at the Old Bailey!" "I told my grocer," ""If you had to wait as long to be paid for a pound of sugar" ""as we do for an armed robbery..."" "Albert tells me he's had a letter from Wystan... and I'd like to say, Rumpole, we'd all like to say, you'll make a splendid Head of Chambers!" ""Shades of the prison-house begin to close" ""Around the growing Boy But He beholds the light," ""and whence it flows and sees it in his joy..."" "Rumpole quotes Wordsworth." "Does it quite often." "But does the growing boy behold the light, George, or is the old sheep of the Lake District being unduly optimistic?" "Well, I think it'll be refreshing to have a Head of Chambers who quotes poetry." "(Laughter)" " Have you seen The Times?" " Haven't had time." "The crossword!" "Guthrie Featherstone, he's taken silk." "(Featherstone) It's the stockings that are the problem!" "Yes!" "Yes!" "They would be!" " Keeping them up." " I do understand." " Yes." "Well, Marigold..." " Who?" " My wife, Marigold." " A wife?" "My wife, Marigold!" "(Shouts) Oh, that Marigold!" "Yes." "She's a nurse, you know, and she put me in touch with this shop which supplies suspender belts to nurses!" "Amongst other things!" " Really?" " Yes, yes!" "Yards of elastic for the larger ward sister!" "Ha ha ha!" " Well, it works miraculously!" " A suspender belt!" "You sexy devil!" "Lord, I'd never realised the full implications of rising to the height of the legal profession." "(Tom) Some time since we had champagne in Chambers." "(Hoskins) Or a silk in Chambers." "(Tom) I recall, George, you'll like this, we had a fellow here called Bulstrode - it was before you were born - and someone gave him 100 guineas for six months' pupillage." "Know what he did?" " No." " Stood champagne all round." "The next day he ran off to Calais with his clerk and we never saw them again!" "Thank you." "Whose pupil were you?" "I forget." " He was my pupil, Uncle Tom." " Well, George wouldn't do that!" " At least, I don't think." "Would you?" " I missed the start." "I was telling him about Bulstrode." "Someone gave him... (George) I do remember." "Albert." "(Tom)... 100 guineas, and, er..." "Ah!" "Ah, Albert, well met!" "By Jove, you do look distinguished!" "One has to cut a certain figure down the House of Lords." "Hope I'll have the same pleasure with you, sir." "Never, Albert, I promise you!" "Not ever." "Now, Henry, we don't want you getting Miss Marchbanks tiddly." " You may fill me up." " You wouldn't rather a glass of instant?" " Now, now..." " Thank you, Henry." " There you go, sir." " Lovely." "Your husband's star has risen so quickly, Mrs Featherstone." "Only ten years and he's an MP and leading counsel." "It's the PR, you see." "Guthrie's frightfully good at the PR." " At the what?" " Guthrie always says the important thing at the Bar is to be polite to your instructing solicitor." " Don't you find that?" " Polite to solicitors?" " That never occurred to me." " Guthrie admires you so!" "He admires your style of advocacy." "It makes a change from bowing three times and offering to black the judge's boots." "He says you're most amusing out of court." "Don't you quote poetry?" "Only at moments of great sadness, madam." "Or extreme elation!" "Guthrie so looks forward to leading you in his next big case." "Leading me?" "Did you say leading me?" "He has to have a junior now." "He wants the best available." " Now he's a leader." " Now he's left the Junior Bar." "Just for a pair of knee breeches, he left us." "Just for an elastic suspender belt, as supplied to the nursing profession." " Rumpole." " Ah, my learned leader!" " Could I have a word?" " Of course." "Would you excuse me?" " Marigold!" " (George) Marigold, come and join us." "(Rumpole) Well, old chap..." " Albert, I tell you what..." "Hello." " Hello, Uncle Tom." "I just wanted to say that I don't see why recent events should make any difference to the situation in Chambers." " You're the senior man in practice." " "Ah, you wrong me, Brutus." ""You said an older soldier, not a better."" " A quotation, Rumpole!" "Very apt." " Is it?" "No, what I mean is, that I don't see why, um... all this should make any difference." "You'll have my full support as Head of Chambers." " Oh, that..." "(AIbert) Mr Wystan!" "Mr Wystan's here!" " Henry, a chair for Mr Wystan." " (Featherstone) Come along in." "(Indistinct chatter)" "(George) You look wonderful." "So good to see you." "Albert..." "albert wrote to me about this little celebration." "I was determined to be with you and the doctor's given permission for one glass of champagne." "Champagne coming up, sir!" "There we are." " Glad you could come!" " Great change in Chambers!" "Now we have a silk!" "Guthrie Featherstone, QC MP." "(all) Guthrie Featherstone, QC MP!" "# For he's a jolly good fellow For he's a jolly good fellow" "# For he's a jolly good fellow And so say all of us" " # And so say all of us... #" " Thank you!" "Thank you." "(Wystan) You have brought a great distinction to Chambers." "Isn't that nice, Guthrie?" "When I was a young man..." " Remember when we were young?" "(Uncle Tom) Vaguely." "We used to hang around in Chambers for weeks on end." "I well recall we used to occupy ourselves with an old golf ball and a mashie niblick, trying to get chip shots into the waste bin." " Still does, Uncle Tom." " Albert was a boy." " A mere child, Mr Wystan." " We used to pray for work, any work." "We were tempted to crime." "Only way we could get into court." "As you grow older, you discover, it's not having any work that matters, it's the quality that counts." "Hear!" "Hear!" "We should do more civil." "Guthrie Featherstone, QC MP, will command briefs in all divisions." " Hear!" "Hear!" " Planning, contract, even Chancery." "Come, now, Wystan!" "(Wystan) I was afraid after I've gone these Chambers might become known as merely a criminal set." " Disgraceful!" " There's no doubt about it, too much criminal work does rather lower the standing of a chambers." " Couldn't you install pithead baths?" " Oh, Horace." "We could all have a good scrub down after the Bailey." "(Laughter)" "Horace Rumpole, and I mean no disrespect to my son-in-law... (Rumpole bellows) Daddy!" "(George) Rumpole!" "...practises almost exclusively in the criminal courts." "One doesn't get the fascinating points of law, not in criminal work." "I've thought we should try to attract some lucrative tax cases." "Ah, tax cases!" "Tax cases make the world go round." "I mean, compared to the wonderful world of tax, crime's totally trivial!" "What does it matter if a boy loses a year, two years of his life, hmm?" "Totally unimportant!" "Anyway, he'll grow up to be banged up for a good five, shut up with his chamberpot in some hole we prefer not to think about." "Now, then, Horace, your practice no doubt requires a good deal of skill." "Skill?" "Who said anything about skill?" "Any fool can do it!" "It's only a matter of life and death." "Crime, it's a sort of game." "I mean, how can you compare it to the real world of offshore securities and deductible expenses?" "(Wystan) All you young men in chambers can learn enormously from Rumpole when it comes to crime." "(Rumpole) God!" "You make me sound just like Fred Timson!" " Ah, champers!" " Who's Fred Timson?" "The Timsons are Rumpole's favourite family." "An industrious clan of South London criminals." " (Wystan) South London criminals?" " Do we really want Timson types forever hanging round our waiting room?" "I merely ask it." "(Loud sarcastic tone) Do you really, merely ask it?" "Excuse me." "The Timsons and their like are no doubt grist to Rumpole's mill but it's the balance that counts." " There we are, sir!" " Now, er... you'll be looking for a new Head of Chambers." "I'd like you all to think it over carefully and put your views to me in writing." "We should all try and remember it's the good of the Chambers that matters." " Are we still looking?" " Not the feelings, however deep, of any particular person." " The good of Chambers." " (all) The good of Chambers!" "Guthrie Featherstone..." "Head of Chambers?" "By universal acclaim." "(Sighs)" "I'm sorry." "Oh, he can have the headaches... trying to work out Albert's extraordinary bookkeeping." "If only you could have become a QC." "QC..." "CT, that's good enough for me." "CT?" "Whatever's CT?" "Counsel for the Timsons." "Oh, Rumpole, you're impossible!" "You're not in court today?" "No, not today." "It must be time to see Nick off." "What are you reading? "The Mysterious Adventures of the Speckled Band"?" ""Industrial Soci..." Sociology, Nick?" "Bagnold was talking about what I should read if I get into Oxford." "It's very interesting." "You astonish me, old..." " I'll ring for the taxi." " (Hilda) Of course you'll read law." "I thought perhaps PPE, then go on to Sociology." "Well, we're going to keep it in the family!" "PPE sounds very good, Nick, very good indeed." "(Growls) For God's sake, let's stop keeping it in the family!" "That's what's wrong, Nick, that's the devil of it." "They're all being born around us all the time, little Mr Justice Everglades, little Timsons." "(Tersely) Little Guthrie Featherstones." "All being set off to follow in their fathers' footsteps." "Well, let's have no more of that." "No more following in fathers' footsteps, hmm?" " See you at half term, then." " Right." "(Nick) Victoria Station, please." "No more." | {
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Introduction
I created a project called "OpenMokoder" which should help to develop Qt4 projects for freerunner. You only need to copy your sourcecode or use the included sample project run the script and you can easy compile, debug, crosscompile, package your project with Trolltechs QtCreator. QtCreator is a very good lightweight Qt IDE with features like embedded Qt Designer, Code completion, debugging, svn, ...
Note:
This tutorial is tested with SHR and FSO
The installation process is based on Kubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid)
1. install Toolchain
First of all you have to install the toolchain. If you have already done this skip this step. I will just give a summary of how to do that for copy paste the detailed information can be found at Toolchain
3. configure Freerunner
SHR
SHR has Qt libs in the feeds you only need to install
opkg install qt4-x11-free
If Qt libs are not in the feeds
You shlould install the libs like this without adding the angstrom repository,
cause if you install the whole qt4-x11-free it installs dependencies which are
not compatible and the Freerunner doesn't boot anymore.
Views
Personal tools
As long as there are no Qt 4.5 sources for arm this doesn't work on distributions shipping with Qt4.5 e.g. K/Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope).
Introduction
I created a project called "OpenMokoder" which should help to develop Qt4 projects for freerunner. You only need to copy your sourcecode or use the included sample project run the script and you can easy compile, debug, crosscompile, package your project with Trolltechs QtCreator. QtCreator is a very good lightweight Qt IDE with features like embedded Qt Designer, Code completion, debugging, svn, ...
Note:
This tutorial is tested with SHR and FSO
The installation process is based on Kubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid)
1. install Toolchain
First of all you have to install the toolchain. If you have already done this skip this step. I will just give a summary of how to do that for copy paste the detailed information can be found at Toolchain
3. configure Freerunner
SHR
SHR has Qt libs in the feeds you only need to install
opkg install qt4-x11-free
If Qt libs are not in the feeds
You shlould install the libs like this without adding the angstrom repository,
cause if you install the whole qt4-x11-free it installs dependencies which are
not compatible and the Freerunner doesn't boot anymore. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} | 0 |
Before you read, I'd just like to say...It's 2:01 AM, today is the release of RWBY Vol 2, and this idea just popped in my mind. I'm literally just "why not" right now.
"I. Hope. You're. HUNGRY!" Yang Xiao Long made sure to put angry emphasis in every syllable as she shot away into the throat of the giant Nevermore. Her aura warning her of danger, she turned to see that the cliffside was right behind her. Jumping out of the open beak of the Nevermore, she landed expertly on the ground, not even batting an eyelash as the Nevermore crashed in to the earth.
She looked up, and what she saw brought a small smile in her face. Someone's growin' up! She thought happily, joyous to see that Ruby was taking charge. It looked like a risky plan, but she knew Ruby better than most people. This wouldn't be a problem for her.
Dashing towards the pillars, she felt wind rush past her as Weiss used her glyphs to quicken her sprint towards the Nevermore, rudely yelling at Yang to, "Get out of the fucking way!" as she did.
Rolling her eyes, Yang jumped on to the pillar and grabbed on to Gambol Shroud, Blake having just thrown it at her. She dug the blade in to the stone construct, and pulled the ribbon, Blake mimicking her movements. Weiss was now behind the ribbon, and the Nevermore was trapped by the end of its tail frozen in to the ground. Ruby, using the recoil of her weapon, jumped on to the ribbon and turned around, facing the Nevermore, as Weiss summoned a glyph to hold her in place.
"Weiss, PLEASE tell me you got good aim-" Ruby's worried expression notably increased when Weiss angrily retorted,
"You're fuckin' joking. Heiress of the most famous company in the world, you think I can't fuckin' aim at easy shit like this?"
"Sorrysorrysorry!" Ruby sputtered, eyes locked back on to the Nevermore.
Meanwhile, Yang couldn't help but enjoy the rather amusing tidbits of 'conversation' between the two. Though, she did worry with Weiss' situation. If that heiress screwed up, then there would definitely be hell to pay later. Blake just watched curiously, hoping that it'd all go according to plan.
Ruby tried not to focus her attention on Weiss, but even then, she overheard the heiress muttering to herself.
"I'm so going to fuck this up..."
Ruby laid there, unfazed. Then, when the full impact of those words hit her like driving a car in to a brick wall, her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Wait, what? Weiss, hold o-"
"Ruby, shut u-" Too late. The momentary distraction caused Weiss' finger to let go of the trigger before she intended to, and then the glyph disappeared. "OH, FUCK-"
"WHOA!"
A sudden jolt, a large amount of force, and Ruby was flying towards the Nevermore as she, without even thinking, started to shoot bullets so her flight path wouldn't be deterred.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Screaming as she flew closer and closer, she could vaguely hear Weiss screaming, "HOW DID YOU JUMP LIKE YOU'RE ON THE FUCKING MOON?!"
There was also much more panicked screaming coming from the rest of their team mates.
"RUBY, HOLD ON TIGHTLY!" Yang screamed.
"I think she is!" Blake yelled, Ruby screaming angrily as her scythe made contact with the giant beasts neck.
"I AM, GOD DAMNIT-WEISS, HELP-" Ruby was unprepared to land, and she would have met a rather nasty end had it not been for Weiss' quick rescue.
"RUBY, ARE YOU SERIOUS-" Activating her semblance, a glyph appeared to stop kinetic force from slamming Ruby in to the cliff. The glyph morphed, and soon, a path of them appeared on the whole side of the cliff.
Without even thinking, Ruby charged upward, "UP WE GO!", firing off shot after shot, screaming as her team shouted a multitude of random things.
"I DON'T THINK I CAN MAKE IT-
"FU-A-C'MO-WHAT THE F-UUH?!"
"WEISS, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING-"
"TOTALLY MEANT TO DO THAT!"
Blake's hand was glued to her face as her sensitive Faunus ears easily managed to pick out all the screaming that laid on top of each other.
Ruby had just about reached the top of the cliff. The glyphs had ended, and Ruby kicked her legs up, flying above the Nevermore as her scythe separated its head from its body. She landed on the top of the cliff, unscathed, although still pumping with adrenaline.
"AAH-AAH-AAH-"
"RUBY, IT'S FUCKING OVER!" Weiss screamed. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} | 0.001859 |
IN THE MISSOURI COURT OF APPEALS
WESTERN DISTRICT
STATE OF MISSOURI, )
Respondent, )
)
v. ) WD81331
)
KEITH B. HUDSON, ) FILED: May 14, 2019
Appellant. )
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Jackson County
The Honorable Bryan E. Round, Judge
Before Division Four: Karen King Mitchell, C.J., and
Victor C. Howard and Alok Ahuja, JJ.
Following a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Appellant
Keith Hudson was convicted of robbery in the first degree and receiving stolen
property. Hudson was sentenced to terms of imprisonment of fifteen years and
seven years, respectively, with the sentences ordered to run concurrently. Hudson
appeals. He asserts two Points, which challenge only his conviction for first-degree
robbery. First, Hudson argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his
conviction. Second, he argues that the circuit court plainly erred by submitting a
verdict directing instruction which omitted a required definition.
We hold that the evidence was sufficient to support Hudson’s robbery
conviction. We conclude, however, that the circuit court plainly erred by failing to
include the required definition of a “dangerous instrument” in the verdict director
for the robbery charge, when that element was seriously disputed at Hudson’s trial.
We accordingly reverse Hudson’s conviction for first-degree robbery, and remand
the case to the circuit court for further proceedings on the robbery charge. Because
the instructional error relates to the element which differentiates first-degree from
second-degree robbery, and because the evidence was otherwise sufficient to support
Hudson’s conviction, on remand the State will have the option of retrying Hudson
for first-degree robbery, or agreeing to entry of a conviction for the lesser-included
offense of second-degree robbery.
Factual Background1
On November 1, 2016, sometime after 9:00 a.m., Officer Kenny Miller
responded to a disturbance call at a McDonald’s Restaurant on Broadway Street in
Kansas City. An employee called the police because Hudson reportedly refused to
leave the restaurant after complaining that a cup of coffee he had purchased was
too cold. When Officer Miller arrived, Hudson was in the parking lot. Officer Miller
spoke with Hudson, patted him down for weapons, and ran a computer check on
Hudson’s identification. Officer Miller let Hudson go after it was confirmed that he
had no outstanding warrants.
A little before 10:00 a.m., the Victim, an adult female, pulled her Chevrolet
Tahoe into a Shell gas station across the street from the McDonald’s, to get a cup of
coffee and gasoline. After pulling up to the pump, the Victim observed a man,
whom she later identified as Hudson, standing near the gas station. While the
Victim was sitting in her vehicle looking in her purse for money, Hudson
approached and opened the driver’s door of the vehicle. The Victim testified that
Hudson put “something” to her side, which felt “like a sharp object”; she thought the
object was a weapon. The Victim testified that she felt “real[ly] scared,” and in fear
for her life.
1 “On appeal from a jury-tried case, we review the facts in the light most
favorable to the jury’s verdict.” State v. Rice, 504 S.W.3d 198, 200 n.3 (Mo. App. W.D. 2016)
(citation omitted). Because Hudson does not challenge his conviction for receiving stolen
property, we omit the facts relevant only to that offense.
2
Hudson told the Victim to get out of the vehicle. The Victim complied. As
she was exiting the vehicle, the Victim reached for her purse, but Hudson “told [her]
to leave [her] purse and just get out.” After the Victim got out, Hudson drove off in
her vehicle. The Victim ran into the gas station, and someone called the police.
Officer Charles Hill responded to the call. The Victim described the robber as
a black male, medium build with a lazy left eye, wearing blue jeans and dark
clothing. Officer Hill notified a dispatcher of the Victim’s description of the robber
and of the stolen vehicle.
Less than five minutes after leaving the McDonald’s, Officer Miller heard
from dispatch that a robbery had occurred at the gas station across the street. The
description of the robber matched Hudson, so Officer Miller reported the
information he knew about Hudson to dispatch, and drove to the gas station.
Less than ten minutes after Officer Hill responded to the call at the gas
station, Officer Kevin Eifert notified dispatch that he saw the Victim’s vehicle less
than two miles away, near 45th Street and Paseo Boulevard. The vehicle turned
into the parking lot of a cellular phone store. Hudson exited the vehicle and walked
into the store. After verifying that the vehicle belonged to the Victim, Officer Eifert
arrested Hudson in the store. Hudson was searched, and officers found the keys to
Brown’s vehicle in his left coat pocket. Officers found no weapon on Hudson’s
person when they searched him incident to his arrest.
Officer Hill drove the Victim to the cell phone store where Hudson was
detained. At the store, the Victim identified her vehicle, and identified Hudson as
the person who had robbed her. Later that day, the Victim gave a statement to a
detective, in which she stated that, although she could not be sure, she believed a
gun was held to her side. At trial, the Victim testified that she had never met
Hudson before he robbed her on November 1, 2016.
3
Hudson was charged with robbery in the first degree and receiving stolen
property.
The case proceeded to a jury trial. In addition to admitting the evidence as
outlined above, the State introduced into evidence a recording of surveillance video
from the gas station where the robbery occurred. Because the surveillance video
was shot from a distance, and because Hudson’s interaction with the Victim
occurred on the far side of her vehicle, the video does not reveal any details of their
interaction, and in particular whether Hudson wielded any sort of object or weapon
during the theft.
At trial, Hudson testified in his own defense. He testified that he first met
the Victim the day before the robbery, on October 31, 2016, when she and a male
companion asked him and a male associate if they wanted to buy jewelry and
Fentanyl pills. Hudson was dealing methamphetamine at the time. He testified
that he told the Victim that he did not want to buy the items, nor did he want to
exchange drugs for the items. Instead, he offered the Victim drugs in exchange for
letting him rent her vehicle or use her credit card. Hudson testified that the Victim
did not agree to this exchange at that time.
Hudson testified that, the next day, he was at the Shell gas station when the
Victim pulled in, and waved for Hudson to come over and talk to her. Hudson did
not immediately walk over because he saw police nearby. After the police left the
area, Hudson approached the Victim’s vehicle. Hudson testified that, after he
opened the vehicle’s door, the Victim offered to let him rent her vehicle and use her
credit card in exchange for 1.6 grams of methamphetamine. Hudson testified that
he agreed to the transaction and gave the Victim the methamphetamine she
requested. As the Victim got out of the vehicle, Hudson testified that he asked her
if she wanted her purse; according to Hudson the Victim stated that there was
4
nothing of value in the purse, and walked away. After the Victim left, Hudson
testified that he drove to the cell phone store where he was arrested.
Instruction No. 8 was the verdict director for robbery in the first degree. In
relevant part, the instruction provided that, to convict Hudson for first-degree
robbery, the jury was required to find that, “in the course of taking the property, the
defendant displayed or threatened the use of what appeared to be a deadly weapon
or dangerous instrument.” Although Note on Use 3 to MAI-CR 3d 323.02 required
that the term “dangerous instrument” be defined, Instruction No. 8 failed to do so.
Hudson did not object to Instruction No. 8 prior to its submission to the jury.
The jury found Hudson guilty of robbery in the first degree and of receiving
stolen property. The circuit court found Hudson to be a prior and persistent
offender, and sentenced him to a fifteen-year term of imprisonment for the robbery
offense, and to seven years for receiving stolen property, with the sentences ordered
to run concurrently.
Hudson appeals.
Discussion
I.
We consider Hudson’s two Points out of order. In his second Point, Hudson
argues that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of robbery in the first
degree.
To determine whether the evidence was sufficient to support a conviction, we
do not assess the credibility of the evidence, but instead accept as true all evidence
tending to prove guilt together with all reasonable inferences that support the
verdict. State v. Naylor, 510 S.W.3d 855, 858–59 (Mo. 2017).
This is not an assessment of whether this Court believes that the
evidence at trial established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt but
rather a question of whether, in light of the evidence most favorable to
the State, any rational fact-finder could have found the essential
5
elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. In reviewing the
sufficiency of the evidence supporting a criminal conviction, an
appellate court does not act as a “super juror” with veto powers but
gives great deference to the trier of fact.
Id. at 859 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).
Section 569.020.12 provides in relevant part that
A person commits the crime of robbery in the first degree when
he forcibly steals property and in the course thereof he . . .
....
(4) Displays or threatens the use of what appears to be a
deadly weapon or dangerous instrument.
Hudson argues that there was insufficient evidence of two of the elements of
first-degree robbery under § 569.020.1(4). First, he argues that there was
insufficient evidence that he forcibly stole property from the Victim. Second,
Hudson argues that there was insufficient evidence that he threatened the use of
what appeared to be a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument. We examine the
evidence supporting each element in turn.
The evidence was sufficient to allow a reasonable fact-finder to find that
Hudson forcibly stole the Victim’s property. Section 570.030.1 defines “stealing” as
the appropriation of property “of another with the purpose to deprive him or her
thereof, either without his or her consent or by means of deceit or coercion.” A
person “forcibly steals” “when, in the course of stealing . . . he . . . threatens the
immediate use of physical force upon another person for the purpose of . . .
[p]reventing . . . resistance to the taking of the property . . . .” § 569.010(1).
Hudson argues that there was insufficient evidence that he threatened to use
physical force against the Victim. When determining the existence of a threat,
courts apply an objective test that examines “whether a reasonable person would
2 Statutory citations refer to the 2000 edition of the Revised Statutes of
Missouri, updated through the 2014 noncumulative supplement.
6
believe the defendant’s conduct was a threat of the immediate use of physical force.”
State v. Coleman, 463 S.W.3d 353, 355 (Mo. 2015) (citation omitted). The threat of
physical force “need not be explicit; it can be implied by words, physical behavior or
both.” State v. Neal, 36 S.W.3d 814, 816 (Mo. App. S.D. 2001) (citation omitted).
Courts have found that a defendant impliedly threatened physical force by
“display[ing] a weapon, engag[ing] in behavior that gave the appearance that he
was armed, or us[ing] . . . phrases like, ‘This is a holdup,’ or that it is a ‘stickup.’”
Patterson v. State, 110 S.W.3d 896, 904 (Mo. App. W.D. 2003) (citation omitted); see
also State v. Cassel, 419 S.W.3d 867, 869 (Mo. App. S.D. 2013) (citation omitted).
When viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, there was
sufficient evidence for a reasonable juror to find that Hudson’s actions impliedly
threatened the Victim with the immediate use of physical force, even though he
never explicitly threatened her. Hudson opened the door to the Victim’s car, and
told her to get out of the vehicle. The jury could find that, as he did so, he pressed a
sharp object to the Victim’s side. From the Victim’s perception of a sharp object, the
jury could conclude either that Hudson was actually armed, or that he was
intending to give the appearance of being armed. Further, Hudson ordered the
Victim to leave her purse behind when she attempted to leave the vehicle with it.
This evidence was sufficient to support a finding that Hudson stole the Victim’s
property forcibly. See Coleman, 463 S.W.3d at 355 (jury’s finding of a threat of force
was supported by evidence that the defendant “approached the bank teller [with]
one hand concealed, . . . and directed the branch manager not to move any farther
when she approached to investigate the situation”); Patterson, 110 S.W.3d at 905
(finding evidence sufficient to prove that the defendant “threatened the use of
immediate physical harm upon the store employees by holding his right hand in his
jacket pocket in a manner consistent with having a pistol and by otherwise acting
7
and speaking in a manner consistent with an armed holdup[,]” although defendant
never actually claimed to have a weapon, and never explicitly threatened violence).
There was also sufficient evidence to support a jury finding that Hudson
threatened the use of what appeared to be a deadly weapon or dangerous
instrument. “The distinctive element of robbery in the first degree is the taking of
the property of another by violence or by putting the victim in fear.” State v. Saucy,
164 S.W.3d 523, 527 (Mo. App. S.D. 2005) (citation omitted). Section 569.020.1(4),
under which Hudson was charged, “is concerned with the fear generated by that
which may be neither a deadly weapon nor a dangerous instrument but which is
utilized so as to give the appearance of being such.” State v. Sistrunk, 414 S.W.3d
592, 598 n.3 (Mo. App. E.D. 2013) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).
Therefore, “the State does not have to show that the defendant actually possessed a
dangerous instrument, only that there was evidence from which the fact finder
could reasonably conclude that the victim believed the defendant was threatening
its use.” State v. Bolthouse, 362 S.W.3d 457, 460 (Mo. App. S.D. 2012) (citation and
internal quotation marks omitted).
Robbery in the first degree may be found where the victim is in
fear even though there was no real possibility of injury. The fact that a
victim perceives there to be a weapon that remains unseen is sufficient
whether or not, in fact, such a weapon exists. Whether or not the
object that is perceived as a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument is
in fact capable of producing harm is unimportant. The threat to use
the object to produce harm transmogrifies it into a dangerous
instrument.
Id. (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Evidence may be sufficient to
establish the threatened use of what appears to be a deadly weapon or dangerous
instrument “if the defendant . . . made motions indicating he had a concealed
weapon during the course of the robbery . . . .” Id. (citations omitted).
In State v. Simrin, 384 S.W.3d 713 (Mo. App. S.D. 2012), the defendant
robbed his victim by sticking an object through the victim’s car window while the
8
victim was at an automated teller machine. Id. at 716. Evidence later recovered at
the scene, and surveillance video, indicated that the object the defendant
brandished was his cell phone. The Southern District nonetheless found sufficient
evidence to support the defendant’s conviction of first-degree robbery.
[T]he fact that Simrin was not carrying a dangerous instrument is
immaterial based on the facts of this case. Simrin approached [the
victim’s] vehicle and “stuck something through the window and said,
‘Give me the money.’” [The Victim] testified he gave the cash to Simrin
because he “couldn’t tell at the time what [Simrin] had in his hand . . .
if it was a gun, what kind of weapon it was, if anything[;]” he did not
want to “take any chances with this guy” in that his “kids [were] in the
car[;]” he would not have given the money to Simrin if he had not
believed Simrin had a weapon; during the incident he was scared “[n]ot
for himself, [but] for [his] children[;]” and he believed at the time
Simrin had a gun or a taser. . . . The evidence is sufficient whereby a
reasonable juror could have concluded [the Victim] believed Simrin
was threatening to use a dangerous instrument, even though he did
not see such an instrument and such an instrument ultimately did not
exist.
384 S.W.3d at 719–20 (footnote omitted).
The evidence in this case is similar to that in Simrin. Here, the Victim
testified that Hudson placed a sharp object against her side, and demanded her
vehicle and purse. The Victim testified that she was scared and that she thought
Hudson had a weapon, although she could not identify the kind of weapon Hudson
had. The fact that the Victim complied with Hudson’s demands to turn over her
property is further evidence that she believed Hudson was threatening the use of a
dangerous instrument. Saucy, 164 S.W.3d at 527 (“Compliance with the demands
of the robber is indicative of the victim’s fear of the consequences which could have
resulted had he or she not complied.” (citation omitted)).
Because the Victim did not visually confirm what Hudson was pressing
against her side, Hudson argues the object could have been “a seat belt or the door
itself.” This argument ignores our standard of review: we view the evidence, and
9
all reasonable inferences from the evidence, in the light most favorable to the
judgment – we do not view the evidence in a light contrary to the judgment. It was
not necessary for the Victim to visually confirm the dangerous instrument’s
existence, or the nature of the dangerous instrument, nor did a dangerous
instrument need to be found on Hudson’s person when he was arrested.
There was sufficient evidence to support Hudson’s conviction of robbery in
the first degree. Point II is denied.
II.
In his first Point, Hudson argues the trial court erroneously omitted the
definition of a “dangerous instrument” from the verdict director for first-degree
robbery. Hudson concedes that he did not object to the instruction on this basis,
and that he is therefore entitled to review solely for plain error.
A.
“For instructional error to rise to the level of plain error, [Hudson] must
demonstrate that the trial court so misdirected or failed to instruct the jury as to
cause manifest injustice or miscarriage of justice.” State v. Cooper, 215 S.W.3d 123,
125 (Mo. 2007) (citation omitted).
Failing to require the jury to find every fact essential to conviction may
constitute plain error. “‘A verdict-directing instruction must contain each element
of the offense charged and must require the jury to find every fact necessary to
constitute essential elements of [the] offense charged.’” Id. (quoting State v.
Doolittle, 896 S.W.2d 27, 30 (Mo. 1995)). “A violation of due process arises when an
instruction relieves the State of its burden of proving each and every element of the
crime and allows the State to obtain a conviction without the jury deliberating on
and determining any contested elements of that crime.” Cooper, 215 S.W.3d at 126
(citation omitted). Because it is fundamental that the State must be required to
prove, and the jury must be required to find, each element of an offense, it is well-
10
established that “‘[p]lain error exists when an instruction omits an essential
element and the evidence establishing the omitted element was seriously disputed.’”
State v. Zetina-Torres, 482 S.W.3d 801, 811 (Mo. 2016) (quoting State v. Stover, 388
S.W.3d 138, 154 (Mo. 2012)); see also, e.g., State v. Rhymer, 563 S.W.3d 714, 722
(Mo. App. W.D. 2018); State v. Henderson, 551 S.W.3d 593, 600 (Mo. App. W.D.
2018).
The elements of first degree robbery were submitted to the jury in Instruction
No. 8, which was based on MAI-CR 3d 323.02 (now MAI-CR 4th 424.00). The
relevant portion of Instruction No. 8 provided that, to convict Hudson, the jury must
find that “in the course of taking the property, [Hudson] displayed or threatened the
use of what appeared to be a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument.” Instruction
No. 8 did not, however, define the term “dangerous instrument.” This violated Note
on Use 3 to MAI-CR 323.02, which states that when the term “dangerous
instrument” is used in the instruction, “the paragraph defining that term must be
used.” The omitted definition would have advised the jury that a “dangerous
instrument” is “any instrument, article or substance which, under the
circumstances in which it is used, is readily capable of causing death or other
serious physical injury.” The State concedes that it was error to omit this definition
of “dangerous instrument” from Instruction No. 8.
“[T]he absence of a required definition from a verdict-directing instruction
has the potential of effectively omitting an essential element of the offense.” State
v. Jones, 519 S.W.3d 818, 826 (Mo. App. E.D. 2017) (citing State v. Arnold, 397
S.W.3d 521, 529 (Mo. App. S.D. 2013)). “In determining whether the jury
instruction misdirected the jury, an appellate court will be more inclined to reverse
judgments where the erroneous instruction did not merely allow a wrong word or
some other ambiguity to exist, but excused the State from its burden of proof on a
contested element of the crime.” Jones, 519 S.W.3d at 826 (citation and internal
11
quotation marks omitted). Here, the omission of the definition of a “dangerous
instrument” from Instruction No. 8 excused the State from having to prove, and the
jury from having to find, that Hudson threatened the use of an instrument which
appeared to be “readily capable of causing death or other serious physical injury.”
Whether or not Hudson threatened the use of a dangerous instrument was
seriously disputed at trial. First, in his testimony Hudson disputed that any
robbery occurred—instead, according to him, his use of the Victim’s vehicle was part
of a consensual drug deal. The fact that Hudson claimed his use of the Victim’s
vehicle was consensual puts in dispute the State’s claim that he used a dangerous
instrument to misappropriate the vehicle. See State v. Neal, 328 S.W.3d 374, 383
(Mo. App. W.D. 2010) (finding plain error where verdict director for first-degree
robbery omitted “dangerous instrument” element, and the defendant’s “defense was
that [the victim] consented to the entirety of events of that night”); State v. Roe, 6
S.W.3d 411, 415–16 (Mo. App. E.D. 1999) (finding plain error where instruction did
not require jury to find intent to kill to support first-degree murder conviction,
where defendant denied any involvement in the murder; “although Defendant may
not have actively contested the intent element, as it would have been inconsistent
with his theory at trial, we cannot say that the element of intent in this case was in
no meaningful sense a contested element, because Defendant never conceded that
whoever shot [the victim] had the intent to kill him.”).
Beyond denying that any stealing occurred, at trial Hudson also specifically
contested the Victim’s testimony that he had wielded an object, and concerning the
nature of any object. During cross-examination of the Victim, Hudson’s counsel
emphasized that she never actually saw the object Hudson purportedly wielded, but
instead merely “felt some kind of an object in [her] side.” Counsel also emphasized
that the Victim never actually saw any object in Hudson’s hand, and that Hudson
12
never expressly threatened to hurt her, and never said he had a weapon or
identified what that weapon was. Counsel continued:
Q. And you are telling us that he had something in his hand
and that is because you felt something in your side, is that right?
A. Yes.
Q. But you weren’t even turning and facing him at the time
that this took place?
A. No.
Q. So it’s kind of an assumption that he had something in his
hand, is that right?
A. Well, I felt something in my side.
Q. You felt something to your side?
A. Um-hum.
Q. Okay. And so you assume that that something was in Mr.
Hudson’s hand?
A. Yes.
Q. Even though you weren’t even turning to look at him to
see whether he was holding something against you or not, is that fair?
A. Yes.
Later, the Victim agreed with counsel’s statement that “you don’t really know what
he is doing over there, you just feel something in your side.” Counsel also
questioned the Victim about testimony that the police dispatcher had told officers
that the assailant had held a gun to the Victim’s head; counsel suggested that
Victim had been inconsistent as to whether Hudson had held a gun to her head, or
instead had held “something” that felt “like a sharp object” to her side.
The dispute as to whether Hudson was holding anything, and if so, what it
was, continued during the parties’ closing arguments. In its closing, the State
argued that Hudson “made sure [the Victim] thought he had a gun or a knife or
something that was going to hurt her.” The State also conceded that the Victim
13
“didn’t know if he had a weapon for sure or not,” but that the actual existence of a
weapon was unnecessary, if Hudson made it appear that he was armed.
During the defense closing, counsel emphasized the supposed vagaries and
inconsistencies in the Victim’s account as to whether Hudson had wielded an object,
and the nature of the object he had used. Thus, counsel argued:
Mr. Hudson opened the door and she feels something poking in her
side. She does not turn to look at Mr. Hudson. She specifically said
that. She does not turn to look at him. She does not know whether he
was holding anything in his hand. These are not my words. These are
[the Victim’s] words. She does not know whether he actually had
anything in his hand. She doesn’t even know whether he was actually
pushing something against her side. She didn’t see it. She felt
something. And from that, she concludes it may have been a gun. It
may have been a weapon. And hey, to be honest with you, if you feel
that, it may be a lot of things. That is true. It may be all kind of
things. But does that appear to be a deadly weapon or dangerous
instrument? She didn’t see anything. There is no possible way on this
Earth that they have met their burden, based on what [the Victim]
says. Something you don’t see does not have an appearance of
anything.
As in his cross-examination of the Victim, counsel also argued that the Victim had
been inconsistent, reporting that a gun had been held to her head during the 9-1-1
call, but later claiming that a sharp object had been held to her side.
Defense counsel also emphasized during closing argument that Hudson was
searched by police both shortly before the theft (when Officer Miller patted him
down at the McDonald’s restaurant), and shortly afterwards, when he was arrested.
Counsel emphasized that the officers on each occasion found “[n]othing. No weapon.
. . . Nothing that could have even been used as a weapon[,] . . . nothing hard,
nothing pointy, nothing.”
Given this testimony and argument, it is evident that the existence and
nature of any object Hudson wielded was seriously disputed. The jury’s
deliberations would undoubtedly have been influenced by an instruction telling
14
them not only that they needed to find that Hudson had threatened the use of what
appeared to be a “dangerous instrument,” but that they had to find that the
instrument appeared to be “readily capable of causing death or other serious
physical injury.” The circuit court plainly erred by omitting the required definition
of a “dangerous instrument” from the verdict director for first-degree robbery in this
case. See, e.g., State v. Doolittle, 896 S.W.2d 27, 29–30 (Mo. 1995) (finding plain
error and reversing first-degree robbery conviction where instruction failed to define
“dangerous instrument” or to require jury to find that defendant employed a
dangerous instrument; at trial, the defendant disputed that he wielded a Coke
bottle in theft from convenience store, or that he used it as a dangerous
instrument); State v. Arnold, 397 S.W.3d 521, 529 (Mo. App. S.D. 2013) (prosecution
for offense of trafficking in stolen identities, which required a finding that the
defendant intended to transfer means of identification “for the purpose of
committing identity theft”; finding plain error where verdict director omitted
required definition of “identity theft,” and “defense counsel consistently argued that:
(1) Defendant did not know the means of identification were in the car [in which the
Defendant was a passenger]; and (2) said items belonged to the driver, who ran
away . . .” and was never apprehended).3
3 This case is distinguishable from State v. Jones, 519 S.W.3d 818 (Mo. App.
E.D. 2017), on which the State relies. In Jones, the State charged Jones with attempting to
cause physical injury with a dangerous instrument—his vehicle. 519 S.W.3d at 821. The
State contended that, in the underlying incident, Jones attempted to evade a bail bondsman
by using his vehicle to strike the bail bondsman’s vehicle and push it into a pole. Id. Jones
contended that his vehicle accidentally struck the bail bondsman’s, because the bail
bondsman “was speeding, driving recklessly, and swerving into the other lane.” Id. at 822.
As here, the verdict director omitted the required definition of a “dangerous instrument.”
Id. The Eastern District rejected Jones’ claim that this constituted plain error. Id. at 827.
But in Jones, the defendant admitted that he wielded the object in question (his vehicle),
and did not dispute that the object in question could constitute a “dangerous instrument.”
Instead, the defendant in Jones argued that he did not intentionally wield the object at all.
As we have explained in the text, this case is fundamentally different: here, Hudson
contested both that he wielded an object, and that this object constituted a “dangerous
instrument.”
15
B.
Having found that the circuit court plainly erred in failing to provide the jury
with the MAI-required definition of a “dangerous instrument,” we must now
address the appropriate remedy.
“The general rule is that the remedy for instructional error is to remand the
case for a new trial.” State v. Neal, 328 S.W.3d 374, 383 (Mo. App. W.D. 2010)
(citation omitted). This case is unusual, however. As we explained in § I, above, the
evidence at trial was sufficient to establish Hudson’s guilt of first-degree robbery.
Moreover, the instructional error in this case relates only to a single element of
first-degree robbery: whether Hudson “[d]isplay[ed] or threaten[ed] the use of what
appears to be a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument.” § 569.020.1(4). The
instructional error did not affect the jury’s finding that the other elements of first-
degree robbery had been established beyond a reasonable doubt: that Hudson took
a Chevrolet Tahoe belonging to the Victim; that Hudson did so for the purpose of
withholding it permanently from the Victim; and that Hudson threatened the
immediate use of physical force against the Victim for the purpose of preventing her
resistance to Hudson’s taking of the vehicle. These “untainted” elements constitute
the lesser offense of second-degree robbery. See § 569.030. The jury was instructed
on this lesser-included offense. In addition, Hudson was not entitled to jury
sentencing in this case, because the circuit court found him to be a prior and
persistent offender.
In these circumstances, when (1) an instructional error relates only to an
element which differentiates a greater offense from a lesser-included offense; (2) the
lesser offense was actually litigated; (3) there was otherwise sufficient evidence to
support the jury’s conviction of the greater offense; and (4) jury sentencing is not
available, we believe the appropriate remedy is to give the State the option of
retrying the defendant for the greater offense, or instead agreeing to the entry of a
16
conviction of the lesser offense, without the necessity of a retrial. The Eastern
District reached this conclusion in State v. Roe, 6 S.W.3d 411 (Mo. App. E.D. 1999),
in circumstances which are functionally identical to the situation here. The Court
cogently explained why, in these circumstances, the interests of judicial economy,
and of fairness to the parties, justified giving the State the option whether to retry
the defendant for the greater offense:
It is fundamental that the appellate remedy should extend no
further than the scope of the wrong. The wrong here is that the trial
court misdirected the jury as to the proper essential elements of first-
degree murder and armed criminal action[, by failing to correctly
instruct on the state of mind required to support a first-degree murder
conviction]. However, the erroneous instruction clearly contained all
the requisite elements of second-degree murder and armed criminal
action, albeit with some language from the first-degree murder
instruction that could be deemed surplusage. Further, both second-
degree murder and armed criminal action were, in fact, submitted as
lesser-included offenses. Thus, Defendant had full notice and a
complete opportunity to defend against the charges of second-degree
murder and armed criminal action. Despite a vigorous defense, the
jury still found, unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt, that
Defendant committed all the constituent elements of second-degree
murder and armed criminal action. Finally, the court found Defendant
to be a prior offender, a classification that makes the assessment of
punishment a question for the judge rather than the jury, thus
foreclosing any expectation of Defendant that the jury would assess his
sentence. Given these circumstances, remand for a new trial is an
appellate remedy that exceeds the scope of the wrong, representing a
windfall to Defendant who failed to timely raise his claim of error.
Under the circumstances, the appropriate disposition of this case is . . .
[one] in which the State is allowed on remand to choose whether to
retry the defendant or accept the lesser convictions.
Id. at 417 (footnotes omitted). The Court noted that, because the procedural error
did not affect the jury’s finding of the essential elements of second-degree murder
and armed criminal action, “Defendant received a perfectly fair trial as to second-
degree murder and armed criminal action[,]” and therefore giving the State the
choice to have a conviction entered for the lesser offenses without a retrial “does not
violate Defendant’s constitutional right to a fair trial.” Id. at 418. The Eastern
17
District followed Roe, and entered the same dispositional order, in State v. Bell, 488
S.W.3d 228, 247–49 (Mo. App. E.D. 2016).4
We believe Roe is persuasive, and that the remedy it affords furthers the
interests of judicial economy, and is fair to the parties. On remand, the State will
have the opportunity to elect whether to retry Hudson for first-degree robbery, or
instead accept the entry of a conviction for second-degree robbery.
Conclusion
Hudson’s conviction for first-degree robbery is reversed, and the case is
remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings with respect only to the
robbery charge. On remand, Hudson will be entitled to a new trial unless the State
elects, within sixty days from the issuance of our mandate, to accept the entry of a
conviction for the lesser-included offense of second-degree robbery. If the State
elects the entry of a conviction of the lesser offense, Hudson shall be resentenced
accordingly.
___________________________________
Alok Ahuja, Judge
All concur.
4 In State v. Neal, 328 S.W.3d 374 (Mo. App. W.D. 2010), we took the Roe
principle a step further. Neal was a prosecution for rape and first-degree robbery. On the
robbery count, the verdict director proffered by the State wholly omitted the “dangerous
instrument” element; thus, although the defendant had been charged with first-degree
robbery, the tendered instruction correctly set forth the elements of second-degree robbery.
Neal did not object to the instruction. In these circumstances, we held that “[b]oth parties
consented to the submission of the lesser included offense of robbery in the second degree[,]”
instead of first-degree robbery. Id. at 385. Given that the parties had essentially consented
to try the case solely on a second-degree robbery charge, we held that “[n]either judicial
economy nor the rights of the parties would be served by granting either party a new trial”
on first-degree robbery. Id. We therefore ordered the entry of a conviction for second-
degree robbery. In this case, by contrast, the State plainly sought to submit the offense of
first-degree robbery to the jury, and the approach taken in Neal is inapplicable.
18
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[The early breast feeding of newborn infants].
Breast feeding was started at the age of 2 hours after birth, immediately after mother and baby were transported to the clinic for healthy term newborns. Our aim was to investigate the influence of the early start of breast feeding on the development of the newborns and on their mothers, as well as to compare the results with those, obtained when breast feeding had begun on the 6-th hour after birth. The results from our work show that the earlier the beginning of breast feeding, the earlier and the more effective the consolidation of the process. The physiological loss of weight with these babies shows a smaller percentage. The level of blood sugar varies in the normal limits. So far as mothers are concerned, the early beginning of breast feeding has a good impact on their after-birth period and helps the earlier initiation of the secretion of breast milk. | {
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**Cite this article as:** Stoyanova RG, Harizanova SN. Assessment of the personal losses suffered by correctional officers due to burnout syndrome. Int J Occup Environ Med 2016;7:33-41. doi: 10.15171/ijoem.2016.680
TAKE-HOME MESSAGE {#home1}
=================
- Burnout syndrome is a significant predictor of sickness absence at the correctional officers.
- Burnout syndrome has a negative economic impact on the correctional officers due to reduced salary amounts and increasing use of medical care and medications.
- Burnout syndrome affects the health of the prison staff and leads to psychosomatic diseases among correctional officers more often than members of other occupations.
- Burnout syndrome is significant associated with harmful habits like increased alcohol intake and substance abuse among the wardens.
Introduction {#s1}
============
The professional exhaustion or "burnout" syndrome was first described in the literature by Freudenberger in 1974.^[@R1]^ He described the phenomenon that he observed in himself and in some of his colleagues as a state of depletion and loss of motivation accompanied by different mental and physical symptoms. In the same time, independently from Freudenberger, Christina Maslach^[@R2]^ defined burnout as a state of physiological, emotional and intellectual depletion characterized by chronic fatigue, a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness, development of a negative perception and behavior towards oneself, the job, life and the others. Burnout syndrome is an officially recognized diagnosis introduced in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), 10^th^ revision,^[@R3]^ specified as a state of vital exhaustion (Z73.0). Therefore, according ICD-10-CM "vital exhaustion" refers to "burnout." Occupational burnout falls within Class XXI---factors influencing health status and contact with health services under problems related to life-management difficulty.
Burnout is a process that begins with excessive and prolonged job stress levels. There are not many researchers worldwide who have studied the development of the professional burnout in prison and correctional officers.^[@R4]-[@R7]^ Work conditions in prisons include various sources of stress which are relatively specific to the prison environment. Career within a prison involves dealing with hostile individuals, life threats, shift work, work under high risk levels, overtime, and fear of contracting incurable diseases when in contact with offenders. All these unfavorable work environment specific factors lead to physical and mental depletion, insomnia, increased alcohol consumption, smoking, medical substances abuse, as well as frequent headaches, gastrointestinal disorders, fatigue and depression.^[@R8]-[@R10]^
Burnout research focused on its attitudinal and organizational consequences and its negative impact on mental health.^[@R11]^ Job burnout has negative consequences on individual accomplishments at work and results in frequent absence from work (*eg*, sick leave), changes of vocational orientation, low efficiency, reduced satisfaction with and reduced dedication to work.^[@R12]^ These negative organizational consequences of burnout have in common that they all---directly or indirectly---lead to financial losses.
In Bulgaria, there is no official information on this area and therefore, we conducted this study to assess the personal losses suffered by correctional officers as a result of burnout syndrome.
Materials and Methods {#s2}
=====================
Study Area {#s2-0-1}
----------
The study was conducted in the regional prison of Pazardzhik and the regional prison of Sliven. The prison in Pazardzhik encompasses the building of the prison itself and two open-type correctional communities (CC): CC Pazardzhik in the city of Pazardzhik and CC Sredna Gora located near the town of Pirdop, region of Sofia.
In Bulgaria, there is only one prison for women and one correctional facility for minor girls, both located in Sliven. The regional prison of Sliven encompasses two open-type correctional communities: CC Sliven in the city of Sliven and CC Ramanusha located 10 km to the East of the same town.
Study Design {#s2-0-2}
------------
A cross-sectional study was carried out with all available staff at prisons between June and December 2012. The response rate was 100%. The front page of the survey explained that participation was voluntary and the results would be kept in strict confidence. All employees in direct contact with the inmates were included in the study.
Participants {#s2-0-3}
------------
A total of 201 prison employees with a mean age of 41.2 (SD 8.0) years was included in this study. The socio-demographic characteristics of participants are shown in [Table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------
**Table 1:** Socio-demographic characteristics and work places of the respondents
**Variable** **n (%; 95% CI)**
Sex
Male 114 (56.7; 49.9 to 63.5)
Female 87 (43.3; 36.5 to 50.1)
Educational level
University 77 (38.3; 31.6 to 45.0)
Secondary 124 (61.7; 55.0 to 68.4)
Marital status
Single 27 (13.4; 8.7 to 18.1)
Married 146 (72.6; 66.4 to 78.8)
Widow/Widower 6 (3.0; 0.7 to 5.4)
Divorced 22 (10.9; 6.6 to 15.2)
Rank
Correctional officer 141 (70.1; 63.8 to 76.4)
Inspector 44 (21.9; 16.2 to 27.6)
Administration 16 (8.0; 4.3 to 11.7)
Experience in this workplace
≤ 1 yr 16 (8.0; 4.3 to 11.7)
1.1--3 yrs 16 (8.0; 4.3 to 11.7)
3.1--5 yrs 16 (8.0; 4.3 to 11.7)
\>5 yrs 153 (76.1; 70.2 to 82.0)
City
Sliven 101 (50.2; 43.3 to 57.1)
Pazardzhik 100 (49.8; 42.9 to 56.7)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------
Data collection tools {#s2-0-4}
---------------------
The principal tool used for data collection was the specially designed questionnaire organized in four sections: The first section covered the demographic characteristics such as gender, age, educational level, marital status, rank in the chain of command, and years of tenure in present prison. The second section identified the presence and level of burnout syndrome among correctional officers using V. Boyko\'s method for diagnostics of the severity of symptoms and the phases of formation and completion of the "occupational burnout" process.^[@R13]^ The third part of the questionnaire covered some of the most widely spread complaints noted over the last six months in respect to stress and exhaustion at work. The list of symptoms was used as a screening test for emotional burnout and allowed disclosing the occurrence of psychosomatic and psycho-vegetative disorders among the affected respondents. The destructive coping mechanisms---smoking, alcohol consumption, and substance use and abuse---were assessed with the questionnaire with only two possible answers (yes/no) without asking participants the name of the medication taken. The fourth section of the questionnaire included questions related to quantitative assessment of the sick leaves taken during the last year, the visits to the general practitioner and self-assessment of the related loss of work time or leisure time, the expenses spent on medicines and the weight of such expenses, as well as the extent of job salary of the respondents. Some of the questions were open, whereas for other questions five-grade Likert scale was used to measure some of the studied signs. To prevent confusion in the respondents and obtain correct information concerning the sick leaves taken, the visits to the general practitioner and the expenses on medicines attributable to burnout syndrome, the questions contained specific guidelines as to the circumstances under which a sick leaves must have been taken, the general practitioner visited and medicines purchased.
Boyko describes the dynamics of "occupational burnout" differentiating three stages each of which is manifested in the form of four symptoms: (1) Strain phase: the presence of strain is a precursor for the starting and the development of the mechanism of formation of the burnout syndrome. This phase is characterized by the following symptoms---experiencing traumatizing psychological situations, dissatisfaction with oneself, feeling of being "enclosed in a cage," and anxiety and depression. (2) Resistance phase: the introduction of this phase as a separate one is conditional. Where one realizes the presence of strains, they strive to avoid the effect of the emotional factor by reducing their emotional reactions, which leads to inadequate selective emotional reactions, emotional and moral disorientation, enlarged area of saving emotions, and reduced fulfillment of the professional duties. And (3) Exhaustion phase: it is characterized by general loss of energy and failure of the nervous system. Emotional deficit, emotional avoidance (isolation), isolation of the personality (depersonalization), and psychosomatic and psycho-vegetative disorders are observed during this phase. The diagnostic methodology allows differentiating not only the three stages in the development of burnout syndrome but also the four principal signs or symptoms within each of these stages. Therefore, a detailed picture of job burnout is presented. Each statement in the questionnaire in its positive or negative version is assigned a given number of points that form the total score for each sign/symptom. The higher is the total score, the more pronounced is the respective sign/symptom. Once the total score for each symptom has been calculated, the score by stages needs to be calculated. Special attention was paid to symptoms with scores in excess of 20 points as they were the leading symptoms and the stage to which they belong was determined as dominating. The quantitative indicators provide understanding of the degree of formation of each stage, *ie*, the level of completeness. If the total score was \<45 the level of burnout was considered "low;" between 46 and 75, "moderate;" and \>75, the level of burnout was considered "high." We tried to figure out which stage of development of the burnout syndrome belonged to the leading symptoms, and at which stage they had the highest frequency.
As the method of V. Boyko was applied for the first time in Bulgaria, it was preliminarily adapted and validated.^[@R14]^ The Boyko\'s method (containing 84 statements) was translated into Bulgarian language by three translators following the recommended stages of translation and cultural adaptation---translation with conceptual and linguistic evaluation, back translation, comparison of the source, and verification of the new instrument. Comparison of the backward version with the original source version was performed by the expert in psychology.
The data collection from the pilot study was administered to a sample of 100 prison employees (50% male, 50% female). The test-retest interval was 2--4 months. The reliability coefficients for the three phases, estimated by Cronbach\'s α in the pilot sample, were as follows: strain phase -0.94, resistance phase -0.86, and exhaustion phase -0.90. The reliability of the total scale was 0.96.
There were strong to moderate correlations between the responses obtained from Boyko\'s method and the results of most widely used measure on burnout-Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI); the Pearson\'s correlation coefficients with "emotional exhaustion," "depersonalization," and "personal accomplishment" subscales were 0.878, 0.627, and -0.391, respectively. The Bulgarian version of the MBI performed by B. Tzenova^[@R15]^ was used to measure the three core dimensions of burnout---emotional exhaustion (Cronbach\'s α=0.813), depersonalization (Cronbach\'s α=0.729) and reduced personal accomplishment (Cronbach\'s α=0.766).
This study was a non-interventional socio-psychological study. Participation was voluntary and performed after obtaining informed concept from all participants. Therefore the University Ethics Committee waived the ethical approval. Confidentiality of all the respondents was emphasized.
Statistical Analysis {#s2-0-5}
--------------------
Data was processed using SPSS^®^ for Windows^®^ ver 17.0 and MS Excel^®^ for Windows^®^. A p value \<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results {#s3}
=======
Using Boyko\'s method, burnout syndrome was found in 147 (73.1%, 95% CI: 67.0% to 79.3%) of participants. [Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"} shows the distribution of the respondents with respect to the presence or absence of burnout syndrome depending on their socio-demographic characteristics. The demographic characteristics did not affect the presence or absence of burnout in the personnel of the studied prisons.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- ------------------- -------------
**Table 2:** Distribution of the respondents with and without burnout syndrome
**Variable** **Without burnout n (%)** **With burnout**\ **p value**
**n (%)**
Sex
Male 35 (30.7) 79 (69.3) 0.16
Female 19 (22) 68 (78)
Educational level
University 20 (26) 57 (74) 0.82
Secondary 34 (27.4) 90 (72.6)
Marital status
Single 8 (30) 19 (70) 0.88
Married 40 (27.4) 106 (72.6)
Widow/Widower 1 (17) 5 (83)
Divorced 5 (23) 17 (77)
Rank
Correctional officer 37 (26.2) 104 (73.8) 0.57
Inspector 14 (32) 30 (68)
Administration 3 (19) 13 (81)
Experience in this workplace
≤1 yr 7 (44) 9 (56) 0.13
1.1--3 yrs 5 (31) 11 (69)
3.1--5 yrs 4 (25) 12 (75)
\>5 yrs 38 (24.8) 115 (75.2)
City
Sliven 31 (31) 69 (69) 0.18
Pazardzhik 23 (22.8) 78 (77.2)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- ------------------- -------------
Level of burnout was significantly (p\<0.05) correlated with number of sick leaves used by the employee (Spearman\'s *ρ*=0.192), number of visits to general practitioner per month (Spearman\'s *ρ*=0.253), and amount of purchased drugs (Spearman\'s *ρ*=0.327).
The median number of sick leaves taken in those without established burnout syndrome was 5 (IQR 15) days per year; in participants with low levels of burnout syndrome, it was 12.5 (IQR 14) days per year, and in individuals with high levels of burnout syndrome it was 29 (IQR 57) days per year.
The median number of visits to the general practitioner for individuals without burnout syndrome was 1 (IQR 1.25) per month; for those with low levels of burnout, it was 2 (IQR 2.75) visits per month, and for individuals with high levels of burnout it was 3 (IQR 2) visits per month. The mean net wages in the studied prisons amounted to US\$ 408 (SD 93). For the Pazardzhik prison the mean net wages amounted to US\$ 415 (SD 92) and for Sliven they amounted to US\$ 401 (SD 93). Based on these data, the mean daily wages of the employees of the two prisons was US\$ 19.4 for the staff of the Pazardzhik prison and US\$ 19.1 for the staff of Sliven prison.
We tried to evaluate the loss associated with reduced salary for officers who had taken sick leaves on annual basis with reference to the Bulgarian legislation related to compensations paid for temporary disability to work. On the basis of the reported (annual) average number of days of sick leave taken by wardens with high levels of burnout, using expert calculation we established that these staff members had received 3.3% less income on an annual basis compared to those without burnout syndrome. This was a result of the reduced salary that was paid for sick leaves (60% of the employee\'s gross salary for the period of temporary incapacity to work).
The respondents\' self-assessment of the loss of leisure in connection with the access to health care was significantly associated with the occurrence (р=0.015) and the level (p=0.005) of burnout syndrome.
The respondents observed during the last six months, mostly complained of anxiety and depression (n=68; 33.8%), sleeplessness (n=62; 30.9%), weight gain or loss (n=59; 29.4%), continuous suspicions (n=53; 26.4%), frequent headaches (n=48; 23.9%), increased self-criticism (n=48; 23.9%), increased irritability (n=45; 22.4%), gastrointestinal disorders (n=33; 16.4%), and shortness of breath (n=20; 10.0%). Of all these symptoms, more than three were simultaneously present in 50% (n=71) of the senior police officers and 45% (n=20) of the prison wardens.
Among the respondents, 44.3% (n=89) smoked cigarettes; 11.9% (n=11) of them had increased the number of cigarettes per day over the last year. Twenty-two (11.0%) of studied participants consumed alcohol four times a week; 6.0% (n=2) had increased alcohol intake over the last year. The average volume of strong alcohol intake varied between 100 and 200 mL in each session. One-hundred and forty (69.7%) of the staff members did not drink wine at all; 37.8% (n=76) did not drink beer at all and 53.2% (n=107) drank mostly strong alcohol. Seventy-five (37.5%) wardens and senior officers reported use of psychotropic substances to recover after an exhausting work shift. All three dimensions and the total scale of burnout were significantly associated with alcohol intake (p=0.004) and psychotropic substance use (p=0.0001) among respondents. There was no significant association between burnout and smoking.
Discussion {#s4}
==========
Burnout syndrome is a problem among prison staff. Keinan and Maslach-Pines reported that the correctional employees in their study had much higher levels of burnout than the levels found in the general population, even higher than police officers.^[@R16]^ Our findings confirmed that the correctional officers who took part in this survey were generally burned-out. It seems reasonable to suggest that increased demands and responsibilities of controlling and assuring the safety of unwilling and hostile individuals, in addition to other stressors in the correctional environment, could lead to increased levels of occupational burnout.
We found that wardens with high levels of burnout took more sick leaves than those without burnout. It also negatively affected the salaries they received for the respective months. They might be absent for want of withdrawing from the aversive work circumstances. Using this hypothesis, it has been found that prison employees who are low in job satisfaction and organizational commitment are more frequently absent than those who are more satisfied and committed. Our results agreed with the findings of similar studies in this field. A study using a large representative Finnish sample found that those with severe burnout had 52 excess sickness absence days during the two-year study period as compared to those with low burnout scores.^[@R17]^ Pranjic and Males-Bilic showed that 53% of their participants with burnout used longer sick leaves to achieve stabilization of health, for mental rehabilitation and reintegration at work place.^[@R18]^
Using average weighted values calculated based on the amounts spent on medicines reported by the respondents, we found that the correctional officers with burnout syndrome spent 3.14 times higher monthly expenses on medicines than those who were not affected by the syndrome. The wardens with higher levels of burnout needed more medical help; the rate was three times of those without burnout. From an economic point of view, prison employees with burnout syndrome incurred three times higher personal expenses on consumer fees paid for health services than prison staff without the syndrome because the former were not registered or hospitalized and thus not exonerated from the consumer fee under the health insurance legislation of Bulgaria.
We found a relatively weak correlation between the respondents\' self-assessment of the loss of leisure in connection with the access to health care and burnout syndrome. The majority of the respondents (14.4%; n=29) believed that the increased need for medical help as a result of burnout syndrome was at the expense of their leisure. Given the insignificant amount of hours of leisure loss reported we did not calculate the correlation. The relatively low assessment of the loss of leisure was due to the fact that in Bulgaria the access to health services is at a rather good level and anyone who needs such services can receive them relatively quickly.
We did not find any correlation between the respondents\' self-assessment of work time loss connected to the access to health care and the occurrence of burnout syndrome, which can be explained by the fact that correctional officers did not seek for medical help while at work; only 5.0% (n=10) of the participants with burnout syndrome sought medical help during their work hours. In that case, there was no evidence of significant loss of work time on account of the employer. However, we could not find studies related to economic losses of burnout syndrome for the individuals concerned.
It has been shown that burnout syndrome affects the health of the prison staff. Chronically stressful emotions related to job dissatisfaction, alienation, and burnout have been associated with depression, psychosomatic symptoms, and other symptoms and illness in over 90% of studies that examined these relationships in organizational psychology.^[@R19]^ According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers who must take time off work because of stress, anxiety, or a related disorder are off the job for about 20 days.^[@R20]^ A study conducted in the USA showed that psychosomatic diseases are more common among correctional officers than members of most other occupations, including police officers---a comparable profession.^[@R21]^ The prevalence of anxiety and depression (33.8%) in our sample was higher than that of correctional officers (24%) in France,^[@R9]^ and approximately two times lower than that found in the Chinese prison staff.^[@R8]^ International Labor Organization reports estimate that in the USA one in ten workers are diagnosed with depression, resulting in approximately 200 million lost working days each year and costing US\$ 30--44 billion.^[@R22]^
Our results showed lower percentage of sleep disorders among Bulgarian prison staff compared with a French sample where 42% of them had sleep disturbances.^[@R9]^ Correctional officers, working in a closed and harsh prison environment, are prone to suffer from various health disorders.^[@R9],[@R23]^
In the course of the study it was established that the work load of correctional officers had increased over the previous few years due to financial and personnel cuts. In the meantime, the number of prisoners had increased more than twice. Consequently, the correctional officers had to do more overtime. To cope with job stress they often had recourse to harmful habits like increased alcohol intake, smoking and substance abuse. We showed the increased use of alcohol among wardens. In our previous paper, we revealed that the levels of burnout and its stages were higher among prison staff used alcohol excessively.^[@R24]^ According to Violanti alcohol abuse among police officers in the USA is about double that of the general population where one in ten adults abuses alcohol.^[@R25]^ MaClean asserts that alcohol abuse among police officials is the norm because they are ostracized by the rest of society for the type of work they do.^[@R26]^ In the literature this rationale for drinking is referred to as "drinking to cope."
Over the past 20 years, the prevalence of psychotropic drug use among workers ranged from 3.9% to 19.5%.^[@R27]^ We found a very high prevalence of psychotropic drug use among our respondents whereas the consumption of substances among Quebec correctional officers was 14.7%.^[@R10]^ Another study reported the prevalence of psychotropic drug use among correctional officers as 58.0%.^[@R28]^ We previously reported that all three dimensions of burnout were significant associated with psychotropic substance use among wardens.^[@R24]^ So far, little is known about the prevalence of psychotropic drug use among correctional officers.^[@R10]^
Acknowledgements {#s5}
================
The authors would like to thank the administration of the Regional Prison of Pazardzhik and the Regional Prison of Sliven for their cooperation.
Conflicts of Interest: {#s6}
======================
None declared.
Funding Source: {#s7}
===============
This study has been conducted with the financial support of the Scientific Research Fund of the Plovdiv Medical University under research project НО-22/2012.
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The 40--year anniversary of the United Nations 'International Women's Day,' was celebrated on 8 March 2015. As we approach the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), we reflect on the gender debate that has arose amidst tackling MDG4 and highlight the need for greater gender equality in measuring child health outcomes in the post--MDG era in line with MDG 3 (see [**Box 1**](#B1){ref-type="boxed-text"}).
###### Summary of Millennium Development Goals 3 and 4
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015
3.1 Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education
3.2 Share of women in wage employment in the non--agricultural sector
3.3 Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality rates
Reduce by two--thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under--five mortality rate
4.1 Under--five mortality rate
4.2 Infant mortality rate
4.3 Proportion of 1 year--old children immunised against measles
NEED TO PROFILE GENDER AS A DETERMINANT OF CHILD HEALTH INEQUITY
In recent years, several key UN reports and articles have begun to articulate the gender gap that exists in child health outcomes \[[@R1]--[@R3]\]. Indeed, it has been the UN which has taken a lead in promoting gender equality internationally by requiring all UN entities to mainstream gender and promote gender equality as mandated by the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and ECOSOC resolutions 1996, 1997, 2006 and consolidated by the quadrennial comprehensive policy review 2012 (General Assembly Resolution 67/226). According to the 2012 World Development Report, gender equality is at the heart of development and "...too many girls and women are still dying in childhood and in the reproductive ages" \[[@R4]\]. Perhaps it is a reflection on the relative success of MDG 3 and 4 (despite it not being likely that the numerical targets will be achieved in time) that it has helped to raise the issue of gender in child health and the need for more equitable goals in the future.
Leading international organisations have developed organisation specific gender action plans, policies or guidelines in the past two decades in order to tackle gender imbalance issues in its organisational activities (see [**Box 2**](#B2){ref-type="boxed-text"}).
###### Organisations identified through a Google Scholar search of 'gender' or 'sex' and 'policy' or 'guideline' or 'framework'
African Development Bank
Asian Development Bank
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Council of Europe
Department for International Development (DFID)
European Union
Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI)
Global Fund
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
Organisation for Economic Co--operation and Development (OECD)
Save the Children
The United Nations Children\'s Fund (UNICEF)
World Bank
World Health Organisation (WHO)
The authors congratulate recent efforts to collect gender disaggregated child health outcomes data by Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME) and Countdown 2015 as the first step to enable the profiling of gender as a determinant of child health inequity. Nevertheless, if gender is to be mainstreamed as a determinant of child health, future country achievement profiles should require nations to highlight sex disparities in coverage of life saving interventions, especially in countries where girls are known to be subject to discrimination in health care access and outcomes. In other words, it should become the norm, rather than the exception, to report sex--differentiated data for child health indicators. In addition, reporting health interventions which have been proven to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality rates by gender would prove valuable to better realign services and make targeted policy steps.
In response to the challenge of collecting better gender data and developing an effective response, we discuss some of the challenges reported in the literature of researching gender and child health and their potential solutions. We also look briefly at the example of India; one country in which there is evidence of severe discrimination against girls in child health care outcomes, to provide a perspective of the challenge that remains ahead.
RESEARCH ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS: GENDER AND CHILD HEALTH
======================================================
Data recording
--------------
There are major challenges to determine whether improvements in child survival are seen in both males and females. The UN Sex Differentials in Childhood Mortality \[[@R5]\] suggests that "\[t\]his is due to the inadequate nature of birth and death statistics in most developing countries. In the absence of complete vital registration, mortality estimates for these countries are derived primarily from sample surveys and population censuses, through questions posed to women about the survival of their children. Such estimates can be subject to a great deal of uncertainty due to small sample sizes, as well as biases affecting the consistent reporting of all children."
The problems of data recording and collection have been further complicated by use of different surveys over different time periods and non--systematic methodologies, making comparisons challenging.
In order to address this problem, IGME was formed in 1994 to provide a uniform source of estimation for child mortality, and has produced sex--disaggregated data since the publication of UN's Sex Differentials in Childhood Mortality in 2011. This marks a significant advance towards profiling and subsequently tackling the issue of gender inequities in child health and mortality.
However, there is a need for more and better quality evidence on the role of gender in child health achievements both globally and regionally. Identifying and incorporating indicators beyond generic health and disease outcomes by sex is crucial to understand how to modify the impact of gender based discrimination. Disaggregated data that incorporates age, region within a country, wealth and education of the family are important covariates to be studied in relation to gender when looking at child health care access and outcomes. Fostering research in gender inequality in child health is essential to allow for a more detailed analysis to characterise the precise scale and nature of the inequity and to make a substantial stab at the problem.
Biological sex differences
--------------------------
There is evidence in the literature to suggest that females have a biological advantage in survival over males up to age 5 years, but especially in the 1st year of life, due to being less vulnerable to congenital disease, infection, and perinatal illness including perinatal trauma, intrauterine hypoxia, birth asphyxia, prematurity, neonatal tetanus and acute respiratory distress syndrome \[[@R6]\]. The survival advantage for girls tends to increase as total mortality levels for a country decrease and this is postulated to be associated with distributions in the causes of death \[[@R7]\]. In developed countries, infectious diseases account for a lower number of causes of death and perinatal, congenital and external causes form a larger proportion of deaths between ages 1--5. Therefore, the female advantage in child mortality would increase assuming that there is no health discrimination based on sex \[[@R8],[@R9]\].
{#Fa}
With these expected biological advantages taken into consideration, can we profile which countries have the worst records for gender inequity for under--five (U5) mortality?
Post--Alkema: Using estimated--expected mortality ratios
--------------------------------------------------------
We have profiled the excess U5 mortality using data from Alkema et al., which has updated Sawyer's model \[[@R2]\], to look at excess female mortality using a novel method of estimated--to--expected mortality ratios \[[@R3]\]. Using a Bayesian hierarchical time series approach, Alkema et al. estimate country‐specific mortality sex ratios for infants and U5 children for 195 countries from 1990 to 2012. They simultaneously assess the relationship of these mortality estimates with population sex ratios to highlight the expected and the excess female mortality rates in countries with outlying sex ratios. The authors identified 15 countries with outlying U5 sex ratios, and among these, 10 had higher than expected female mortality in 2012. For the majority of these countries the excess female mortality decreased since 1990; however, the estimated--to--expected female mortality did not change substantially for most countries except in India, where they worsened. [**Table 1**](#T1){ref-type="table"} shows the 10 countries that had higher than expected U5 female mortality; namely, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Jordan, Nepal, and Pakistan. We included in this table the ratio of estimated--to--expected female mortality rate, the number of excess female mortality for U5s and ratio of excess female deaths to total number of deaths (%). Countries are ranked in order of highest number of excess deaths ([**Table 1**](#T1){ref-type="table"}). India appears as the top country in terms of excess female U5 deaths.
######
Indicators for 10 countries with higher than expected excess U5 female mortality and outlying under--five (U5) sex ratios in 2012\*
Country Ratio of estimated--to--expected U5 female mortality rate Number of excess female deaths Ratio of excess U5 female deaths to total number of deaths (%)
------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------
India 1.30 (1.26--1.34) 166 000 (144 000--190 000) 11.7
Pakistan 1.06 (1.01--1.12) 11 100 (1000--21 400) 2.7
China 1.08 (1.02--1.16) 8690 (2330--16 100) 3.3
Bangladesh 1.06 (1.01--1.11) 3330(790--5880) 2.6
Afghanistan 1.06 (1.01--1.11) 2810 (330--5390) 2.7
Egypt 1.13 (1.11--1.16) 2250 (1860--2660) 5.6
Iran 1.13 (1.06--1.20) 1340 (590--2190) 5.2
Nepal 1.08 (1.02--1.15) 852 (227--1520) 3.5
Jordan 1.12 (1.04--1.21) 188 (63--333) 5.0
Bahrain 1.14 (1.07--1.22) 11 (6--18) 5.9
**\***Adapted from Alkema et al. \[[@R3]\]. U5 mortality is defined as the probability of dying between birth and the exact age of 5 y. Sex ratio is defined as number of males per 100 females in the population, usually normalized to 100.
Clearly, however, as Alkema et al. state \[[@R3]\], the monitoring of sex differences in U5 mortality is complicated by variability in data availability, quality (usage and often non--usage of standard errors or uncertainty intervals), changes in country specific sex differentials over time, and validation of estimates. These findings reinforce our original point for the need of better and standardised data for all countries when it comes to gender inequality analysis in child health estimates.
ISSUES IN INDIA: A BRIEF OVERVIEW
=================================
Globally, India has the largest number of child deaths and possesses significant regional variations in U5 mortality \[[@R10]\]. It accounts for the largest burden of excess female deaths than any other country in the world ([**Figure 1**](#F1){ref-type="fig"}). The 2011 Indian census estimated that there were approximately 7.1 million fewer females than males aged 0--6 years, which was an increase from 6 million recorded in the 2001 census and 4.2 million in the 1991 census \[[@R11]\]. In fact, females between 1--59 months in every region in India had higher mortality compared to males \[[@R12]\]. Ram et al. showed significant regional variations in U5 mortality and through detailed analysis showed that the nine poorest states contained half of all people in India and just over half of all births but 71% (1 million of the 1.5 million) of deaths in children U5, highlighting the added level of regional complexity to existing gender disparities which needs to be considered for a national strategy \[[@R10]\].
![Ten countries with higher than expected excess under--five (U5) female mortality and outlying U5 sex ratios in 2012. Legend: 1 -- India, 2 -- Pakistan, 3 -- China, 4 -- Bangladesh, 5 -- Afghanistan, 6 -- Egypt, 7 -- Iran, 8 -- Nepal, 9 -- Jordan, 10 -- Bahrain. The bubble chart was created using UNICEF statistics and data from Alkema et al. \[[@R3]\] to demonstrate the 10 countries with outlying U5 sex ratios and higher than expected excess female U5 mortality. Countries are ranked in order of highest ratio of excess female U5 mortality to total number of U5 mortality. The size of the bubble corresponds to the total U5 population in each country, emphasizing the importance of addressing gender issues in child health in countries with large child populations. Source: UNICEF statistics, available at <http://data.unicef.org/resources>.](jogh-05-020303-F1){#F1}
The biggest contributor to gender imbalance in children aged 0--6 in India is likely to be prenatal sex determination with subsequent abortion of female fetuses; a practice which has increased substantially in the past 2 decades \[[@R11]\]. Nevertheless, there is extensive literature which also demonstrates a clear female disadvantage in health care provision and disease outcomes. For example, female children are less likely to be immunized, receive medical attention, receive appropriate antibiotic therapy or achieve good nutrition \[[@R13]--[@R15]\]. Therefore, to tackle gender discrimination in child health, a two-pronged approach is critical to success, addressing sex determination pre-birth and tackling discrimination in health access, preventive health and nutrition after birth.
Das Gupta et al. have argued that disparities in child health outcomes are mainly a result of a society which values its sons far over and above, and at the cost of its daughters \[[@R16]\]. This is a phenomenon deeply rooted in cultural, legal, social and historical reasons; hence there is a critical need for cross--disciplinary studies to help explain the gender disparities in India and guide the development of gender sensitive solutions within health care and beyond.
The government has an important role to play. Previous policies have failed to be fully effectual, and efforts to ban the sex selective abortion of females has been limited by limited by poor implementation at the state and local level \[[@R17]--[@R19]\]. More recently, the Government has shifted the focus to small administrative areas through the National Rural Health Mission launched in 2005 \[[@R20]\] and more recently the National Urban Health Mission \[[@R21]\]. Ram et al. have estimated that at current rates of progress MDG4 will be achieved by India in 2020, by richer states in 2014, and by poorer states in 2023 \[[@R10]\]. Clearly, there is a still long way to go. More efforts are needed to ensure that greater gender equality is achieved in reaching these targets across all regions in India; work that incorporates better data and research, more collaboration across sectors and agencies, and strong and effectual government policies that are based on evidence.
CHALLENGES AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE WORK
==============================================
There is a wide scope for future work into gender and child health. It is not only an important area of research, but also at present, an under--appreciated one. In particular, we have highlighted the need for progress in India, which has the largest number of excess female mortality and is home to one fifth of all children in the world ([**Figure 1**](#F1){ref-type="fig"}).
The need for better quality data and research in child health and gender is unquestionable \[[@R22]\]. The global scientific community has a central role to play in the efforts to unmask, characterise, and explain the issues in a language that makes sense to governments and the international community; this is at the core of helping governments and international organisations to implement evidence based policies and programmes. Indeed, if gender is to be mainstreamed as a determinant of child health, future country achievement profiles should require all nations to highlight sex disparities in mortality and coverage of life saving interventions. As the evidence in India highlights, there are two key time points in gender bias; pre--birth and post--birth. More studies are needed to look at both prenatal sex determination and health access and outcomes in children.
Gender is commonly thought to be a development problem and therefore, tackling development issues such as poverty and education, could be seen as a good response to gender discrimination in child health care. However, studies in India have demonstrated that gender based discrimination against women has deep social and cultural roots and relates to family organisation norms \[[@R23],[@R24]\]. There is evidence that gender bias against girls has become so deeply--rooted in some South Asian countries, and that it persists or worsens in more educated and richer families, compared to those who are poorer and less educated \[[@R25]\]. In the last two decades, both biomedical and social researchers have collected and analyzed evidence on different aspects of sex differentials in mortality especially in children. However, there is still a need for a more comprehensive model explaining these differentials and including the biological, social, cultural and economic factors. Further research, which incorporates the determinants of health, could help tackle discrimination against girls in different contexts \[[@R22]\].
Gender inequity in child health is certainly an important global health issue that requires a global solution. Addressing gender bias in child health formally in a post--2015 development agenda would give greater impetus for a more effectual and coordinated global effort to invest, address, and make progress to reduce the inequity. Indeed, when future improvements in health outcomes for children are made globally in the post--MDG era, they should be recognized for being equitable as they are now for reaching total targets.
The authors would like to thank Professor Harry Campbell and Dr Harish Nair for their advice and comments.
**Funding:** None.
**Authorship declaration:** Both authors contributed to writing this piece for the JOGH following the ICMJE authorship criteria.
**Competing interests:** All authors have completed the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest available at [www.icmje.org/downloads/coi_disclosure.pdf](http://www.icmje.org/downloads/coi_disclosure.pdf) (available on request from the corresponding author.) The authors declare no competing interests.
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ざっくり言うと 自民党は5日、東京都内のホテルで第84回党大会を開催した
総裁任期を「連続2期6年まで」から「連続3期9年まで」とする改正案を了承
2017年9月に2期目の任期が満了する安倍晋三首相の3選出馬が可能となった
提供社の都合により、削除されました。
概要のみ掲載しております。 | {
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return {}
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| {
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x360a Meets: Rare and Talks Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
So Monday I got the chance to go to the Microsoft HQ in Reading in the UK to play some Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and meet the Rare team behind it. It's a great little interview with plenty of interesting topics including Xbox 360 exclusives, the shift in direction, online play, customisation and blueprint stealing. For all intensive purposes, Yahoo Paul is, Paul from Yahoo.com who was in the round table interview with me, to bloke... It was quite cosy as well. Enjoy!
Dan Webb: It’s been 10 years since the original, 8 years since Tooie. What made you think that now is your time now?
Neill Harrison: I don’t know, we just wanted to bring him back. We felt he still had a few more adventures ahead of him and we started developing it a few years ago now. We didn’t want to just do the same things that we had done before. That was something we certainly didn’t want to do. We wanted to do something new and fresh.
DW: How do you find developing the console exclusive titles? Is there more pressure on the development?
Elissa Miller: It’s more fun I suppose. Working on something new and innovative all the time and so as a developer, that is more than you can hope for going in to the industry. We obviously do do franchises and stuff and we’ve always had reasons to do those franchises so its not just year in year out, rehashing stuff all the time. For me, my personal sort of classification there is amazing.
NH: There probably is more pressure... A little bit, as opposed to being on more than one platform. I think we’re isolated to some extent though and so we can just make the best game we can for one platform and don’t worry about that element quite so much.
Yahoo Paul: Was the game always intended to get this huge customisation feature or was it kind of introduced after the development had started?
NH: No, we started just wanting to do a new Banjo game and we thought we’ll do a HD version of Banjo-Kazooie essentially. We actually started developing that as developers, and as gamers it just didn’t feel like the sort of game we would want to buy actually. It felt a little bit stale. It felt a little bit like we’d done it before and there was so many new possibilities with the new console that we could do and we were like “why are we doing the same sort of thing again?” So we kind of ruled that out as like “we don’t want to do that, we want to keep all the good things that people like” because it was successful but we wanted to take it in a new direction.
DW: So that’s pretty much why the new title is more vehicle based?
NH: On previous games you were in a very complicated level or challenge and there is only one way to do it and that was the way we designed it. You have to jump here, you have swim there, you have to grab this ledge and do this. Yeah, that’s fine, but every time you’ll play that level it’s exactly the same experience. You would have the same experience as you would. We kind of really wanted to move away from that really.
The idea with the vehicles just came through from us wanting to give the player control over their abilities and that’s kind of how we see it. It’s still a Banjo-Kazooie game and it is really a platformer at its heart, but instead of us telling you how you’re going to do a challenge, we just give you the building blocks.
EM: You get to create your own abilities basically. We’ve done that so much that part of the game is, instead of going from A to B and just do this solution, what it really is about now, is just create your own abilities and having your own gamer experience.
NH: That’s just so much more fun, you can take a simple challenge like moving this object from A to B. How you do that now is up to you. You might push it, you might pull it, I might throw it, she might try to fly it. It’s just a different game.
DW: Do you think this shift will upset fans with it being such a big 3D platformer and then transitioning to what we have now?
EM: I think you’re always going to have to come up against some sort of resistance of change, whatever you do. Like I said before, if we had done a rehash and a normal platformer, then they would have had a go at us for not being innovative. So whatever you do, you’re always going to be in the wrong, but we just made a game we enjoy playing and that we hope people are going to pick up.
The response from previous Banjo gamers, previous fans has been really, really positive so that’s been great for us to see that because they are really important to us, as well as getting new gamers too.
NH: The main problem is just getting people to pick it up and play it. When people play it, if people are an old fan of Banjo and you play this, you’ll realise that it is a Banjo game. It really is. The problem with it is, if you just see a screenshot... Say if I see a screenshot of a racing game, I know how that game plays... It’s a racing game. Whereas if someone sees a screenshot of ours, they don’t really understand it. They maybe assume it’s a car game or a racing game, But it’s not until they really play that they realise.
That’s always the risk with doing something different and that’s kind of good for us because it proves that it is almost unique because people don’t understand it. It’s just time now to get people to play it so they can get the idea behind it.
YP: Once you kind of stopped it being linear, how did that affect the award structure? Did you not go to the drawing board and go “Crikey! How do we let people know if they’re doing well or not?”
NH: Yeah, it’s difficult, certainly and it’s quite hard to balance a game. Like you say, it’s quite hard to plan the structure of the game around a game where the player can choose how they are going to do things. It’s very difficult to test as well. The old Banjo games were much easier to test because there was just one method to complete the demo.
EM: There is a basic structure within there so it’s not like, right, free for all. So there is progression, there is structure. You’ve still got the Jiggies that you’re awarded with and things like that, that open new game worlds. So there is structure.
NH: The way you’re given components as well is structured. So when you start the game you’ve only got a small subset and you can only build basic vehicles and they are sort of drip fed to the player throughout the game so it’s not overwhelming.
DW: So you can take photos of other people’s vehicles online and take the blueprints to make the vehicle yourself. So can you then take these through in to the single player game?
NH: Yeah, once the blueprint is saved, you can use it wherever.
DW: So how will that work then with a new player going online, playing someone really advanced, taking someone’s blueprint and then going back and using it to blitz through the single player?
NH: He wouldn’t be able to build that because he’d have a blueprint without all the components. You have to unlock the parts first.
EM: As a player, you can also lock that off so, if you don’t want people taking pictures of your vehicle so you can keep it unique.
NH: Having said that though, it’d be quite easy to tell how people are doing stuff obviously because they are built with the components. You can hide things, I mean, we’ve had people that have built stuff with all the clever stuff in the middle and covered it in a shell as if nothing is there.
PY: Have you had any thoughts or are there plans to support expansions levels or parts or such?
EM: It definitely lends itself to it but as far as we’re concerned we’re just finishing up the game and getting that shipped and then seeing what happens after that I think.
NH: It would be an option but we haven’t announced anything and we haven’t really thought about it to be perfectly honest. It’s something that we could do if there’s a demand for it.
DW: With the online multiplayer, how many modes are we looking at?
EM: There’s 28 individual games you can play.
NH: And all of those can be played either as team or individually. Ranked or not ranked. Again, a lot of the replayability from all of it comes from the fact that you can play with your own vehicles. So when you get online in ranked matches, a lot of skill is going to be involved in who can create the best vehicles and there might not be A best vehicle. It might depend on what other vehicles people are using and so on. That’s what’s really cool. We’ve had matches at work that are just really crazy, everyone has got such a different approach to the challenge that it’s just absolutely mad. You could be in a race and you could be in a plane, you could be in a tank trying to shoot him out the sky and I could be in some sort of weird boat thing. It’s kind of like “Wacky Races”.
DW: Is there any sort of online co-op planned?
NH: Not story wise but there are the team based games that you can play, but that may something we may look at doing in the future.
DW: On Nuts & Bolts as DLC or in the follow up title?
EM: Maybe, we don’t know.
NH: Who knows really? It’d probably be quite difficult on this title I would have thought.
EM: Yeah, future title probably if we do another one.
PY: Back to the sort of overall theme thing we mentioned at the beginning, you primarily seem to aim this at young lads, like aged 10-14...
EM: I don’t know but in my opinion boys don’t grow up so that’s aimed at all sort of boys *laughs*
NH: We’re aiming it anyone who’s got a creative streak and a bit of an imagination and maybe looking for something different and don’t want to be shooting people.
EM: I’ve seen people will be on the forums playing Gears of War and then *huffs* “I can’t be arsed with this” and then stuck Viva Pinata in and so, you know, it’s going to be the same with Banjo-Kazooie. An alternative to the shoot-em up genre.
NH: Like you say it’s a multi layered thing. A small kid can play it on one level and they can probably get through and win the Jiggies and get through the game and complete it, but they’re never going to do it as well as a hardcore player who goes to town on their creation.
PY: Are these the sort of things you have on the whiteboard in development... “These are the challenges and if you’re young you might need some assistance with and...
EM: Yeah, I think you kind of give the ideas for the vehicles and stuff like that and then afterwards with the whole progression thing and balancing, sort of later on in the game, that’s when you start implementing those sort of things. Introducing half built chassis and blueprints and things like that. I think that’s when we put those elements in.
NH: I think we make it primarily accessible to a younger audience and then give the hardcore players the sort of scope by the fact that they’re given this editor so they can then build what they like and when you open up the leaderboards system on Live, it kind of gives them “their” part of the game, which is... Here’s a simple challenge, now it’s up to you how you do it, off you go, here’s all your components, there’s the leaderboards... “Go and compete against each other” sort of thing.
DW: So are there any other ways to share the user generated content or is it just this blueprint method we were discussing?
EM: You can share your blueprints over Xbox Live and you can send them to your friends and stuff.
NH: And view the ones online AND steal peoples for yourself.
EM: Did we mention about Banjo-Kazooie on Xbox Live Arcade as well?
NH: There’s the Xbox Live Arcade version of the original coming.
DW: Do you have an ETA on that yet?
EM: It is out soon because if you preorder it you can get that free and you can unlock components and stuff to use in Nuts & Bolts.
DW: A bit like Fable 2 and Fable Pub Games?
EM: Yeah, like that, exactly.
So that about wraps it up. Thanks to Neill and Elissa for such an entertaining interview. Till next time. | {
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Q:
Easiest CMS to Theme?
I'm trying to create a theme for a CMS, but it's proving nearly impossible, as I have no understanding of PHP or ASP.NET. I can put a site together via CSS and HTML, but I want clients to be able to add and edit content themselves. I'm about ready to give up on designing one altogether and just use an existing theme.
I've had a go at trying to understand the inner workings of Wordpress, SilverStripe, Umbraco and Pixie, but the tutorials have left me confounded. Are there other CMSes I should be looking into for a more simplified theming process?
I'd really love to be able to just drop a chunk of code into the content area of a given HTML page, and make that region editable from a WYSIWYG front end that the client can log into. Is there such a thing?
A:
Anything but DotNetNuke.
| {
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Characterization of IgD. II. Molecular forms of IgD in human B cells.
Endogenous and surface labeling techniques were used on human lymphoid cells to characterize intracytoplasmic, membrane and secreted IgD, IgD synthesized by lymphocytes and inserted into the cell membrane displayed a single molecular form with the same mobility in sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) as the previously described slow migrating serum IgDl. Plasma cells produced and secreted IgDl and another IgD corresponding to the faster-moving serum IgD2. Conversion of one molecular form into the other was never observed, thus indicating that neither molecule is a precursor or a degradation product of the other. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
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Two boys are playing football at a park in Norman, Oklahoma when one of
the boys is suddenly attacked by a crazed Rottweiler. Thinking quickly,
the other boy takes a stick and shoves it under the dog's collar, twists
it, and breaks the dog's neck, thus saving his friend.
A sports reporter who was strolling by sees the incident and rushes over to
interview the
boy. He tells the boy he's going to write the story and says, "I'll title
it 'Young Sooner Fan Saves Friend From Vicious Animal'."
"But I'm not a Sooner fan." the little hero replies.
"Sorry, since we're in Norman Oklahoma, I just assumed you were," says the
reporter and he starts writing again.
He asks "How does 'Cowboy Fan Rescues Friend From Horrific Attack'
sound?"
"I'm not a Cowboy fan either, " the boy says.
"Oh, I thought everyone in Oklahoma was either for the Sooners or the
Cowboys. What team do you root for?" the reporter asks.
"I'm just visiting my cousin, I'm a Texas Aggie fan," the boy replies.
"They're the best."
The reporter smiles, starts a new sheet in his notebook and writes:
"Little Redneck Bastard From Texas Kills Beloved Family Pet." | {
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Anidulafungin-induced alopecia.
To report a case of a woman in whom alopecia appeared after several months of treatment with anidulafungin. A 34-year-old woman with chronic femoral osteomyelitis with the presence of persistent suppuration, developed a Candida albicans infection, isolated in the fistula exudate cultures. After initial failures of single therapy with azoles, it was decided to administer fluconazole and anidulafungin 100 mg/d. One month after starting the treatment, the patient mentioned a greater hair loss than usual. At 3 months, the patient stopped taking the drug on noting the loss and easy falling out of her hair, with alopecia plaques 1 to 2 cm in size. At 2 months after stopping the anidulafungin, it was decided to restart combined antifungal treatment using micafungin and fluconazole; there was no mention of new or greater loss of hair. It was decided to change micafungin to anidulafungin again 90 days after starting treatment. In the first month of treatment, there appeared to be a reactivation in hair loss that later stabilized and improved. Drug-induced hair loss is an adverse reaction that has been identified during different hair growth phases. It has been described for the azoles group and has not been associated with candins until now. Results of the causality analysis, using the probability scale established by Naranjo, found the relationship as probable. Anidulafungin could be associated with hair loss. Physicians must be aware of this adverse effect in order to approach it properly and to detect possible nonadherence to treatment. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} | 0 |
[The characteristics of kidney function in pregnant women based on the data from an in-depth biochemical study of the urine].
Serial biochemical urinary tests have been done in 141 pregnant women (46 were healthy, 58 apparently healthy and 37 had late toxemia) and in normal nonpregnant women. Urine was tested for lipids, phospholipids, ethanolamine acylic compounds and certain qualitative characteristics which depict functional abnormality of the renal interstitial tissues in pregnancy. Late toxemia was found to be associated with marked evidence of dysmetabolic nephropathy which may be identified at an early phase using 10% calcium chloride precipitation of lipids, a highly revealing specific test for calciphylaxis. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} | 0 |
Getty Images
Is Blake Griffin and CP3 more devastating in the pick-and-roll than LeBron and D-Wade? Let's debate!
Blake Griffin and Chris Paul play host to the Heat's Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh for the first time this season.
Should the Clippers be considered title contenders along with the Heat? Is Blake Griffin better than Chris Bosh? Is Chauncey Billups better suited for the Clippers than the Heat? Is Vinny Del Negro sitting on the same hot seat as Erik Spoelstra did last season? Who has the deadliest pick-and-roll?
In another edition of the Heat Index's 5-on-5 series, our stable of writers play some "Fact or Fiction" with some of the story lines surrounding the Lob City and Hollywood Heat matchup.
1. Fact or Fiction: the Clippers and Heat are both title contenders.
Kevin Arnovitz, ESPN.com/ClipperBlog: Fact, but this is a louder statement on parity in the Western Conference than it is on the readiness of the Clippers. If they can address their defensive shortcomings, it's not outrageous to believe the Clippers could advance out of the West, even if they're not a morning-line favorite.
Tom Haberstroh, Heat Index: Fact. Too early to rule the Clippers out. We have a trade deadline and 50 games worth of marinating before we see the final product of the Clippers. Oh, and yes, the Heat are title contenders.
Michael Wallace, Heat Index: Fiction. The Heat clearly are. We've seen the evidence. The Clippers are a promising playoff contender. That's about all I'll give them right now. They haven't shown us much of anything yet. Could they make a surprising run through the wide-open west? Sure. But when I look between the lobs, I see a team that must sort through conditioning and chemistry issues and learn how to win together on the fly. They may well be on their way, but they're not in that title class just yet.
Brian Windhorst, Heat Index: Fiction. Different people will have different definitions here but this Clippers team hasn't won a playoff series since Sam Cassell and Elton Brand were roaming around. Perhaps in the next few years but I don't see them as a title contender right now.
VOICE OF THE FAN, (via Facebook)
Rian Fike: Fact. Dallas was gutted, Oklahoma City has not proven they have the heart, and the Lakers might explode. We saw last year here in Miami how top-tier talent can find a way to make it to the Finals, even without the time to fit together just right. The Heat are title contenders for at least the next five years. The Clippers have the natural ability to join them, starting right now.
2. Fact or Fiction: CP3/Blake's pick & roll is more deadly than Wade/LBJ's
Arnovitz: Fiction. Paul and Griffin will quickly establish a rapport and will make beautiful music together. But last season's numbers don't lie: Wade and James are a devastating pick-and-roll tandem -- and that was before James developed a modest appreciation for being a screener.
Haberstroh: Fact. Consider this a protest to Erik Spoelstra: Why must he hide the most intriguing basketball play known to man? I get why Spoelstra wants to keep it in his back-pocket, as he likes to say, but can we all agree that it might have been useful against the Warriors? Basketball junkies everywhere demand more Wade-LeBron pick-and-rolls. Let's make it happen.
Wallace: Can I go "non-fiction" here? It's not a fact because I still think LeBron and Wade are the most feared tandem in the league regardless of what set you have them in. But it's also not necessarily fiction to say Blake and CP3 are more deadly for the simple reason that they both know and embrace their roles as soon as the set is called. That gives them a slight crease of an advantage over the Wade-James pick-and-roll threat. But I'll defer to the stat guys on this one.
Windhorst: Fact. First, Wade and LeBron don't run pick-and-rolls for various reasons. Second the best screen roll teams in history have involved great point guards and great big men. That's what Clippers have.
VOICE OF THE FAN, (via Facebook)
Shanna Jones: Fiction. If you really think hard about it, everything that Blake can do in the pick and roll, LeBron can do as well. The advantage that LeBron has on Blake is that he has a better mid-range shot as well as can dish it if he gets trapped on the roll. Paul is clearly a better dribbler than Wade, but who scares you more?
3. Fact or Fiction: Del Negro's seat is hotter than Spoelstra's was last year.
Arnovitz: Fiction. The pressure surrounding Spoelstra last season could fuel a reactor. Del Negro will be closely scrutinized, but won't encounter anything along the lines of what Spoelstra faced prior to his extension. If the Clippers get antsy, they're more likely to make their move during the summer.
Haberstroh: Fact. I don't think Spoelstra's job was seriously in jeopardy mid-season just like I don't think Del Negro is really sweating his job right now. But Del Negro doesn't have a precedent of getting teams to play championship-caliber defense; Spoelstra did. For now, Del Negro's seat is as lukewarm as his track record.
Wallace: Fiction. Or at least it should be. This should be about reasonable expectations. And the fact is, the Clippers are still the secondary team in Los Angeles, a distinction they'll carry under current circumstances as long as Kobe Bryant is in a Lakers uniform. There is far less pressure on Vinny to win it all right away - or at least get to the Finals - than what Spoelstra faced last season amid that 9-8 start. Take this for what it is - a view from afar. Vinny's seat should always be uncomfortable, but not so hot just yet.
Windhorst: Fact. Spoelstra's seat didn't ever get hot last year, Pat Rliley was not coming back to the sideline. As for Del Negro, the dynamics of this team have changed to create new pressure. Plus there's a few out of work high-profile coaches who would love his job.
VOICE OF THE FAN, (via Facebook)
Ben Lash: Fiction. Del Negro could be forgiven for underachieving with a team that was put together ten days before the season. Even if the Clippers only reach the Western semifinals, it might be considered the best season in franchise history. Spoelstra, while a better coach, is squarely in championship-or-bust territory after last season’s disappointing Finals loss. The expectations are simply higher.
4. Fact or Fiction: Chris Bosh is better than Blake Griffin
Arnovitz: Fiction, but measuring Bosh's value has become one of the more difficult analytic exercises in the NBA because he defers to two teammates who use the vast majority of his team's possessions. Griffin's value is less difficult to approximate -- he's easily one of the top-ranked big man in the league headed into Wednesday's game.
Haberstroh: Fiction. Here's how I frame the question: Would Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley prefer Blake Griffin over Chris Bosh for this season if he had a training camp to teach him defensive principles? I think the answer's "yes" even if they'd never admit it. And that's not a knock on Bosh; this is close.
Wallace: Fiction. OK, you win. Full disclosure: Haberstroh is behind these Bosh comparison questions! Haha. Happy now? First it was Bosh vs. Garnett, then Bosh vs. Love, then Bosh vs. Horford. Eventually, Bosh will run into a comparison he can't win. This is one of them. In fact, I'd be surprised if anyone else on the panel says anything to the contrary about Bosh and Blake. I just can't wait until we start with the Shane Battier matchup comparisons.
Windhorst: Fiction. Today is a bad day to ask. Consult game film from Warriors game.
VOICE OF THE FAN, (via Facebook)
Jonathan Comack: Fact, Chris Bosh is a better overall player than Blake Griffin because he is vastly better on the defensive side of the floor. Blake Griffin does have only a third of a salary cap burden though...
5. Fact or Fiction: The Clippers needed Billups more than the Heat.
Arnovitz: Fact. The Heat seem just fine at the point guard, thank you, and without Billups are still title favorites. Minus Billups, the Clippers are starting Randy Foye or Mo Williams at shooting guard.
Haberstroh: Fact. Billups is a misfit there but he's hugely valuable. Also, by getting Billups, the Clippers built some leverage at the trade deadline to swing a deal and fill in the roster holes. Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers fit seamlessly with the Heat's brand of basketball this season anyway.
Wallace: Fiction. For the simple reason that I don't think either team really, really, really needed Billups. The Clippers have a point guard emporium. And what we've seen out of Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole, collectively, through the first 10 games should be enough for the Heat to at least be encouraged about what they have moving forward at the position. We wouldn't have been able to see that had the veteran Billups slipped through the amnesty cracks and ended up in Miami.
Windhorst: Fiction. Billups is a luxury item for the Clippers now that they have Paul. Wade and James were great in the Olympics playing with a great point guard and they've never been able to do that in the NBA.
VOICE OF THE FAN, (via Facebook)
Kevin Mayer: Fact: Who needs Billups when you've got Mr. Big Shot? While Mario Chalmers still makes mental mistakes from time to time, he's the leading the league in FG% for guards. On defense, his knack for creating turnovers is a big reason the Heat are able to run so much. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} | 0.000637 |
Probing components on a printed circuit board becomes increasingly difficult as the miniaturization of electronic components continues and circuit densities increase. Traditional alligator clips have been miniaturized over the years to allow testing of components on miniaturized circuit boards. However, newer surface mount components in many cases do not have any leads on which alligator clips can be connected. Since surface mount components are soldered directly onto the PC board, conventional test clips simply cannot be hooked onto these components. Presently, in order to connect test leads to the surface mounted components, a sharp test probe is placed directly on the solder pad on each side of the component. This normally requires two hands, as a single pointed test lead is held in each hand to make contact with each side of the component or to two measurement points in the circuit. With both hands in use just to hold the test probes, the technician does not have a hand free to make adjustments to the test equipment, press test buttons, etc. Not only that, the technician may not even be able to look at the measurement results on the test equipment because so much attention is required simply to keep the test probes in place on the solder pads. Dual point test probes, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,407; 4,915,258; and 2,675,528 simply do not have the miniaturization needed to work with surface mount boards, or are not adjustable sufficiently to utilize the close contacts necessary in miniaturized surface mount PC boards. U.S. Pat. No. 3,098,304 discloses a drafting compass that may hold two steel points, however, the entire compass is electrically conductive and made for a differing purpose than applicant's invention.
A need has developed for a new and improved dual point test probe which is manually operated by a single hand of a technician to contact both solder pads of a surface mount electronic component. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} | 0 |
By using VoxDirect, the automated assistant directs my vendors and clients to the right person and takes me out of the phone-loop. Now I can focus on growing my business without being an operator for the office. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} | 0 |
Bashford Manor, Louisville
Bashford Manor is a neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Its boundaries are I-264 to the north, Bardstown Road to the east, Bashford Manor Lane to the south, and Newburg Road to the west. Originally a part of Thomas Byrd's 1,000 acre (4 km²) land grant from Virginia in 1787, James Bennett Wilder bought the land in 1870 and built a home which he named Bashford Manor, after his family's home in England. He sold the property to George James Long in 1888, who turned it into a horse farm which produced three early Kentucky Derby winners: Azra, Manuel and Sir Huon.
The home stayed in his family until it was sold in 1951. It was annexed by Louisville in 1953. Many residential developments began at this time, the first being Harold Miller's Bashford Manor gardens in 1952. Other subdivisions included Manorview and the largest single subdivision, Village Green. Apartment complexes were built during the 1960s, and commercial developments such as Watterson City in 1965. By the 1970s Watterson City was Louisville's largest suburban commercial center, and Bashford Manor Mall was built in the area.
The area went into a decline by the 1990s, with the mall and other businesses (such as a once thriving multiplex cinema) closing, although the situation improved in the 2000s when a Walmart and a Lowe's were built on the site of the old mall.
References
External links
Street map of Bashford Manor
Images of Bashford Manor (Louisville, Ky.) in the University of Louisville Libraries Digital Collections
Category:Neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky
Category:Populated places established in 1952
Category:1952 establishments in Kentucky | {
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
} | 0 |
Whispering, rambling, wet. Random thoughts ♡♡. Gets quieter as it goes on so turn up the volume if you want. Otherwise - just cumming. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} | 0.007463 |
Objective and perceptual comparisons of two bluetooth hearing aid assistive devices.
With the advent of Bluetooth technology, many of the assistive listening devices for hearing have become manufacturer specific, with little objective information about the performance provided. Thirty native English-speaking adults (mean age 29.8) with normal hearing were tested pseudo-randomly with two major hearing aid manufacturers' proprietary Bluetooth connectivity devices paired to the accompanying manufacturer's specific hearing aids. Sentence recognition performance was objectively measured for each system with signals transmitted via a land-line to the same iPhone in two conditions. There was a significant effect of participant's performance according to listening condition. There was no significant effect between device manufacturers according to listening condition, but there was a significant effect in participant's perception of "quality of sound". Despite differences in signal transmission for each devise, when worn by participants both the systems performed equally. In fact, participants expressed personal preferences for specific technology that was largely due to their perceived quality of sound while listening to recorded signals. While further research is necessary to investigate other measures of benefit for Bluetooth connectivity devices, preliminary data suggest that in order to ensure comfort and compatibility, not only should objective measures of the patient benefit be completed, but also assessing the patient's perception of benefit is equally important. Implications for Rehabilitation All professionals who work with individuals with hearing loss, become aware of the differences in the multiple choices for assistive technology readily available for hearing loss. With the ever growing dispensing of Bluetooth connectivity devices coupled to hearing aids, there is an increased burden to determine whether performance differences could exist between manufacturers. There is a growing need to investigate other measures of benefit for Bluetooth hearing aid connectivity devices that not only include objective measures, but also patient perception of benefit. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} | 0 |
Former US basketball star Dennis Rodman has apologised on his return from a controversial trip to North Korea, where he sang 'Happy Birthday' to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
Rodman was accused of pandering to North Korean authorities during the trip, which featured an exhibition basketball match involving other National Basketball Association (NBA) stars to mark the North Korean leader's birthday.
"I am sorry. I am not the president. I am not an ambassador. I am Dennis Rodman," the former Chicago Bulls player said at Beijing airport.
"Just an individual, just showing the world the fact that we can actually get along and be happy for one day."
Rodman was also widely criticised for refusing to bring up human rights abuses or the plight of a US missionary detained in North Korea during his week-long visit, but said he would return again next month.
The player known as "The Worm" was returning from his fourth visit to the reclusive state in 12 months.
"It is amazing that I had the opportunity just to go to North Korea, and for the Marshal (Mr Kim) just to give me an opportunity just to be in his presence and in his city," he said, adding that he would visit the North again next month for "another game".
Floyd 'misled' about trip
Rodman brought a team of fellow ex-NBA stars to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, for an exhibition game last Wednesday to mark Kim Jong-Un's birthday.
One of Rodman's teammates, Eric 'Sleepy' Floyd, said he was "misled" about the trip and he tried to leave the day after the players arrived last Monday as he was "uncomfortable" with not being given "all the information" about the itinerary.
Floyd said he believed he would be working with "kids" rather than attending a "birthday celebration" for Mr Kim.
Rodman has developed an unlikely relationship with the North Korean leader since making his first trip there last February, when he declared Mr Kim a "friend for life"
The Swiss-educated Mr Kim is reported to be a keen fan of basketball and especially of Rodman's former team the Chicago Bulls, with whom Rodman won three NBA titles alongside Michael Jordan in the 1990s.
Apology for comments on Bae
Rodman's advisers have issued a statement apologising for comments he made before last Wednesday's game, which appeared to suggest that American missionary Kenneth Bae was responsible for his 15-year prison sentence in North Korea.
Rodman had been asked by CNN if he would make the case to the North Korean leadership that American Kenneth Bae should be freed.
"I don't give a rat's ass what the hell you think," Rodman said, before appearing to suggest Bae was to blame for his incarceration.
"Do you understand what he did in this country? Why is he held captive in this country?" he said, declining to respond to questions to clarify what he meant.
His advisers say Rodman had been drinking on a stressful day.
"I want to apologise, I take full responsibility," CNN said, quoting the statement.
AFP/Reuters | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} | 0.000335 |
Panicsville
Panicsville is a Chicago noise music group founded in 1992 by Andy Ortmann (founder of Nihilist Records) with David Forquer and Ryan Kohler. It has become an ongoing project for Ortmann to work with other musicians. Early shows consisted of pelting the audience with items like dry ice, meat, blood and insects. Now the group generally plays shrieking, high-pitched noises dressed in strange black latex outfits, and physically attack their audience in a violent but playful fashion.
At one time, the group consisted of 15 members -- Ben Armstrong and Drew St. Ivany from Laddio Bolocko and The Psychic Paramount among them; however, Jeremy Fisher and Andy Ortmann are the only two permanent members of the group. Recent collaborators include filmmaker Usama Alshaibi, Cock E.S.P., M.V. Carbon from Metalux and Thymme Jones from Cheer Accident.
Official Panicsville Site
Panicsville
Category:Musical groups established in 1992 | {
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
} | 0.001059 |
INTRODUCTION
============
Meningitis and encephalitis are infections of the meninges and brain, respectively, and are major causes of mortality and long-term neurological sequelae, particularly in children throughout the developing world. As these illnesses are difficult to clinically diagnose, they are often grouped under the term acute meningoencephalitis (AME). AME is among the most frequent and severe causes of pediatric hospitalization across Asia.^[@bib1]^
Bacterial meningitis is a serious condition; about 10% of patients die even with adequate and timely antibiotic treatment, whereas the fatality rate can rise to 40%--58% when access to prompt treatment is unavailable.^[@bib2]^ Many children who survive the infection are left with permanent neurological impairments such as hearing loss, learning disabilities, and behavioural problems.^[@bib3]^ The burden of these sequelae is unknown. It has been estimated that 16 million cases of acute bacterial meningitis, resulting in approximately 300 000 deaths, occur throughout the world each year, the vast majority in developing countries.^[@bib4],\ [@bib5]^ *Haemophilus influenzae* type b, *Streptococcus pneumoniae* and *Neisseria meningitidis* account for \~80% of reported cases of bacterial meningitis.^[@bib4]^
The viral agents of meningitis and encephalitis vary greatly between countries, with herpesviruses being the major aetiology in developed countries and vector-borne pathogens being dominant in tropical developing countries.^[@bib6]^ Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) has been reported as the main cause of AME in Southeast Asia, with a conservative estimate of 68 000 cases occurring annually.^[@bib7],\ [@bib8]^ Children in developing countries bear the greatest burden of morbidity and mortality from AME infections, particularly in Southeast Asia where important encephalitic pathogens such as JEV, enterovirus 71 (EV-A71) and dengue virus (DENV) commonly circulate.
Cambodia (population 15.1 million) is one of the poorest countries in Asia (Gross Domestic Product per capita of \$1100 USD per annum).^[@bib9]^ There has been no systematic report published about the causes of AME in Cambodian children, although it is thought that JEV, DENV and tuberculosis are common aetiologies.^[@bib10],\ [@bib11]^ Due to the absence of sufficient diagnostic capacity in most hospitals, Cambodian clinicians commonly treat AME empirically with little evaluation of the effectiveness of their clinical approach. The aim of this study was to better define the major aetiologies of paediatric AME in Cambodia through a prospective hospital-based study from 2010 to 2013.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
=====================
Patients and clinical specimens
-------------------------------
Kantha Bopha hospitals represent the largest paediatric hospital network in Cambodia, with an estimated 90% of all hospital care delivered to Cambodian children in these hospitals. The two major paediatric hospitals in the Southwest and Northeast of the country were included in the study: Kantha Bopha Children's Hospital in Phnom Penh and Jayavarman VII Hospital in Siem Reap, respectively.
Children were admitted into the study from July 2010 until the end of December 2013. Each week, an average of five children were randomly selected to be enroled into the study among patients aged \>1 month and \<15 years who presented with clinical status that required a lumbar puncture for which the admission diagnosis was AME. Basic demographic information was collected from all patients using case report forms. AME was defined as the presence of the following criteria: Fever \>38 °C, or febrile episode reported within the previous month.Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) abnormalities (\>four white blood cells per mm^3^ or CSF proteins \>0.4 g/L).At least one of the following signs: confusion; prolonged, altered consciousness; seizures; central neurological deficiency.
The study started with Jayavarman VII Hospital in Siem Reap in July 2010, and in order to have a better representativeness of the epidemiology of AME in the country Kantha Bopha Hospital in Phnom Penh was included during 2013. The hospital in Phnom Penh was not included in early recruitment of cases as the hospital was not equipped with a magnetic resonance imaging system until 2012.
For virological and microbiological testing, the following specimens were obtained during the first two days of admission: EDTA-anticoagulated blood (2 mL minimum); clotted whole blood (1 mL); CSF (2 mL collected during routine investigations); throat and rectal swabs in viral transport medium (VTM). Blood and CSF culture for bacteria isolation was also performed onsite in the hospitals according to standard procedures. All samples were collected from patients based on the medical judgement of individual clinicians as part of the patient's care management process. Specimens were kept at 4 °C after sampling and transported daily to the laboratory at the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge. Upon arrival in the laboratory, the specimens were immediately processed and frozen at −80 °C until further analysis.
Molecular biology testing
-------------------------
Nucleic acids were extracted from all clinical samples using the MagNa Pure LC system (Roche Life Science, North Ryde, NSW, Australia), according to the manufacturer's instructions. Previously described PCR/RT-PCR (real-time and conventional) methods were used to screen for a large range of viral and bacterial pathogens ([Supplementary Table S1](#sup1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), including the viruses: JEV, DENV1-4, chikungunya virus (CHIKV), flavivirus universal, EV-A71, enterovirus universal, influenza A viruses, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella-zoster virus (VZV); and the bacteria: *S. pneumoniae*, *H. influenzae*, *N. meningitidis*, *Orientia tsutsugamushi* and *Streptococcus suis*. *Mycobacterium tuberculosis* testing was also undertaken using GeneXpert for the first 40 patients enroled with a high clinical suspicion of tuberculosis AME, but testing was discontinued due to the requirement for high volumes of CSF and the absence of positive results. Testing of other pathogens (for example, rabies, measles and mumps) was conducted if the clinical presentation was suggestive of a particular infection.
Serological testing
-------------------
All acute sera, convalescent sera and CSF samples were tested for anti-JEV, -DENV and -CHIKV IgM using in-house capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (MAC-ELISA) as originally described by Rossi and Ksiazek^[@bib12]^ and adapted for our laboratory as outlined previously.^[@bib13],\ [@bib14]^ A result was considered positive when the optical density (OD) of the sample was greater than the mean OD of three negative control samples plus three standard deviations. An acute infection was defined as an IgM seroconversion or a significant increase of the OD measured between admission and discharge sera. To rule out the possibility of contamination of the CSF with blood IgM during sampling, CSF samples were only considered positive when the OD was higher than the respective blood IgM OD reading. In cases where both JEV and DENV IgM were detected positive the result was recorded as positive for undifferentiated flavivirus.
Cell culture isolation
----------------------
All CSF and serum samples that tested positive by PCR or serology for JEV, CHIKV, DENV and flaviviruses were inoculated onto C6/36 (*Aedes albopictus*) cells in order to isolate the virus for subsequent analysis. In addition, CSF was inoculated onto Vero E6 (African green monkey kidney epithelial) cells from all patients when there was sufficient CSF samples remaining after molecular and serological testing.
Testing algorithm and decision tree
-----------------------------------
A diagnostic algorithm ([Figure 1](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}) was designed to define the aetiological link between the detection of pathogens using different methodologies. Aetiology was considered 'confirmed', 'highly probable' or 'suspected' according to the criteria outlined in [Figure 1](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}. Aetiology was classified as unknown for cases in which all tests were negative. In cases where there was conflicting results between different tests a decision tree ([Figure 2](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}) was used to decide on the final aetiology of the AME.
We defined the molecular detection of CMV and EBV in the CSF as a 'highly probable' aetiology due to the unknown frequency in which these viruses can reactivate from latent infection and be detected in the CSF without being the cause of AME. However, only cases where virus was detected above a threshold of 100 copies were included as positive aetiologies.
Representation and mapping of JEV cases
---------------------------------------
Clinical data were entered using Excel (Microsoft Corp, Redwoods, WA, USA) and explored by province of patient residence using STATA 11 (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA). Confirmed cases were represented by month in a graph using Excel along with mean rainfall data estimated by satellite teledetection (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, NASA, USA, <http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/>) and adjusted for surface of province of residence. Population-adjusted attack rates (cases per 100 000 pop, using 2012 population) for each study period (2010--2012 and 2013) were mapped using ArcGIS 10 (Esri, Redlands, CA, USA), by year and patient's province of residence, to assess the time and geographical distribution of all 'confirmed' and 'highly probable' JEV cases for which sufficient information for date of hospitalization and location of residence were recorded.
Next-generation sequence analysis
---------------------------------
Following revision of the case report forms, patients for whom an aetiology was not identified, but clinical evidence was suggestive of a viral infection, were selected for next-generation sequence (NGS) analysis. CSF samples, sera and nasopharyngeal swabs from representative patients (*n*=13) were sent to PathoQuest SAS (Paris, France) for NGS analysis using an Illumina HiSeq-2000 sequencer (DNAVision, Gosselies, Belgium). Sample preparation, sequencing and bioinformatic analysis was conducted as described in Gagnieur *et al*^[@bib15]^ except that human genome sequence subtraction was done by reference to NCBI build 37.1/assembly hg19.
Ethical approval
----------------
This study was approved by the Cambodian National Ethics Committee for Human Research (approval \#107NECHR and \#212NECHR). All samples were collected after obtaining informed consent from the patient's parents or guardians. Informed consent was also obtained for all patients to send samples internationally for NGS analysis.
RESULTS
=======
A total of 1160 paediatric AME cases were enroled: 930 (80.1%) patients from Jayavarman VII Hospital in Siem Reap (from July 2010 through September 2013) and 229 (19.9%) patients from Kantha Bopha Hospital in Phnom Penh (from February 2013 through December 2013). The demographic characteristics of the patients included in the study are outlined in [Table 1](#tbl1){ref-type="table"} and a summary of the biochemical tests used to inform the diagnosis of AME is provided in [Supplementary Table S2](#sup1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}.
An infectious aetiology was detected in 35.0% (*n*=406) of AME cases enroled in the study using the criteria for assigning 'confirmed' and 'highly probable' cases ([Table 2](#tbl2){ref-type="table"}). When 'suspected' cases were also included, the proportion of cases with an aetiology identified was 44.2% (*n*=513). JEV was the most commonly detected pathogen with 20.3% of cases categorized as 'confirmed' or 'highly probable' and a further 4.1% defined as 'suspected' (total 24.4%, *n*=283). Other pathogens frequently associated with AME included *O. tsutsugamushi* (4.7%, *n*=55), DENV1-4 (4.6%, *n*=53), enterovirus/EV-A71 (3.5%, *n*=41), CHIKV (2.0%, *n*=23) and *S. pneumomiae* (1.6%, *n*=19). Conflicting results were detected in 16 patients and included instances where two or more pathogens with a classification of 'confirmed' or 'highly probable' were detected. Patients with conflicting results also included five cases where two or three pathogens were detected in a patient's CSF by molecular testing. These results were included in the aetiology counts ([Table 2](#tbl2){ref-type="table"}), but these cases were also included in [Supplementary Table S3](#sup1){ref-type="supplementary-material"} for further scrutiny.
NGS analysis of the CSF with negative targeted screening did not result in the detection of any pathogens in AME patients. NGS analysis of nasopharyngeal swabs from representative patients (*n*=13) resulted in the detection of common respiratory viruses in some samples (human parainfluenza virus 4, human metapneumovirus, human respiratory syncytial virus). Targeted real-time RT-PCR testing of the respective CSF samples from these patients did not detect the presence of these respiratory viruses in the central nervous system of the patients.
The demographic characteristics of infection were analyzed for all pathogens detected in \>ten cases of AME using data from 'confirmed' or 'highly probable' aetiology ([Table 3](#tbl3){ref-type="table"}). JEV was more commonly detected in children aged one to ten years with a median age of five years. Whereas, DENV and CHIKV-associated AME cases were more evenly distributed amongst the age groups (median ages of six and seven, respectively). Enterovirus and *S. pneumoniae* infections were more commonly detected in younger children (median age of four for both), particularly children between one to five years. *O. tsutsugamushi* cases were more commonly associated in older children, with a median age of eight years. There was no significant difference in the gender distribution of JEV, DENV, enterovirus, *S. pneumoniae* or *O. tsutsugamushi* cases when compared to the whole study population. However, there was a highly significant gender difference in AME cases associated with CHIKV, with 16 male patients and only 1 female patient enroled.
The characteristics of JEV infection in Cambodia were analyzed to highlight the time and geographical distribution of JEV in the country and the presence of 'hotspots' for infection ([Figures 3](#fig3){ref-type="fig"} and [4](#fig4){ref-type="fig"}). Other aetiologies were not analyzed in this manner due to the much lower number of cases. JEV cases were overwhelmingly identified in the West/Northwest of Cambodia (2010--2012 recruitment in Jayavarman VII hospital, Siem Reap). When recruitment took place in both hospitals (Kantha Bopha in Phnom Penh additionally to Jayavarman VII in Siem Reap), a more comprehensive understanding of JEV epidemiology in Cambodia was obtained: cases occurred throughout the country, albeit at a lower attack rate in the South/Southwest. The population-adjusted attack rate in 2013 remained comparable to 2010--2012 in the West/Northwest of the country but Banteay Meanchey and the sparsely populated province of Preah Vihear seemed to suffer a disproportionate burden.
DISCUSSION
==========
The pathogens targeted for testing in this study were selected based on pre-existing data from the region on the most likely aetiologies of AME. The detection of confirmed or highly probably aetiologies in 35.0% (44.2% including 'suspected' cases) of cases was comparable to previous studies in Thailand (*n*=149) and Vietnam (*n*=1241) during which confirmed or probable aetiologies were identified in 36% of cases and 52% of AME patients, respectively.^[@bib16],\ [@bib17]^ Moreover, the NGS analysis did not identify other important pathogens that should have been included in the targeted testing. As such, we are confident that the main aetiologies of AME in Cambodia, identifiable in CSF and peripheral samples, are described.
JEV was only detected by molecular testing or culture analysis in the CSF of three patients. The difficulties of direct detection of JEV in encephalitis patients is well documented and is likely related to the low viral load in CSF and plasma during infection. Using serological and molecular testing, JEV was the most common cause of AME in this study, with 20.3% of cases 'confirmed' or 'highly probable' for JEV infection; and a further 4.1% classified as 'suspected'. These findings support previous studies conducted in Cambodia,^[@bib11],\ [@bib18],\ [@bib19]^ and indeed the region,^[@bib8],\ [@bib17],\ [@bib20],\ [@bib21],\ [@bib22]^ reporting JEV as the main cause of infectious paediatric encephalitis. These findings should provide impetus for initiatives to further roll out JEV vaccination in the region. Currently JEV vaccination is not widespread in Cambodia. However, a nationwide JEV vaccination programme has recently been announced (1 March 2016).^[@bib23]^
Mapping of JEV cases showed a backdrop of \<1 diagnosed case per 100 000, with a higher burden in the North/Northwest than in the Southeast of Cambodia, which is home to 2/3 of the Cambodian population.^[@bib24]^ This may be due to the Northwest being more agrarian and sparsely populated except in some urbanized Districts. It may also be due to a higher pig-raising activity in that area.^[@bib25]^ Conversely, fewer cases per 100 000 pop (2012) may have been detected in the Southeast hospital network due to more diversified healthcare options in that part of Cambodia.^[@bib24]^
In Southern Asia, *O. tsutsugamushi* --- the agent of scrub typhus --- is a common, but underappreciated cause of AME. Neurological complications have commonly been described in scrub typhus cases in India and Thailand;^[@bib26],\ [@bib27],\ [@bib28],\ [@bib29]^ and *O. tsutsugamushi* was associated with 6.1% (6/98) and 2.8% (31/1112) of AME cases in Thailand and Vietnam, respectively.^[@bib16],\ [@bib30]^ In the present study, *O. tsutsugamushi* was the second most common aetiology identified, with bacteremia detected by qPCR in 4.7% (*n*=55) of AME patients. In four (overall 0.3%) of these patients *O. tsutsugamushi* DNA was also detected in the CSF of the patients. These results closely reflect a study conducted in Laos that reported *O. tsutsugamushi* as the aetiology of CNS infections in 2.9% (*n*=1051) of patients by PCR or culture (detected in CSF and blood in 2.0% and 3.1% of patients, respectively).^[@bib30]^ Cambodian cases were more commonly detected in older children, which is consistent with the epidemiology of scrub typhus as *O. tsutsugamushi* is transmitted through the bite of trombiculid mites (chiggers), usually found in vegetated areas. Adults and older children are therefore more likely to be infected by this organism, as previously reported in Cambodia and Vietnam.^[@bib31]^ It is very important that clinicians in Cambodia and the region consider *O. tsutsugamushi* in cases of AME as the infection is readily treatable through timely and adequate antibiotic therapy.^[@bib32]^
Enteroviruses and EV-A71 were detected by RT-qPCR in the CSF of 1.9% (*n*=22) and 0.8% (*n*=9) of AME cases, respectively. Suspect cases (*n*=10) of EV-A71 encephalitis were also identified through the concurrent detection of the virus in both oropharyngeal and rectal swabs from the same patient, indicating systemic infection. Prior to the enrolment of patients from Kantha Bopha Hospital in Phnom Penh, a large outbreak of encephalitis associated with EV-A71 was reported from this hospital.^[@bib33]^ During this outbreak (April--July 2012) at least 56 young children died from severe encephalitis and pulmonary oedema associated with EV-A71 infection. Although fairly low numbers of EV-A71 were detected throughout the current study, the outbreak in 2012^[@bib33]^ and a subsequent outbreak in 2014,^[@bib34]^ highlight the importance of this pathogen in AME cases in Cambodia and the region.
Although reports of dengue infections associated with neurological symptoms have been recorded in the literature for many years,^[@bib10]^ until recently it has not been generally accepted that DENV was an important cause of encephalitis. Previous studies in the Southeast Asia region have identified DENV as the aetiology of AME in 5.1% (5/99), 4.6% (9/194) and 1.3% (2/149) of cases in Cambodia,^[@bib11]^ Vietnam^[@bib21]^ and Thailand,^[@bib16]^ respectively. In the present study, DENV was 'confirmed' or 'highly probable' in 2.4% (*n*=28) of cases (4.6% if 'suspected' cases are also included). Using molecular testing DENV1 (*n*=16) and DENV2 (*n*=5) were the main serotypes detected, which corresponded to a period where DENV1 and DENV2 were the predominant dengue serotypes circulating in the country.^[@bib35],\ [@bib36]^
The detection of CHIKV was characterized as 'confirmed' or 'highly probable' in 11 (0.9%) and six (0.5%) AME cases, respectively; a further six 'suspected' cases were detected through blood serology. This virus was first linked with severe neurological illnesses during the explosive outbreaks in the Indian Ocean and India during 2005--2006.^[@bib37],\ [@bib38],\ [@bib39]^ However, CHIKV has rarely been directly detected in the CSF of AME patients. As such, the detection of CHIKV in the CSF of seven patients by RT--qPCR and/or culture in this study is noteworthy. All CHIKV AME cases were detected between June 2011 and October 2012, corresponding to a period when an outbreak of chikungunya was ongoing in Cambodia.^[@bib14],\ [@bib40]^ Interestingly, this outbreak was only identified following the detection of 'sentinel' encephalitis cases reported in the present study, leading to confirmation of the outbreak through community-based investigations.^[@bib14],\ [@bib41]^ The majority of CHIKV-associated AME cases were detected in males with a significant difference in the gender ratio (male:female ratio of 16). Severe CHIKV infection was more commonly observed in males in the large outbreak in India,^[@bib39]^ whereas severe cases were more commonly reported in females in the Reunion Island outbreak.^[@bib37]^ We do not know of any reasons why there would be such a marked difference in the gender ratio of Cambodian CHIKV AME cases as the demographic data and results from other aetiologies do not suggest a gender bias in the recruitment of cases.
The herpesviruses HSV, EBV and CMV were detected by PCR in the CSF of 0.9% (*n*=11), 0.9% (*n*=10) and 0.4% (*n*=5) of AME cases, respectively. These pathogens are commonly reported as the main aetiology of infectious AME in developed countries.^[@bib42],\ [@bib43],\ [@bib44],\ [@bib45]^ In developing countries worldwide, however, other aetiological agents such as arboviruses are more commonly detected.
The vaccine-preventable bacterial species commonly associated with meningitis, *S. pneumoniae*, *H. influenzae* type B and *N. meningitidis*, were detected in 1.6% (*n*=19), 0.7% (*n*=8) and 0.2% (*n*=2) of AME cases, respectively. These results are consistent with other studies in Vietnam, Thailand and Bangladesh with *S. pneumoniae* detected in 5.7%, 3.0% and 5.7% *H. influenzae* type B detected in 0%, 1.0% and 0.7% and *N. meningitidis* detected in 0.6%, 3.0% and 1.4% of AME cases, respectively.^[@bib16],\ [@bib17],\ [@bib46]^ CSF bacterial culture at the hospital sites did not result in the isolation of any of these pathogens throughout the study. The high use of over-the-counter antibiotic self-medication in our setting is likely to influence isolation rates in blood and CSF cultures.^[@bib47]^ *H. influenzae* type B vaccination was introduced into the Cambodian immunization schedule in 2008 and has likely resulted in a considerable reduction in cases. In contrast, the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was introduced into the country in 2015 and the meningococcal vaccine has not yet been introduced; thus vaccination for these bacterial pathogens was not widespread during the study period, 2010--2013.
Our study has important limitations, including the lack of outcome and severity of illness data. Serological testing was focused only on arboviruses and may have led to an underestimation of other viral and bacterial causes of AME. Although tuberculosis is believed to be an important cause of AME in Cambodia the current lack of reliable and sensitive diagnostic methods for extra-pulmonary infections of *M. tuberculosis* may result in a gross underestimation of the AME burden attributable to this organism.^[@bib48]^ It has been estimated that approximately one-third of all encephalitis cases are caused by immune-mediated pathogenesis.^[@bib49]^ These factors were not addressed in this study and may be associated with a significant proportion of the 55.8% of cases where an aetiology was not determined.
In conclusion, our study identified JEV, *O. tsutsugamushi*, DENV, CHIKV, enteroviruses and *S. pneumoniae* as the main causes of AME in Cambodia. Therefore highlighting that the major infectious causes of AME in the country were vaccine-preventable (e.g. JEV, DENV, *S. pneumoniae*) or treatable with timely and adequate use of antimicrobials (for example, *S. pneumoniae*, *O. tsutsugamushi*). This first study to identify the major aetiologies of encephalitis in Cambodia has led to the establishment of a comprehensive project, called the Southeast Asia Encephalitis Project (SEAe, <https://research.pasteur.fr/en/program_project/the-southeast-asia-encephalitis-project/>), in which exhaustive laboratory identification of encephalitis pathogens, coupled with development of laboratory and clinical capacity in local hospitals is being undertaken in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. Through these initiatives we hope to increase awareness of encephalitis aetiologies among clinicians and improve laboratory capacity in hospitals to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with AME.
The authors thank the patients and parents who participated in this study. We also thank the clinical staff from Kantha Bopha hospitals (Kantha Bopha Hospital, Phnom Penh 12000, Cambodia). This study was supported by the Li Ka Shing Foundation-University of Oxford Global Health Programme 2007--2010, PathoQuest (convention 04-12), and the Institut Microbiology and Maladies Infectieuses (IMMI NO 201103).
[Supplementary Information](#sup1){ref-type="supplementary-material"} for this article can be found on the *Emerging Microbes & Infections* website (http://www.nature.com/emi)
Supplementary Material {#sup1}
======================
######
Click here for additional data file.
######
Click here for additional data file.
######
Click here for additional data file.
{#fig1}
{#fig2}
{#fig3}
{#fig4}
###### Demographic characteristics of the study participants
**Characteristics** **Siem Reap** **Phnom Penh** **Total**
--------------------- --------------------------- ------------------------- --------------------------
Number of patients 931 229 1160
Date range July 2010--September 2013 February--December 2013 July 2010--December 2013
*Age*
Range 1 month--15 years 2 months--15 years 1 month--15 years
Median 6 years 5 years 6 years
1--11 months 36 (3.9%) 10 (4.5%) 46 (4.0%)
1--5 years 422 (45.3%) 107 (46.7%) 529 (45.6%)
6--10 years 255 (27.4%) 67 (29.3%) 322 (27.8%)
11--15 years 217 (23.3%) 40 (17.5%) 257 (22.2%)
Unknown 1 (0.1%) 5 (2.2%) 6 (0.5%)
*Sex*
Female 381 (40.9%) 102 (44.5%) 483 (41.6%)
Male 550 (59.1%) 126 (55.0%) 676 (58.3%)
Unknown 0 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.09%)
###### Laboratory results to determine the aetiology of acute meningoencephalitis in Cambodian children
**Pathogen**[a](#t2-fn2){ref-type="fn"} **Confirmed** **Highly probable** **CSF IgM or PCR detection of CMV or EBV in CSF** **Suspected** **Blood IgM or EV71 throat and rectal PCR** **Total (n=1,160)**
----------------------------------------- ------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- ------------ -------------
Japanese encephalitis virus 3 0 3 (0.3%) 233 (20.1%) 47 (4.1%) 283 (24.4%)
Dengue virus 1 10[b](#t2-fn3){ref-type="fn"} 6[b](#t2-fn3){ref-type="fn"} 16 (4.4%)
Dengue virus 2 3[c](#t2-fn4){ref-type="fn"} 2[c](#t2-fn4){ref-type="fn"} 5 (0.4%) 5 (0.4%) 25 (2.2%) 53 (4.6%)
Dengue virus 3 0 1 1 (0.09%)
Dengue virus 4 0 1 1 (0.09%)
Flavivirus 0 0 0 8 (0.7%) 20 (1.7%) 28 (2.4%)
Chikungunya virus 7[d](#t2-fn5){ref-type="fn"} 4[d](#t2-fn5){ref-type="fn"} 11 (0.9%) 6 (0.5%) 6 (0.5%) 23 (2.0%)
Enterovirus 22 0 22 (1.9%) NA NA 22 (1.9%)
Enterovirus 71 9 0 9 (0.8%) NA 10 (0.9%) 19 (1.6%)
Herpes simplex virus 11 NA 11 (0.9%) NA NA 11 (0.9%)
Epstein-Barr virus NA NA NA 10 (0.9%) NA 10 (0.9%)
Cytomegalovirus NA NA NA 5 (0.4%) NA 5 (0.4%)
*Streptococcus pneumoniae* 19 0 19 (1.6%) NA NA 19 (1.6%)
*Haemophilus influenzae* 8 0 8 (0.7%) NA NA 8 (0.7%)
*Neisseria meningitidis* 2 0 2 (0.2%) NA NA 2 (0.2%)
*Orientia tsutsugamushi* 4[e](#t2-fn6){ref-type="fn"} 51[e](#t2-fn6){ref-type="fn"} 55 (4.7%) NA NA 55 (4.7%)
Total[f](#t2-fn7){ref-type="fn"} NA NA 141 (12.2%) 265 (22.8%) 107 (9.2%) 513 (44.2%)
Abbreviations: cytomegalovirus, CMV; cerebrospinal fluid, CSF; Epstein-Barr virus, EBV; immunoglobulin, IgM; not applicable, NA.
Only pathogens detected in the study are included in the table.
2 cases were positive in both CSF and blood, 8 cases were positive in CSF only, 6 cases were positive in blood only.
1 case was positive in both CSF and blood, 2 cases were positive in CSF only, 2 cases were positive in blood only.
6 cases were positive in both CSF and blood, 1 case was positive in CSF only, 4 cases were positive in blood only.
4 cases were positive in both CSF and blood, 0 cases were positive in CSF only, 51 cases were positive in blood only.
Only the number of patients were included in the total amounts (i.e. a coinfection with two pathogens was not counted twice).
###### Age and gender characteristics for patients in which the main pathogens were detected
**Pathogen detected**[a](#t3-fn2){ref-type="fn"} **Gender ratio (M:F)** **Median age (years)** **Age groups (% of total number in age group)**
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ ------------------------ ------------------------------------------------- ------------- ------------ ------------
JEV 1.6 (144:92) 5 1 (2.2%) 119 (22.5%) 85 (26.4%) 30 (11.7%)
DENV1-4 1.5 (17:11) 6 2 (4.3%) 12 (2.3%) 9 (2.8%) 5 (1.9%)
CHIKV 16 (16:1) 7 0 8 (1.5%) 4 (1.2%) 5 (1.9%)
Enterovirus[b](#t3-fn3){ref-type="fn"} 1.8 (20:11) 4 0 19 (3.6%) 9 (2.8%) 3 (1.2%)
*S. pneumoniae* 1.4 (11:8) 4 0 12 (2.3%) 4 (1.2%) 3 (1.2%)
*O. tsutsugamushi* 1.4 (32:23) 8 1 (2.2%) 18 (3.4%) 11 (3.4%) 25 (9.7%)
Baseline 1.4 (676:483) 6 *n*=46 *n*=529 *n*=322 *n*=257
Abbreviations: chikungunya virus, CHIKV; dengue virus, DENV; Japanese encephalitis virus, JEV.
Confirmed and highly probable aetiologies.
Including EV-A71.
[^1]: These authors contributed equally to this work.
| {
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Ex-husband rebuts abuse allegations on YouTube
The ex-husband of a Nova Scotia woman who tried to hire a hit man to kill him has uploaded a video on YouTube to tell his side of the story.
Michael Ryan says his former wife, Nicole Ryan, has made him out to be “a monster” who terrorized and abused her. He says the courts have never given him the chance to refute those claims.
“I wasn’t called to testify, and I thought that somebody reviewing the evidence would eventually call me or something but it never happened,” he said Monday evening from his home in Angus, Ont.
Last Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected Nicole Ryan’s defence and overturned her acquittal on a charge of counselling to commit murder but then stayed the charge. That means she is free and can’t be retried on the charge.
Although the court rejected a defence of duress, it described Ryan’s husband as “violent, abusive and controlling.”
Michael Ryan said he is shocked at the verdict of Canada’s top court.
“I can’t believe the court’s decision, considering the evidence that is out there,” he said.
“I was really hoping for a new trial and I thought that was the way it was going but it didn’t happen.”
In the video, filmed at his home, Ryan says he never abused Nicole, and that the courts, by not properly examining the evidence, have “tarnished the reputations of not only myself but the RCMP as well.”
“The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to avoid another trial, which would have ultimately included the testimonies of both the RCMP and I, into Nicole Ryan’s allegations, is a farce and a disgrace to our Canadian judicial system.
“Nicole Ryan’s allegations that I sexually, physically and mentally abused her left a dark cloud over my name and my family. She has painted me out to be a monster who abused her and our daughter.”
Michael Ryan said he moved to Ontario in 2009 due to a military posting. He said a family court judge in Kentville awarded him sole custody of their daughter Aimee, now 12, after the judge ordered a psychological assessment of the whole family. He said his ex-wife didn’t contest the custody application.
“I’m sure that (Michael Ryan) is now on the offensive but there is a lot he will not say.”
For now, Nicole Ryan is interested in pursuing visitation rights with her daughter, Pink said.
Michael Ryan said he has never tried to prevent his ex-wife from contacting their daughter.
“This is why I am so up about getting my side of the story out because it is one big lie, and she is throwing my daughter in the forefront of this, as if I took my daughter from her and kidnapped her out of the province.
“This is all over the country in the newspapers.”
Ryan said that when he moved to Ontario in February 2010, he sent his ex-wife’s lawyer at the time a letter giving his forwarding address. | {
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Bakke says prosecutors should have known better and should have been using that line in indictments years ago.
"By not doing it and waiting for 2-3 years for this decision to come down... every case that took place during that 3-year period has now got to be thrown out or modified," says Bakke.
Honolulu's Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro is currently out of town, but a spokesman says his office did start adding the line before the ruling last year, but are now reviewing child molestation cases that could be affected.
Kauai's Prosecutor, Justin Kollar, says he respects the court's ruling, but feels the required language is not necessary.
"It certainly seems self evident that if an adult is accused of having improper sexual contact with a person who is less than 14 years old, it goes without saying that they are not married to each other," says Kollar, who also points out that state law would have prevented victims that young from marrying anyway.
The cases that are being thrown out are being done so 'without prejudice' meaning charges can be re-filed. But Kollar is concerned that the victims will be traumatized again if they are forced to go through a second trial or another grand jury hearing.
"A huge amount of strain on the people involved, especially the victims who are often children," says Kollar.
But Victor Bakke says if prosecutors had included the one line in the first place, this wouldn't be an issue.
Copyright 2015 HawaiiNewsNow. All rights reserved. | {
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# Note: this is on by default in the CMake Emscripten module which we aren't using
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -s ERROR_ON_UNDEFINED_SYMBOLS=1")
# Disallow deprecated emscripten build options.
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -s STRICT=1")
# Export the Emscripten-generated auxiliary methods which are needed by solc-js.
# Which methods of libsolc itself are exported is specified in libsolc/CMakeLists.txt.
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -s EXTRA_EXPORTED_RUNTIME_METHODS=['cwrap','addFunction','removeFunction','UTF8ToString','lengthBytesUTF8','stringToUTF8','setValue']")
# Build for webassembly target.
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -s WASM=1")
# Set webassembly build to synchronous loading.
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -s WASM_ASYNC_COMPILATION=0")
# Output a single js file with the wasm binary embedded as base64 string.
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -s SINGLE_FILE=1")
# Disable warnings about not being pure asm.js due to memory growth.
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wno-almost-asm")
endif()
endif()
# The major alternative compiler to GCC/Clang is Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler, only available on Windows.
elseif (DEFINED MSVC)
add_compile_options(/MP) # enable parallel compilation
add_compile_options(/EHsc) # specify Exception Handling Model in msvc
add_compile_options(/WX) # enable warnings-as-errors
add_compile_options(/wd4068) # disable unknown pragma warning (4068)
add_compile_options(/wd4996) # disable unsafe function warning (4996)
add_compile_options(/wd4503) # disable decorated name length exceeded, name was truncated (4503)
add_compile_options(/wd4267) # disable conversion from 'size_t' to 'type', possible loss of data (4267)
add_compile_options(/wd4180) # disable qualifier applied to function type has no meaning; ignored (4180)
add_compile_options(/wd4290) # disable C++ exception specification ignored except to indicate a function is not __declspec(nothrow) (4290)
add_compile_options(/wd4244) # disable conversion from 'type1' to 'type2', possible loss of data (4244)
add_compile_options(/wd4800) # disable forcing value to bool 'true' or 'false' (performance warning) (4800)
add_compile_options(-D_WIN32_WINNT=0x0600) # declare Windows Vista API requirement
add_compile_options(-DNOMINMAX) # undefine windows.h MAX && MIN macros cause it cause conflicts with std::min && std::max functions
add_compile_options(/utf-8) # enable utf-8 encoding (solves warning 4819)
add_compile_options(-DBOOST_REGEX_NO_LIB) # disable automatic boost::regex library selection
add_compile_options(-D_REGEX_MAX_STACK_COUNT=200000L) # increase std::regex recursion depth limit
add_compile_options(/permissive-) # specify standards conformance mode to the compiler
# disable empty object file warning
set(CMAKE_STATIC_LINKER_FLAGS "${CMAKE_STATIC_LINKER_FLAGS} /ignore:4221")
# warning LNK4075: ignoring '/EDITANDCONTINUE' due to '/SAFESEH' specification
# warning LNK4099: pdb was not found with lib
# stack size 16MB
set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS} /ignore:4099,4075 /STACK:16777216")
# If you don't have GCC, Clang or VC++ then you are on your own. Good luck!
else ()
message(WARNING "Your compiler is not tested, if you run into any issues, we'd welcome any patches.")
endif ()
if (SANITIZE)
# Perform case-insensitive string compare
string(TOLOWER "${SANITIZE}" san)
# -fno-omit-frame-pointer gives more informative stack trace in case of an error
# -fsanitize-address-use-after-scope throws an error when a variable is used beyond its scope
if (san STREQUAL "address")
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -fno-omit-frame-pointer -fsanitize=address -fsanitize-address-use-after-scope")
endif()
endif()
# Code coverage support.
# Copied from Cable:
# https://github.com/ethereum/cable/blob/v0.2.4/CableCompilerSettings.cmake#L118-L132
option(COVERAGE "Build with code coverage support" OFF)
if(COVERAGE)
# Set the linker flags first, they are required to properly test the compiler flag.
set(CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS "--coverage ${CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS}")
set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "--coverage ${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS}")
set(CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES "--coverage ${CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES}")
check_cxx_compiler_flag(--coverage have_coverage)
string(REPLACE "--coverage " "" CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES ${CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES})
if(NOT have_coverage)
message(FATAL_ERROR "Coverage not supported")
endif()
add_compile_options(-g --coverage)
endif()
# SMT Solvers integration
option(USE_Z3 "Allow compiling with Z3 SMT solver integration" ON)
option(USE_CVC4 "Allow compiling with CVC4 SMT solver integration" ON)
if (("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" MATCHES "GNU") OR ("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" MATCHES "Clang"))
option(USE_LD_GOLD "Use GNU gold linker" ON)
if (USE_LD_GOLD)
execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER} -fuse-ld=gold -Wl,--version ERROR_QUIET OUTPUT_VARIABLE LD_VERSION)
if ("${LD_VERSION}" MATCHES "GNU gold")
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -fuse-ld=gold")
endif ()
endif ()
endif ()
| {
"pile_set_name": "Github"
} | 0 |
Kernel index
This index covers articles published in the LWN.net Kernel Page. All articles from the beginning of 2004 have been entered here.
Academic systems
Realtime Linux: academia v. reality (July 26, 2010)
Popcorn Linux pops up on linux-kernel (May 5, 2020)
Access control lists
Rich access control lists (October 20, 2015)
ACCESS_ONCE()
ACCESS_ONCE() (August 1, 2012)
ACCESS_ONCE() and compiler bugs (December 3, 2014)
Who's afraid of a big bad optimizing compiler? (July 15, 2019)
ACPI
ACPI, device interrupts, and suspend states (August 3, 2005)
An API for specifying latency constraints (August 28, 2006)
OLS: Three talks on power management (June 30, 2007)
Tripping over trip points (August 7, 2007)
The ACPI processor aggregator driver (October 7, 2009)
The cpuidle subsystem (April 26, 2010)
Idling ACPI idle (June 1, 2010)
ACPI for ARM? (November 22, 2013)
Adore root kit
A new Adore root kit (March 17, 2004)
AdvFS
What's AdvFS good for? (June 25, 2008)
AlacrityVM
AlacrityVM (August 5, 2009)
Two that didn't make it (December 22, 2009)
alloc_skb_from_cache()
alloc_skb_from_cache() (January 4, 2005)
ALSA
Fear of the void (June 9, 2004)
Alternative instructions
SMP alternatives (December 14, 2005)
Android
Wakelocks and the embedded problem (February 10, 2009)
From wakelocks to a real solution (February 18, 2009)
Fishy business (March 3, 2010)
Suspend block (April 28, 2010)
Blocking suspend blockers (May 18, 2010)
Suspend blocker suspense (May 26, 2010)
What comes after suspend blockers (June 1, 2010)
This week's episode of "Desperate Androids" (June 7, 2010)
Another wakeup event mechanism (June 23, 2010)
An alternative to suspend blockers (November 24, 2010)
A new approach to opportunistic suspend (September 27, 2011)
Yet another opportunity for opportunistic suspend (October 18, 2011)
KS2011: Patch review (October 24, 2011)
Bringing Android closer to the mainline (December 20, 2011)
Autosleep and wake locks (February 7, 2012)
The Android ION memory allocator (February 8, 2012)
The Android mainlining interest group meeting: a report (February 28, 2012)
Finding the right evolutionary niche (April 11, 2012)
KS2012: Status of Android upstreaming (September 5, 2012)
LC-Asia: An Android upstreaming update (March 12, 2013)
Integrating the ION memory allocator (September 4, 2013)
The Android Graphics microconference (October 9, 2013)
The LPC Android microconference (October 17, 2013)
In a bind with binder (October 29, 2014)
The LPC Android microconference, part 1 (September 8, 2015)
The LPC Android microconference, part 2 (September 14, 2015)
Running a mainline kernel on a cellphone (October 28, 2015)
Lightning talks (November 4, 2015)
Four new Android privilege escalations (August 10, 2016)
Bringing Android explicit fencing to the mainline (October 5, 2016)
Scheduling for Android devices (November 15, 2016)
The LPC Android microconference, part 1 (December 14, 2016)
The LPC Android microconference, part 2 (December 21, 2016)
Eliminating Android wrapfs "hackery" (April 4, 2017)
Running Android on a mainline graphics stack (September 12, 2017)
An update on the Android problem (November 7, 2017)
Bringing the Android kernel back to the mainline (November 15, 2018)
Android memory management (May 1, 2019)
Monitoring the internal kernel ABI (September 25, 2019)
Scheduling for the Android display pipeline (January 16, 2020)
Evaluating vendor changes to the scheduler (May 19, 2020)
Android kernel notes from LPC 2020 (September 10, 2020)
anonmm
Reverse mapping anonymous pages - again (March 24, 2004)
The status of object-based reverse mapping (May 19, 2004)
anon_vma
Virtual Memory II: the return of objrmap (March 10, 2004)
VM changes in 2.6.6 (April 14, 2004)
The status of object-based reverse mapping (May 19, 2004)
The merging of anon_vma and 4G/4G (May 26, 2004)
The case of the overly anonymous anon_vma (April 13, 2010)
AppArmor
The AppArmor debate begins (April 26, 2006)
Kernel Summit 2006: Security (July 19, 2006)
Linux security non-modules and AppArmor (June 27, 2007)
TOMOYO Linux and pathname-based security (April 14, 2008)
Architectures
UKUUG: The right way to port Linux (November 19, 2008)
System calls and 64-bit architectures (December 17, 2008)
ARM and defconfig files (June 16, 2010)
Little-endian PowerPC (October 6, 2010)
Upcoming DSP architectures (September 7, 2011)
LPC: Coping with hardware diversity (September 14, 2011)
Shedding old architectures and compilers in the kernel (February 26, 2018)
Software and hardware obsolescence in the kernel (August 28, 2020)
ARM
ARM's multiply-mapped memory mess (October 12, 2010)
ARM wrestling (April 6, 2011)
Rationalizing the ARM tree (April 19, 2011)
ARM kernel consolidation (May 18, 2011)
Reworking the DMA mapping code (especially on ARM) (November 16, 2011)
Irked by NO_IRQ (December 7, 2011)
Linux support for ARM big.LITTLE (February 15, 2012)
Supporting multi-platform ARM kernels (May 9, 2012)
A big.LITTLE scheduler update (June 12, 2012)
LinuxCon Japan: One zImage to rule them all (June 13, 2012)
Supporting 64-bit ARM systems (July 10, 2012)
Multi-cluster power management (February 20, 2013)
ELC: In-kernel switcher for big.LITTLE (February 27, 2013)
LC-Asia: A big LITTLE MP update (March 6, 2013)
Merging Allwinner support (June 19, 2013)
Supporting KVM on the ARM architecture (July 3, 2013)
Minisummit reports (October 29, 2013)
ACPI for ARM? (November 22, 2013)
Handling ARM architecture changes (July 23, 2014)
Porting to
Porting Linux to a new processor architecture, part 1: The basics (August 26, 2015)
Porting Linux to a new processor architecture, part 2: The early code (September 2, 2015)
Porting Linux to a new processor architecture, part 3: To the finish line (September 23, 2015)
x86
i386 and x86_64: back together? (July 31, 2007)
Detecting and handling split locks (June 7, 2019)
Developers split over split-lock detection (December 6, 2019)
VMX virtualization runs afoul of split-lock detection (April 7, 2020)
A possible end to the FSGSBASE saga (June 1, 2020)
Asymmetric multiprocessing
Dealing with complexity: power domains and asymmetric multiprocessing (June 29, 2011)
Asynchronous function calls
An asynchronous function call infrastructure (January 13, 2009)
Deadlocking the system with asynchronous functions (January 16, 2013)
Asynchronous I/O
A retry-based AIO infrastructure (March 2, 2004)
Kernel Summit: Asynchronous I/O (July 21, 2004)
Asynchronous I/O and vectored operations (February 7, 2006)
The kevent interface (February 22, 2006)
OLS: A proposal for a new networking API (July 22, 2006)
API changes: interrupt handlers and vectored I/O (October 2, 2006)
Asynchronous buffered file I/O (January 3, 2007)
Fibrils and asynchronous system calls (January 31, 2007)
Kernel fibrillation (February 6, 2007)
Threadlets (February 27, 2007)
The return of syslets (May 30, 2007)
LCA: A new approach to asynchronous I/O (January 27, 2009)
LSFMM: Reducing io_submit() latency (May 1, 2013)
Non-blocking buffered file read operations (September 23, 2014)
Asynchronous buffered read operations (March 18, 2015)
Fixing asynchronous I/O, again (January 13, 2016)
Toward non-blocking asynchronous I/O (May 30, 2017)
A new kernel polling interface (January 9, 2018)
Ringing in a new asynchronous I/O API (January 15, 2019)
io_uring, SCM_RIGHTS, and reference-count cycles (February 13, 2019)
Asynchronous fsync() (May 21, 2019)
The rapid growth of io_uring (January 24, 2020)
Automatic buffer selection for io_uring (March 20, 2020)
Operations restrictions for io_uring (July 15, 2020)
Atomic I/O operations
Atomic I/O operations (May 30, 2013)
Support for atomic block I/O operations (November 6, 2013)
A way to do atomic writes (May 28, 2019)
Atomic operations
Atomic usage patterns in the kernel (August 31, 2016)
Atomic patterns 2: coupled atomics (September 7, 2016)
Atomic spinlocks
The realtime preemption endgame (August 5, 2009)
The realtime preemption mini-summit (September 28, 2009)
atomic_t
No more 24-bit atomic_t (February 18, 2004)
The search for fast, scalable counters (February 1, 2006)
Atomic additions (July 20, 2015)
Two approaches to reference count hardening (July 7, 2016)
Atomic primitives in the kernel (July 27, 2016)
The bumpy road to reference-count protection in the kernel (November 16, 2016)
Auditing
The lightweight auditing framework (April 7, 2004)
More hooks for kernel events (February 9, 2005)
Who audits the audit code? (May 29, 2014)
Audit, namespaces, and containers (September 8, 2016)
Container IDs for the audit subsystem (December 6, 2017)
An audit container ID proposal (March 29, 2018)
Automounter
Trapfs - an automounter on the cheap (November 3, 2004)
Beancounters
Resource beancounters (August 29, 2006)
Benchmarking
Automated kernel testing (June 8, 2005)
Tracking tbench troubles (October 29, 2008)
A survey of scheduler benchmarks (June 14, 2017)
Testing scheduler thermal properties for avionics (May 15, 2020)
Scheduler benchmarking with MMTests (May 19, 2020)
Berkeley Packet Filter
A JIT for packet filters (April 12, 2011)
BPF: the universal in-kernel virtual machine (May 21, 2014)
Extending extended BPF (July 2, 2014)
A reworked BPF API (July 23, 2014)
A report from the networking miniconference (August 27, 2014)
The BPF system call API, version 14 (September 24, 2014)
Persistent BPF objects (November 18, 2015)
Last-minute control-group BPF ABI concerns (January 11, 2017)
Notes from the LPC tracing microconference (September 21, 2017)
A thorough introduction to eBPF (December 2, 2017)
Some advanced BCC topics (February 22, 2018)
Bpfilter (and user-mode blobs) for 4.18 (May 30, 2018)
IR decoding with BPF (July 9, 2018)
Binary portability for BPF programs (November 30, 2018)
Bounded loops in BPF programs (December 3, 2018)
Concurrency management in BPF (February 7, 2019)
Managing sysctl knobs with BPF (April 9, 2019)
BPF: what's good, what's coming, and what's needed (May 9, 2019)
Bounded loops in BPF for the 5.3 kernel (July 31, 2019)
BPF at Facebook (and beyond) (October 10, 2019)
BPF and the realtime patch set (October 23, 2019)
Filesystem sandboxing with eBPF (November 6, 2019)
A medley of performance-related BPF patches (January 2, 2020)
Kernel operations structures in BPF (February 7, 2020)
A look at "BPF Performance Tools" (February 26, 2020)
Impedance matching for BPF and LSM (February 26, 2020)
Dumping kernel data structures with BPF (April 27, 2020)
Rethinking bpfilter and user-mode helpers (June 12, 2020)
Sleepable BPF programs (July 7, 2020)
Networking
Attaching eBPF programs to sockets (December 10, 2014)
Early packet drop — and more — with BPF (April 6, 2016)
Network filtering for control groups (August 24, 2016)
BPF comes to firewalls (February 19, 2018)
Writing network flow dissectors in BPF (September 6, 2018)
Security
Yet another new approach to seccomp (January 11, 2012)
Kernel runtime security instrumentation (September 4, 2019)
KRSI — the other BPF security module (December 27, 2019)
KRSI and proprietary BPF programs (January 17, 2020)
A crop of new capabilities (June 8, 2020)
Tracing
BPF tracing filters (December 4, 2013)
Ktap or BPF? (April 23, 2014)
Ftrace and histograms: a fork in the road (March 4, 2015)
Tracepoints with BPF (April 13, 2016)
Using user-space tracepoints with BPF (May 11, 2018)
The state of system observability with BPF (May 1, 2019)
Kernel analysis with bpftrace (July 18, 2019)
Type checking for BPF tracing (October 28, 2019)
Unprivileged
Unprivileged bpf() (October 12, 2015)
Providing wider access to bpf() (June 27, 2019)
Reconsidering unprivileged BPF (August 16, 2019)
Big kernel lock
The Big Kernel Lock lives on (May 26, 2004)
The Big Kernel Semaphore? (September 15, 2004)
ioctl(), the big kernel lock, and 32-bit compatibility (December 15, 2004)
The new way of ioctl() (January 18, 2005)
The big kernel lock strikes again (May 13, 2008)
Kill BKL Vol. 2 (May 21, 2008)
The BKL end game (March 30, 2010)
Might 2.6.35 be BKL-free? (April 27, 2010)
BKL-free in 2.6.37 (maybe) (September 20, 2010)
Shielding driver authors from locking (October 20, 2010)
KS2010: Lightning talks (November 2, 2010)
The real BKL end game (January 26, 2011)
big.LITTLE
Linux support for ARM big.LITTLE (February 15, 2012)
A big.LITTLE scheduler update (June 12, 2012)
KS2012: ARM: A big.LITTLE update (September 5, 2012)
A report from the first Korea Linux Forum (October 16, 2012)
Multi-cluster power management (February 20, 2013)
ELC: In-kernel switcher for big.LITTLE (February 27, 2013)
LC-Asia: A big LITTLE MP update (March 6, 2013)
Bind mounts
Read-only bind mounts (May 6, 2008)
Mount namespaces, mount propagation, and unbindable mounts (June 15, 2016)
binfmt_misc
Architecture emulation containers with binfmt_misc (March 9, 2016)
BitKeeper
The kernel and BitKeeper part ways (April 6, 2005)
Block layer
Laptop mode for 2.6 (January 7, 2004)
CDROM drives and partitioning (February 25, 2004)
The return of write barriers (March 24, 2004)
Big block transfers: good or bad? (March 29, 2004)
Coming in 2.6.10 (October 20, 2004)
Network block devices and OOM safety (March 30, 2005)
Execute-in-place (May 11, 2005)
Kernel Summit 2005: Convergence of network and storage paths (July 20, 2005)
Some block layer patches (October 26, 2005)
Large block size support (May 2, 2007)
Distributed storage (August 21, 2007)
Barriers and journaling filesystems (May 21, 2008)
Block layer: integrity checking and lots of partitions (July 15, 2008)
A superficial introduction to fsblock (March 11, 2009)
Flushing out pdflush (April 1, 2009)
Linux Storage and Filesystem workshop, day 1 (April 7, 2009)
Linux Storage and Filesystem Workshop, day 2 (April 8, 2009)
DRBD: a distributed block device (April 22, 2009)
Interrupt mitigation in the block layer (August 10, 2009)
Page-based direct I/O (August 25, 2009)
The 2010 Linux Storage and Filesystem Summit, day 1 (August 9, 2010)
The 2010 Linux Storage and Filesystem Summit, day 2 (August 10, 2010)
The end of block barriers (August 18, 2010)
Notes from the block layer (February 22, 2011)
Linux Filesystem, Storage, and Memory Management Summit, Day 1 (April 5, 2011)
Future storage technologies and Linux (April 6, 2011)
Linux Filesystem, Storage, and Memory Management Summit, Day 2 (April 6, 2011)
Supporting block I/O contexts (June 18, 2012)
LSFMM: I/O hints (April 24, 2013)
LSFMM: Copy offload (April 24, 2013)
LSFMM: O_DIRECT (May 1, 2013)
The multiqueue block layer (June 5, 2013)
Tags and IDs (June 19, 2013)
Polling block drivers (June 26, 2013)
Filesystem/block interfaces (March 17, 2015)
Copy offload (March 25, 2015)
Write-stream IDs (April 7, 2015)
Block-layer I/O polling (November 11, 2015)
Block and filesystem interfaces (April 26, 2016)
Partial drive depopulation (April 27, 2016)
Quickly: Filesystems and containers / Self-encrypting drives (April 27, 2016)
Multipage bio_vecs (May 4, 2016)
Inline encryption support for block devices (March 22, 2017)
Stream ID status update (March 29, 2017)
A block layer introduction part 1: the bio layer (October 25, 2017)
Block layer introduction part 2: the request layer (November 9, 2017)
A mapping layer for filesystems (May 9, 2018)
Supporting multi-actuator drives (May 15, 2018)
A filesystem corruption bug breaks loose (December 10, 2018)
The Linux "copy problem" (May 29, 2019)
Atomic operations
Atomic I/O operations (May 30, 2013)
Support for atomic block I/O operations (November 6, 2013)
A way to do atomic writes (May 28, 2019)
Block drivers
Cleaning up the block driver API (August 28, 2007)
A new block request completion API (January 29, 2008)
How to use a terabyte of RAM (March 12, 2008)
Block layer: solid-state storage, timeouts, affinity, and more (October 15, 2008)
Block layer request queue API changes (May 18, 2009)
Reworking disk events handling (January 19, 2011)
Caching
Bcache: Caching beyond just RAM (July 2, 2010)
A bcache update (May 14, 2012)
LSFMM: Caching — dm-cache and bcache (May 1, 2013)
Discard operations
Block layer discard requests (August 12, 2008)
The trouble with discard (August 18, 2009)
The best way to throw blocks away (December 1, 2010)
Issues around discard (May 6, 2019)
Error handling
Improved block-layer error handling (June 2, 2017)
PostgreSQL's fsync() surprise (April 18, 2018)
PostgreSQL visits LSFMM (May 1, 2018)
Handling I/O errors in the kernel (June 12, 2018)
I/O scheduling
Modular, switchable I/O schedulers (September 21, 2004)
Into the ABISS (November 9, 2004)
Which is the fairest I/O scheduler of them all? (December 8, 2004)
CFQ v3 (July 12, 2005)
Variations on fair I/O schedulers (December 3, 2008)
Which I/O controller is the fairest of them all? (May 12, 2009)
The block I/O controller (November 7, 2009)
Hierarchical group I/O scheduling (February 15, 2011)
An IOPS-based I/O scheduler (January 4, 2012)
KS2012: memcg/mm: Proportional I/O controller (September 17, 2012)
The BFQ I/O scheduler (June 11, 2014)
The return of the BFQ I/O scheduler (February 3, 2016)
A way forward for BFQ (December 14, 2016)
Two new block I/O schedulers for 4.12 (April 24, 2017)
Measuring (and fixing) I/O-controller throughput loss (August 29, 2018)
I/O scheduling for single-queue devices (October 12, 2018)
Improving the performance of the BFQ I/O scheduler (March 29, 2019)
Large physical sectors
Linux and 4K disk sectors (March 11, 2009)
4K-sector drives and Linux (March 9, 2010)
Preparing for large-sector drives (January 29, 2014)
Handling 32KB-block drives (March 18, 2015)
Loopback device
A weak cryptoloop implementation in Linux? (January 21, 2004)
Partitioned loopback devices (November 10, 2004)
Asynchronous block loop I/O (January 30, 2013)
Private loop devices with loopfs (May 7, 2020)
Object storage devices
Linux and object storage devices (November 4, 2008)
Plugging
No more global unplugging (March 10, 2004)
Explicit block device plugging (April 13, 2011)
What happened to disk performance in 2.6.39 (January 31, 2012)
RAID
Journal-guided RAID resync (November 24, 2009)
DM and MD come a little closer (April 20, 2010)
The MD roadmap (February 16, 2011)
Another kernel RAID5 implementation (October 18, 2011)
A journal for MD/RAID5 (November 24, 2015)
Cluster support for MD/RAID 1 (February 3, 2016)
Solid-state storage devices
Solid-state storage devices and the block layer (October 4, 2010)
Supporting solid-state hybrid drives (November 5, 2014)
Taking control of SSDs with LightNVM (April 22, 2015)
Writeback
In defense of per-BDI writeback (September 30, 2009)
Handling writeback errors (April 4, 2017)
Fixing error reporting—again (April 25, 2018)
Bogomips
Haunted by ancient history (January 6, 2015)
Books
Linux Kernel Development, Second Edition (March 9, 2005)
Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online (March 15, 2005)
The Linux Kernel Primer (October 5, 2005)
Understanding the Linux Kernel, 3rd Edition (November 22, 2005)
Review: Understanding Linux Network Internals (January 24, 2006)
Book Review: User Mode Linux (May 16, 2006)
Review: Linux Kernel in a Nutshell (February 7, 2007)
Book review: Linux System Programming (December 5, 2007)
Book review: Linux Kernel Development, third edition (December 15, 2010)
Review: The Linux Programming Interface (January 19, 2011)
Bootstrap process
initramfs and where user space truly begins (July 11, 2006)
LPC: Booting Linux in five seconds (September 22, 2008)
Tracking down a "runaway loop" (December 10, 2008)
An asynchronous function call infrastructure (January 13, 2009)
USB and fast booting (April 29, 2009)
The bootstrap process on EFI systems (February 11, 2015)
Toward measured boot out of the box (September 8, 2016)
Broadcom 43xx
bcm43xx and the 802.11 stack (December 6, 2005)
How not to handle a licensing violation (April 11, 2007)
Broadcom's wireless drivers, one year later (August 29, 2011)
Btrfs
btrfs and NILFS (June 19, 2007)
A better btrfs (January 15, 2008)
Btrfs aims for the mainline (January 7, 2009)
A short history of btrfs (July 22, 2009)
JLS2009: A Btrfs update (October 27, 2009)
Supporting transactions in btrfs (November 11, 2009)
Btrfs: broken by design? (June 22, 2010)
Data temperature in Btrfs (August 3, 2010)
Whither btrfsck? (October 11, 2011)
A btrfs update at LinuxCon Europe (November 2, 2011)
Atime and btrfs: a bad combination? (May 31, 2012)
Btrfs send/receive (July 11, 2012)
VFS hot-data tracking (November 20, 2012)
LSFMM: Btrfs: "are we there yet?" (May 1, 2013)
CoreOS looks to move from Btrfs to overlayfs (December 24, 2014)
In-band deduplication for Btrfs (March 9, 2016)
Btrfs and high-speed devices (August 24, 2016)
Adding encryption to Btrfs (September 21, 2016)
Btrfs at Facebook (July 2, 2020)
LWN's guide to
The Btrfs filesystem: An introduction (December 11, 2013)
Btrfs: Getting started (December 17, 2013)
Btrfs: Working with multiple devices (December 30, 2013)
Btrfs: Subvolumes and snapshots (January 6, 2014)
Btrfs: Send/receive and ioctl() (January 22, 2014)
Budget fair queuing scheduler
Variations on fair I/O schedulers (December 3, 2008)
Buffer heads
A nasty file corruption bug - fixed (December 31, 2006)
Build system
Shrinking the kernel with gcc (January 21, 2004)
Building external modules (April 13, 2004)
Separating kernel source and object files (June 23, 2004)
The end of gcc 2.95 support (December 13, 2005)
Some patches of interest (February 28, 2006)
Testing crypto drivers at boot time (August 18, 2010)
Kconfiglib (February 2, 2011)
Better kernels with GCC plugins (October 5, 2011)
Kernel configuration for distributions (July 18, 2012)
Link-time optimization for the kernel (August 21, 2012)
Special sections in Linux binaries (January 3, 2013)
Kernel building with GCC plugins (June 14, 2016)
Creating a kernel build farm (October 5, 2016)
The end of modversions? (November 30, 2016)
A pair of GCC plugins (January 25, 2017)
A different approach to kernel configuration (September 12, 2017)
Shrinking the kernel with link-time garbage collection (December 15, 2017)
Shrinking the kernel with link-time optimization (January 18, 2018)
Shedding old architectures and compilers in the kernel (February 26, 2018)
Compiling kernel UAPI headers with C++ (September 13, 2018)
Building header files into the kernel (March 21, 2019)
bus1
Bus1: a new Linux interprocess communication proposal (August 17, 2016)
C11 atomic operations
C11 atomic variables and the kernel (February 18, 2014)
C11 atomics part 2: "consume" semantics (February 26, 2014)
Time to move to C11 atomics? (June 15, 2016)
CacheFS
A general caching filesystem (September 1, 2004)
Capabilities
Capabilities in 2.6 (April 6, 2004)
Magic groups in 2.6 (May 11, 2004)
Trustees Linux (November 16, 2004)
A bid to resurrect Linux capabilities (September 10, 2006)
File-based capabilities (November 29, 2006)
Fixing CAP_SETPCAP (October 31, 2007)
Restricting root with per-process securebits (April 30, 2008)
Capabilities for loading network modules (March 2, 2011)
CAP_SYS_ADMIN: the new root (March 14, 2012)
The trouble with CAP_SYS_RAWIO (March 13, 2013)
BSD-style securelevel comes to Linux — again (September 11, 2013)
Inheriting capabilities (February 11, 2015)
The kdbuswreck (April 22, 2015)
Tracking resources and capabilities used (July 13, 2016)
Namespaced file capabilities (June 30, 2017)
CAP_PERFMON — and new capabilities in general (February 21, 2020)
A crop of new capabilities (June 8, 2020)
CD recording
SCSI command filtering (July 31, 2006)
2.6.8 problems
2.6.8 and CD recording (August 18, 2004)
CFQ I/O scheduler
Which is the fairest I/O scheduler of them all? (December 8, 2004)
CFQ v3 (July 12, 2005)
Variations on fair I/O schedulers (December 3, 2008)
Changelogs
In search of the perfect changelog (April 22, 2009)
What's missing from our changelogs (July 24, 2013)
Character encoding
The kernel and character set encodings (February 18, 2004)
Working with UTF-8 in the kernel (March 28, 2019)
Char devices
The cdev interface (August 16, 2006)
check_flags()
file_operations method
The end of the fcntl() method (August 18, 2004)
Checkpointing
Kernel-based checkpoint and restart (August 11, 2008)
Checkpoint/restart tries to head towards the mainline (February 25, 2009)
clone_with_pids() (August 12, 2009)
eclone() (November 18, 2009)
A Checkpoint/restart update (February 24, 2010)
KS2010: Checkpoint/restart (November 2, 2010)
Checkpoint/restart: it's complicated (November 9, 2010)
Checkpoint/restart (mostly) in user space (July 19, 2011)
TCP connection hijacking and parasites - as a good thing (August 9, 2011)
Preparing for user-space checkpoint/restore (January 31, 2012)
TCP connection repair (May 1, 2012)
LCE: Checkpoint/restore in user space: are we there yet? (November 20, 2012)
Checkpoint/restore and signals (January 9, 2013)
Checkpoint/restart in user space (October 29, 2013)
A crop of new capabilities (June 8, 2020)
CIFS
On the future of smbfs (May 15, 2006)
LSFMM: User space NFS and CIFS servers (May 1, 2013)
Circular buffers
Coming in 2.6.10 (October 20, 2004)
Circular pipes (January 11, 2005)
The evolution of pipe buffers (January 18, 2005)
Class-based resource management
Kernel Summit: Class-based Kernel Resource Management (July 21, 2004)
Is CKRM worth it? (July 27, 2005)
Briefly: patch quality, CKRM, likely(), and vmsplice() (May 3, 2006)
Resource beancounters (August 29, 2006)
class_simple
Safe sysfs support (February 11, 2004)
Clockevents
Clockevents and dyntick (February 21, 2007)
CLOCK-Pro
A CLOCK-Pro page replacement implementation (August 16, 2005)
A framework for page replacement policies (March 25, 2006)
Clocks
A common clock framework (December 21, 2011)
Clusters
Clusters and distributed lock management (May 18, 2005)
Kernel Summit 2005: Clustering (July 20, 2005)
DRBD: a distributed block device (April 22, 2009)
Popcorn Linux pops up on linux-kernel (May 5, 2020)
Cluster summit presentations
Presentations from the cluster summit (August 11, 2004)
Filesystems
Should the Lustre preparation patches go in? (June 9, 2004)
Kernel Summit: Clustered storage (July 21, 2004)
The OCFS2 filesystem (May 24, 2005)
Time to merge GFS? (August 10, 2005)
Merging GFS2 (September 7, 2005)
New NFS to bring parallel storage to the masses (January 21, 2009)
A look inside the OCFS2 filesystem (September 1, 2010)
Loopback NFS: theory and practice (April 23, 2014)
cmpxchg()
RCU-safe reference counting (July 14, 2004)
Introducing lockrefs (September 4, 2013)
Coding style
How likely should likely() be? (February 10, 2004)
The cost of inline functions (April 28, 2004)
Fear of the void (June 9, 2004)
NULL v. zero (July 14, 2004)
Kernel headers and user space (November 30, 2004)
The coding style enforcer (May 11, 2005)
Drawing the line on inline (January 3, 2006)
The trouble with volatile (May 9, 2007)
Coding-style exceptionalism (July 20, 2016)
An end to implicit fall-throughs in the kernel (August 1, 2019)
Completely fair scheduler
CFS group scheduling (July 2, 2007)
Fair user scheduling and other scheduler patches (October 16, 2007)
Variations on fair I/O schedulers (December 3, 2008)
Improving scheduler latency (September 14, 2010)
TTY-based group scheduling (November 17, 2010)
CFS bandwidth control (February 16, 2011)
A group scheduling demonstration (March 16, 2011)
Completions
Some 2.6.11 API changes (January 25, 2005)
Configfs
Configfs - an introduction (August 24, 2005)
Configfs - the API (August 24, 2005)
Containers
Containers and PID virtualization (January 17, 2006)
PID virtualization: a wealth of choices (February 8, 2006)
Containers and lightweight virtualization (April 10, 2006)
Kernel Summit 2006: Paravirtualization and containers (July 19, 2006)
Another container implementation (September 19, 2006)
Process containers (May 29, 2007)
Controlling memory use in containers (July 31, 2007)
KS2007: Containers (September 10, 2007)
Process IDs in a multi-namespace world (November 6, 2007)
System call updates: indirect(), timerfd(), and hijack() (November 28, 2007)
Kernel-based checkpoint and restart (August 11, 2008)
Checkpoint/restart tries to head towards the mainline (February 25, 2009)
Which I/O controller is the fairest of them all? (May 12, 2009)
clone_with_pids() (August 12, 2009)
A Checkpoint/restart update (February 24, 2010)
Divorcing namespaces from processes (March 3, 2010)
Namespace file descriptors (September 29, 2010)
Mob rule for dentries (May 4, 2011)
Checkpoint/restart (mostly) in user space (July 19, 2011)
Running distributions in containers (October 12, 2011)
A new approach to user namespaces (April 10, 2012)
TCP connection repair (May 1, 2012)
LCE: The failure of operating systems and how we can fix it (November 14, 2012)
Namespaces in operation, part 1: namespaces overview (January 4, 2013)
SO_PEERCGROUP: which container is calling? (March 18, 2014)
Architecture emulation containers with binfmt_misc (March 9, 2016)
Virtual machines as containers (April 23, 2016)
Quickly: Filesystems and containers / Self-encrypting drives (April 27, 2016)
Containers, pseudo TTYs, and backward compatibility (June 1, 2016)
Container-aware filesystems (April 3, 2017)
Containers as kernel objects (May 23, 2017)
Process tagging with ptags (December 13, 2017)
An audit container ID proposal (March 29, 2018)
Containers as kernel objects — again (February 22, 2019)
Contiguous memory allocator
Contiguous memory allocation for drivers (July 21, 2010)
A reworked contiguous memory allocator (June 14, 2011)
CMA and ARM (July 5, 2011)
A deep dive into CMA (March 14, 2012)
CMA and compaction (April 23, 2016)
Control groups
Integrating memory control groups (May 17, 2011)
LPC: Control groups (September 20, 2011)
Timer slack for slacker developers (October 17, 2011)
Limiting system calls via control groups? (October 19, 2011)
KS2011: Coming to love control groups (October 24, 2011)
Per-cgroup TCP buffer limits (December 6, 2011)
Fixing control groups (February 28, 2012)
Two approaches to kernel memory usage accounting (March 7, 2012)
A proposed plan for control groups (March 14, 2012)
KS2012: memcg/mm: Improving kernel-memory accounting for memory cgroups (September 17, 2012)
Throwing one away (September 19, 2012)
The mempressure control group proposal (January 3, 2013)
LSFMM: Soft reclaim (April 23, 2013)
When the kernel ABI has to change (July 2, 2013)
The evolution of control groups (October 29, 2013)
The past, present, and future of control groups (November 20, 2013)
Another daemon for managing control groups (December 5, 2013)
The unified control group hierarchy in 3.16 (June 11, 2014)
Control group namespaces (November 19, 2014)
Memory control group fairness (April 27, 2016)
Tracking resources and capabilities used (July 13, 2016)
Network filtering for control groups (August 24, 2016)
Last-minute control-group BPF ABI concerns (January 11, 2017)
A resolution on control-group network filters (February 15, 2017)
Three sessions on memory control groups (May 1, 2018)
Cleaning up after dying control groups (May 7, 2019)
Remote memory control-group charging (May 7, 2019)
Shrinking filesystem caches for dying control groups (May 29, 2019)
I/O bandwidth controllers
Writeback and control groups (June 17, 2015)
Controlling block-I/O latency (May 3, 2018)
The block I/O latency controller (July 5, 2018)
The creation of the io.latency block I/O controller (March 14, 2019)
The io.weight I/O-bandwidth controller (June 28, 2019)
LWN's guide to
Control groups, part 1: On the history of process grouping (July 1, 2014)
Control groups, part 2: On the different sorts of hierarchies (July 9, 2014)
Control groups, part 3: First steps to control (July 16, 2014)
Control groups, part 4: On accounting (July 23, 2014)
Control groups, part 5: The cgroup hierarchy (July 30, 2014)
Control groups, part 6: A look under the hood (August 6, 2014)
Control groups, part 7: To unity and beyond (August 13, 2014)
Thread-level control
Thread-level management in control groups (September 1, 2015)
Thread-level control with resource groups (March 16, 2016)
The case of the stalled CPU controller (August 17, 2016)
Control-group thread mode (February 22, 2017)
A milestone for control groups (July 31, 2017)
Coprocessors
LSFMM: Coprocessors, exit times, and volatile ranges, and more (April 23, 2013)
copy_file_range()
copy_file_range() (October 7, 2015)
Copyright issues
Buying the kernel (October 13, 2004)
The kernel and binary firmware (April 6, 2005)
The Philips webcam driver - again (May 4, 2005)
The Developer's Certificate of Origin, v1.1 (June 15, 2005)
On the value of EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL (October 5, 2005)
On binary drivers and stable interfaces (November 9, 2005)
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL_FUTURE() (February 13, 2006)
Code of uncertain origin (August 9, 2006)
Code of (still) uncertain origin (August 15, 2006)
Resolved: firmware is not software (August 23, 2006)
GPL-only symbols and ndiswrapper (October 25, 2006)
How not to handle a licensing violation (April 11, 2007)
More quotes of the week - scenes from a flame war (June 19, 2007)
NDISwrapper dodges another bullet (March 5, 2008)
Kernel markers and binary-only modules (March 24, 2008)
Relicensing tracepoints and markers (November 4, 2009)
The trouble with firmware (January 5, 2011)
Bounding GPL compliance times (February 9, 2011)
dma-buf and binary-only modules (February 22, 2012)
The exfiltrated exFAT driver (July 24, 2013)
Questioning EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL() (June 23, 2014)
The kernel community confronts GPL enforcement (August 31, 2016)
Maintainers Summit: SPDX, cross-subsystem development, and conclusion (November 8, 2017)
SPDX identifiers in the kernel (November 16, 2017)
Heterogeneous memory management meets EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL() (June 12, 2018)
The proper use of EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL() (October 27, 2018)
Netgpu and the hazards of proprietary kernel modules (July 31, 2020)
copy_*_user()
Hardened usercopy (August 3, 2016)
Hardened usercopy whitelisting (July 7, 2017)
Two topics in user-space access (March 5, 2019)
Proposed return value change
API changes under consideration (August 24, 2004)
COW links
COW Links (March 29, 2004)
cpufreq
Fixing the ondemand governor (April 20, 2010)
Improvements in CPU frequency management (April 6, 2016)
CPU frequency governors and remote callbacks (September 4, 2017)
Saving frequency scaling in the data center (May 21, 2020)
CPUhog
Who let the hogs out? (March 16, 2010)
Cpusets
Cpusets and memory policies (March 22, 2017)
Crash dumps
Diskdump: a new crash dump system (June 2, 2004)
Crash dumps with kexec (October 27, 2004)
Software suspend - again (February 6, 2006)
Persistent storage for a kernel's "dying breath" (March 23, 2011)
Credentials
Credential records (September 25, 2007)
Cryptography
Cryptographic signatures on kernel modules (July 7, 2004)
Asynchronous crypto (November 3, 2004)
An API for user-space access to kernel cryptography (August 25, 2010)
Trusted and encrypted keys (October 6, 2010)
A netlink-based user-space crypto API (October 20, 2010)
A crypto module loading vulnerability (January 28, 2015)
WireGuarding the mainline (August 6, 2018)
Reconsidering Speck (August 8, 2018)
Progress on Zinc (thus WireGuard) (September 26, 2018)
Zinc: a new kernel cryptography API (November 6, 2018)
Adiantum: encryption for the low end (January 16, 2019)
WireGuard and the crypto API (October 16, 2019)
Cryptoloop
A weak cryptoloop implementation in Linux? (January 21, 2004)
Customer panel
Kernel Summit: The customer panel (July 21, 2004)
Data integrity
Ext3 and RAID: silent data killers? (August 31, 2009)
Notes from the block layer (February 22, 2011)
Stable pages (May 11, 2011)
Ensuring data reaches disk (September 7, 2011)
Optimizing stable pages (December 5, 2012)
LSFMM: Storage data integrity (April 24, 2013)
Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK)
Network acceleration with DPDK (July 5, 2017)
DAX
Supporting filesystems in persistent memory (September 2, 2014)
DAX and fsync: the cost of forgoing page structures (February 24, 2016)
The persistent memory "I know what I'm doing" flag (March 2, 2016)
DAX on BTT (May 4, 2016)
The future of DAX (March 27, 2017)
daxctl() — getting the other half of persistent-memory performance (June 26, 2017)
DAX semantics (May 13, 2019)
D-Bus
Fast interprocess messaging (September 15, 2010)
Speeding up D-Bus (February 29, 2012)
Missing the AF_BUS (July 3, 2012)
DCCP
Linux gets DCCP (August 30, 2005)
Debian kernel team
The new Debian kernel team (May 26, 2004)
Debugging
Bringing kgdb into 2.6 (February 10, 2004)
Finding kernel problems automatically (June 1, 2004)
Diskdump: a new crash dump system (June 2, 2004)
Debugging kernel modules (June 23, 2004)
Crash dumps with kexec (October 27, 2004)
On not getting burned by kmap_atomic() (November 16, 2004)
Debugfs (December 13, 2004)
Useful gadget: /proc/page_owner (February 1, 2005)
The __nocast attribute (March 29, 2005)
Double kfree() errors (March 6, 2006)
A nasty file corruption bug - fixed (December 31, 2006)
Short subjects: kerneloops, read-mostly, and port 80 (December 18, 2007)
Development issues part 2: Bug tracking (January 9, 2008)
An object debugging infrastructure (March 3, 2008)
Bisection divides users and developers (April 15, 2008)
An updated guide to debugfs (May 25, 2009)
Hw-breakpoint: shared debugging registers (September 16, 2009)
Merging kdb and kgdb (February 17, 2010)
Persistent storage for a kernel's "dying breath" (March 23, 2011)
The dynamic debugging interface (March 22, 2011)
Displaying QR codes for kernel crashes (June 27, 2012)
Bugzilla, lightning talks, and future summits (October 29, 2013)
Debugging ARM kernels using fast interrupts (May 29, 2014)
A kernel debugger in Python: drgn (May 29, 2019)
Delay accounting
Some patches of interest (February 28, 2006)
del_timer()
Deleting timers quickly (May 12, 2004)
Dentry cache
Dcache scalability and RCU-walk (December 14, 2010)
Dcache scalability and security modules (April 27, 2011)
Mob rule for dentries (May 4, 2011)
How to ruin Linus's vacation (July 19, 2011)
A VFS deadlock post-mortem (April 3, 2013)
Dentry negativity (March 12, 2020)
Desktop support
Kernel Summit 2005: The Kernel and the Linux desktop (July 20, 2005)
A desktop kernel wishlist (October 29, 2014)
Development model
Linus merges up a storm (April 14, 2004)
Kernel Summit: Development process (July 21, 2004)
Another look at the new development model (July 27, 2004)
The -mm development tree (October 5, 2004)
MODULE_PARM deprecated (October 20, 2004)
Some development model notes (October 27, 2004)
Four-level page tables merged (January 5, 2005)
Flushing the page cache from user space (February 22, 2005)
Finding the boundaries for stable kernel patches (April 5, 2005)
Andrew Morton at linux.conf.au (April 23, 2005)
The end of the devfs story (June 13, 2005)
Kernel Summit 2005: The hardware vendors' panel (July 19, 2005)
Reiser4 and kernel inclusion (September 21, 2005)
On the merging of ktimers (October 19, 2005)
What's not going into 2.6.18 (June 6, 2006)
Time for ext4? (June 12, 2006)
Kernel Summit 2006: Kernel quality and development process (July 18, 2006)
Kernel Summit 2006: Development process II (July 19, 2006)
Old kernels and new compilers (August 21, 2006)
Device drivers and non-disclosure agreements (October 9, 2006)
Who's writing 2.6.21 and related issues (March 7, 2007)
Pointy-haired kernel hackers? (July 11, 2007)
Still waiting for swap prefetch (July 25, 2007)
The case of the unwelcome attribution (September 19, 2007)
PF_CAN (October 8, 2007)
Getting the right kind of contributions (May 28, 2008)
Andrew Morton on kernel development (June 11, 2008)
KS2008: Linux 3.0 (September 16, 2008)
Btrfs to the mainline? (October 8, 2008)
An open letter to Evgeniy Polyakov (November 25, 2008)
On the management of the Video4Linux subsystem tree (February 24, 2009)
TuxOnIce: in from the cold? (May 13, 2009)
Communicating requirements to kernel developers (July 14, 2009)
Fault injection and unexpected requirement injection (December 2, 2009)
Redesigning asynchronous suspend/resume (December 16, 2009)
Two that didn't make it (December 22, 2009)
After the merge window closed... (March 16, 2010)
KVM, QEMU, and kernel project management (March 23, 2010)
A suspend blockers post-mortem (June 2, 2010)
ARM and defconfig files (June 16, 2010)
On the scalability of Linus (July 2, 2010)
A new combined tree for storage subsystems (September 15, 2010)
ARM's multiply-mapped memory mess (October 12, 2010)
KS2010: Big out-of-tree projects (November 2, 2010)
KS2010: Development process (November 3, 2010)
ARM wrestling (April 6, 2011)
Rationalizing the ARM tree (April 19, 2011)
The platform problem (May 18, 2011)
Android, forking, and control (June 6, 2011)
Avoiding the OS abstraction trap (August 12, 2011)
On multi-platform drivers (September 7, 2011)
Finding the right evolutionary niche (April 11, 2012)
LinuxCon Japan: Making kernel developers less grumpy (June 6, 2012)
A kernel panel convenes in Edinburgh (October 23, 2013)
On saying "no" (October 29, 2013)
AMD's Display Core difficulties (December 13, 2016)
LZ4: vendoring in the kernel (February 1, 2017)
Bash the kernel maintainers (November 6, 2017)
Too many lords, not enough stewards (January 31, 2018)
Two perspectives on the maintainer relationship (March 20, 2018)
Code review
Where have all the reviewers gone? (September 11, 2006)
A critical look at sysfs attribute values (March 17, 2010)
KS2011: Patch review (October 24, 2011)
Uninitialized blocks and unexpected flags (November 28, 2012)
A FALLOC_FL_NO_HIDE_STALE followup (December 5, 2012)
What's missing from our changelogs (July 24, 2013)
Unreviewed code in 3.11 (August 7, 2013)
Two sessions on review (August 20, 2014)
On the problem of maintainer abuse (December 17, 2014)
Memory-management patch review (March 29, 2017)
The trouble with SMC-R (May 18, 2017)
The memory-management development process (April 27, 2018)
The memory-management subsystem development process (May 7, 2019)
Community
ELC: Morton and Saxena on working with the kernel community (April 21, 2008)
KS2010: Welcoming newcomers (November 2, 2010)
Developer recruitment and outreach (November 4, 2015)
Contributor statistics
Who wrote 2.6.20? (February 21, 2007)
Who's writing 2.6.21 and related issues (March 7, 2007)
Who wrote - and approved - 2.6.22 (June 11, 2007)
2.6.24 - some statistics (January 9, 2008)
How patches get into the mainline (February 10, 2009)
Developer conduct
KS2007: Developer relations and development process (September 10, 2007)
On kernel mailing list behavior (July 17, 2013)
Code, conflict, and conduct (September 18, 2018)
The kernel's code of conduct, one week later (September 26, 2018)
The code of conduct at the Maintainers Summit (October 23, 2018)
A panel discussion on the kernel's code of conduct (November 20, 2018)
Developers as children
Quote of the week (June 15, 2004)
Diversity
Outreach program for women—kernel edition (June 12, 2013)
The Outreach Program for Women (October 29, 2013)
Driver merging
Merging drivers early (February 27, 2008)
Why some drivers are not merged early (June 18, 2008)
LIRC delurks (September 10, 2008)
KS2008: When should drivers be merged? (September 16, 2008)
Moving the -staging tree (October 1, 2008)
The sad story of the em28xx driver (November 11, 2008)
News from the staging tree (September 9, 2009)
On the driver life cycle (October 13, 2009)
Kernel support for infrared receivers (December 2, 2009)
Broadcom's wireless drivers, one year later (August 29, 2011)
Vtunerc and software acceptance politics (December 14, 2011)
Merging Allwinner support (June 19, 2013)
Email analysis
Analyzing kernel email (November 13, 2019)
Enterprise kernels
Kernel competition in the enterprise space (March 14, 2012)
Git
Rebasing and merging in kernel repositories (June 18, 2019)
Kernel quality
Toward better kernel releases (December 7, 2004)
Is the kernel development process broken? (March 9, 2005)
Quotes of the week (March 8, 2005)
Kernel Summit 2005: Development process and quality assurance (July 20, 2005)
Kernel testing and regressions: an example (July 26, 2005)
The newest development model and 2.6.14 (November 2, 2005)
Briefly: patch quality, CKRM, likely(), and vmsplice() (May 3, 2006)
Kernel bugs: out of control? (May 10, 2006)
Putting a lid on USB power (June 5, 2006)
Return values, warnings, and error situations (October 17, 2006)
Buried in warnings (November 1, 2006)
A tale of two release cycles (May 1, 2007)
The thorny case of kmalloc(0) (June 5, 2007)
KS2007: Kernel quality (September 6, 2007)
Various topics related to kernel quality (November 14, 2007)
Memory allocation failures and scary warnings (April 7, 2008)
Time to slow down? (May 7, 2008)
Tightening the merge window rules (September 9, 2008)
KS2008: Kernel quality and release process (September 16, 2008)
Tracking of testers and bug reporters - a status report (November 11, 2008)
A tempest in a tty pot (July 29, 2009)
KS2009: Regressions (October 19, 2009)
KS2010: Regressions (November 2, 2010)
A more detailed look at kernel regressions (November 10, 2010)
KS2011: Preemption disable and verifiable APIs (October 24, 2011)
Drivers as documentation (November 22, 2011)
Removing uninitialized_var() (December 19, 2012)
Kernel quality control, or the lack thereof (December 7, 2018)
linux-next
linux-next and patch management process (February 13, 2008)
A day in the life of linux-next (June 23, 2008)
The current development kernel is...linux-next? (July 8, 2008)
Linux-next meets the merge window (July 23, 2008)
KS2009: Staging, linux-next, and the development process (October 21, 2009)
Bypassing linux-next (January 19, 2011)
KS2012: Improving development processes: linux-next (September 12, 2012)
The linux-next and -stable trees (October 29, 2013)
The state of linux-next (August 20, 2014)
Loadable modules
The abrupt un-exporting of symbols (January 12, 2005)
Exported symbols and the internal API (September 11, 2007)
Tightening symbol exports (November 27, 2007)
Tracing unsigned modules (March 5, 2014)
Maintainers
The kernel maintainer gap (October 30, 2013)
On moving on from being a maintainer (January 6, 2016)
On Linux kernel maintainer scalability (October 12, 2016)
Group maintainership models (November 2, 2016)
Scaling the kernel's MAINTAINERS file (August 10, 2017)
Patch management
Best practices for a big patch series (February 12, 2014)
Why kernel development still uses email (October 1, 2016)
Change IDs for kernel patches (August 29, 2019)
Defragmenting the kernel development process (September 14, 2019)
Patterns
Linux kernel design patterns - part 1 (June 8, 2009)
Linux kernel design patterns - part 2 (June 12, 2009)
Linux kernel design patterns - part 3 (June 22, 2009)
Ghosts of Unix Past: a historical search for design patterns (October 27, 2010)
Ghosts of Unix past, part 2: Conflated designs (November 4, 2010)
Ghosts of Unix past, part 3: Unfixable designs (November 16, 2010)
Ghosts of Unix past, part 4: High-maintenance designs (November 23, 2010)
Object-oriented design patterns in the kernel, part 1 (June 1, 2011)
Object-oriented design patterns in the kernel, part 2 (June 7, 2011)
Flags as a system call API design pattern (February 12, 2014)
Proper handling of unknown flags in system calls (February 26, 2014)
Security issues
Handling kernel security problems (July 16, 2008)
debugfs: rules not welcome (February 22, 2011)
Dirty COW and clean commit messages (October 21, 2016)
Toward better handling of hardware vulnerabilities (September 12, 2018)
Improving the handling of embargoed hardware-security bugs (October 25, 2018)
Stable tree
Some numbers and thoughts on the stable kernels (August 27, 2010)
Further notes on stable kernels (September 8, 2010)
Maintaining a stable kernel on an unstable base (September 29, 2010)
A long-term support initiative update (February 29, 2012)
The value of release bureaucracy (April 17, 2012)
KS2012: Stable kernel management (September 12, 2012)
Some stable tree grumbles (July 17, 2013)
The linux-next and -stable trees (October 29, 2013)
The stable tree (August 20, 2014)
How many -stable patches introduce new bugs? (June 28, 2016)
Backports and long-term stable kernels (September 14, 2016)
A discussion on stable kernel workflow issues (November 1, 2016)
Cramming features into LTS kernel releases (October 10, 2017)
The strange story of the ARM Meltdown-fix backport (March 15, 2018)
Machine learning and stable kernels (September 12, 2018)
Making stable kernels more stable (October 24, 2018)
A filesystem corruption bug breaks loose (December 10, 2018)
The case of the supersized shebang (February 18, 2019)
Testing and the stable tree (May 28, 2019)
The stable-kernel process (September 16, 2019)
Identifying buggy patches with machine learning (November 4, 2019)
Revisiting stable-kernel regressions (February 13, 2020)
Maintaining stable stability (July 22, 2020)
Preparing for the realtime future (September 9, 2020)
User-space API
Sysfs and a stable kernel ABI (February 22, 2006)
ABI stability documentation (February 28, 2006)
Kevents and review of new APIs (August 23, 2006)
The final wireless extension? (October 4, 2006)
The death and possible rebirth of sysctl() (October 18, 2006)
Application-friendly kernel interfaces (March 26, 2007)
2.6 and the user-space ABI (May 15, 2007)
timerfd() and system call review (August 14, 2007)
Re-deprecating sysctl() (August 29, 2007)
KS2007: The greater kernel ecosystem and user-space APIs (September 6, 2007)
Process IDs in a multi-namespace world (November 6, 2007)
Debugfs and the making of a stable ABI (December 3, 2008)
Removing binary sysctl (November 11, 2009)
Extended error reporting (February 17, 2010)
Nouveau and interface compatibility (March 10, 2010)
The ghost of sysfs past (July 21, 2010)
Statistics and tracepoints (August 24, 2010)
KS2010: ABI status for tracepoints (November 2, 2010)
KS2010: A staging process for ABIs (November 2, 2010)
The media controller subsystem (November 16, 2010)
The kernel and the C library as a single project (November 30, 2010)
Ftrace, perf, and the tracing ABI (May 11, 2011)
-EWHICHERROR? (June 29, 2011)
The udev tail wags the dog (August 24, 2011)
Hardware face detection (November 29, 2011)
System call filtering and no_new_privs (January 18, 2012)
Short sleeps suffering from slack (February 17, 2012)
A sys_poll() ABI tweak (February 22, 2012)
Fixing the unfixable autofs ABI (April 30, 2012)
Removing four bytes from the kernel ABI (May 23, 2012)
msync() and subtle behavioral tweaks (June 19, 2012)
Virtualization and the perf ABI (December 19, 2012)
Glibc and the kernel user-space API (January 30, 2013)
When the kernel ABI has to change (July 2, 2013)
Device trees as ABI (July 30, 2013)
A perf ABI fix (September 24, 2013)
The kernel/user-space boundary (October 29, 2013)
Fixing FS_IOC_GETFLAGS (December 11, 2013)
Changing the default shared memory limits (April 23, 2014)
Filesystem notification, part 1: An overview of dnotify and inotify (July 9, 2014)
Filesystem notification, part 2: A deeper investigation of inotify (July 14, 2014)
Handling ARM architecture changes (July 23, 2014)
How implementation details become ABI: a case study (October 1, 2014)
Haunted by ancient history (January 6, 2015)
Pagemap: security fixes vs. ABI compatibility (April 29, 2015)
Designing better kernel ABIs (October 26, 2016)
Specifying the kernel ABI (June 21, 2017)
Rethinking the Stack Clash fix (July 13, 2017)
C library system-call wrappers, or the lack thereof (November 12, 2018)
Maintainers Summit topics: pull depth, hardware vulnerabilities, etc. (September 17, 2019)
Free user space for non-graphics drivers (June 3, 2020)
Version numbers
Linux 3.0? (September 3, 2008)
2.6.x-rc0 (October 7, 2009)
Development tools
Ketchup with that? (April 28, 2004)
The end of gcc 2.95 support (December 13, 2005)
Kernel Summit 2006: Automated testing (July 19, 2006)
Device resource management (January 2, 2007)
Using Promela and Spin to verify parallel algorithms (August 1, 2007)
Who maintains this file? (August 21, 2007)
KS2008: Development tools (September 16, 2008)
Who is the best inliner of all? (January 14, 2009)
Poke-a-hole and friends (June 10, 2009)
Finding buffer overflows with Parfait (July 29, 2009)
Hw-breakpoint: shared debugging registers (September 16, 2009)
A module for crashing the kernel (January 26, 2010)
Undertaker 1.0 (February 1, 2011)
The dynamic debugging interface (March 22, 2011)
KS2011: Scheduler testing (October 24, 2011)
Validating Memory Barriers and Atomic Instructions (December 6, 2011)
Trusting the hardware too much (February 15, 2012)
Linsched for 3.3 (March 21, 2012)
I/O Hook (July 30, 2013)
The kernel address sanitizer (September 17, 2014)
Memory-management testing and debugging (March 16, 2015)
Testing power failures (March 18, 2015)
Fuzzing perf_events (August 5, 2015)
libnvdimm, or the unexpected virtue of unit tests (August 12, 2015)
Speeding up kernel development with QEMU (October 14, 2015)
Protecting private structure members (January 6, 2016)
Coverage-guided kernel fuzzing with syzkaller (March 2, 2016)
Automatically detecting kernel interface changes (October 19, 2016)
A formal kernel memory-ordering model (part 1) (April 14, 2017)
An introduction to the BPF Compiler Collection (December 22, 2017)
BPFd: Running BCC tools remotely across systems and architectures (January 23, 2018)
Software-tag-based KASAN (September 26, 2018)
Snowpatch: continuous-integration testing for the kernel (January 26, 2019)
Finding race conditions with KCSAN (October 14, 2019)
Next steps for kernel workflow improvement (November 1, 2019)
Better tools for kernel developers (February 6, 2020)
Attestation for kernel patches (March 2, 2020)
The pseudo cpuidle driver (May 21, 2020)
blktests
Storage testing (May 28, 2019)
Coccinelle
Semantic patching with Coccinelle (January 20, 2009)
Evolutionary development of a semantic patch using Coccinelle (March 30, 2010)
KS2010: Lightning talks (November 2, 2010)
Three talks on kernel development tools (October 22, 2014)
Inside the mind of a Coccinelle programmer (August 31, 2016)
DAMON
Memory-management optimization with DAMON (February 20, 2020)
Git
The guts of git (April 12, 2005)
A very quick guide to starting with git (April 20, 2005)
A couple of graphical git front ends (July 4, 2005)
Git approaches 1.0 (July 27, 2005)
Rebasing and merging: some git best practices (April 14, 2009)
Finding a patch's kernel version with git (June 16, 2010)
Git tree maintenance (October 29, 2013)
"git request-pull" and confusing diffstats (October 21, 2019)
Infrastructure
A kernel.org update (July 22, 2009)
KS2010: Kernel.org update (November 3, 2010)
Kernel development without kernel.org (September 13, 2011)
Where's that tree? (September 21, 2011)
The forest on the move (September 28, 2011)
Kernel.org's road to recovery (October 4, 2011)
KS2011: Kernel.org report (October 24, 2011)
A kernel.org update (October 29, 2013)
Kernel.org news: two-factor authentication and more (August 25, 2014)
Kernel debugging
The kernel lock validator (May 31, 2006)
Injecting faults into the kernel (November 14, 2006)
kmemcheck (November 27, 2007)
An object debugging infrastructure (March 3, 2008)
Bisection divides users and developers (April 15, 2008)
Netoops (November 10, 2010)
Displaying QR codes for kernel crashes (June 27, 2012)
Debugging ARM kernels using fast interrupts (May 29, 2014)
BPF-based error injection for the kernel (November 29, 2017)
A kernel debugger in Python: drgn (May 29, 2019)
Kernel tracing
Tracing infrastructures (September 19, 2006)
A generic tracing interface (September 19, 2007)
Tracing: no shortage of options (July 22, 2008)
Low-level tracing plumbing (September 30, 2008)
On the value of static tracepoints (April 28, 2009)
Dynamic probes with ftrace (July 28, 2009)
Fun with tracepoints (August 12, 2009)
TRACE_EVENT_ABI (September 30, 2009)
Debugging the kernel using Ftrace - part 1 (December 9, 2009)
Debugging the kernel using Ftrace - part 2 (December 22, 2009)
Using the TRACE_EVENT() macro (Part 1) (March 24, 2010)
Using the TRACE_EVENT() macro (Part 2) (March 31, 2010)
Using the TRACE_EVENT() macro (Part 3) (April 21, 2010)
ELC: Using LTTng (April 21, 2010)
One ring buffer to rule them all? (May 26, 2010)
trace-cmd: A front-end for Ftrace (October 20, 2010)
Conditional tracepoints (November 30, 2010)
Using KernelShark to analyze the real-time scheduler (February 2, 2011)
Ftrace, perf, and the tracing ABI (May 11, 2011)
LTTng rejection, next generation (December 14, 2011)
LTTng 2.0: Tracing for power users and developers - part 1 (April 11, 2012)
LTTng 2.0: Tracing for power users and developers - part 2 (April 18, 2012)
KS2012: Improving tracing and debugging (September 12, 2012)
Ktap — yet another kernel tracer (May 22, 2013)
Triggers for tracing (June 26, 2013)
Ktap almost gets into 3.13 (November 6, 2013)
Ktap or BPF? (April 23, 2014)
Ftrace: The hidden light switch (August 13, 2014)
Ftrace and histograms: a fork in the road (March 4, 2015)
KernelShark releases version 1.0 (July 31, 2019)
Unifying kernel tracing (October 30, 2019)
How to unbreak LTTng (April 20, 2020)
kgdb
kgdb getting closer to being merged? (February 20, 2008)
Merging kdb and kgdb (February 17, 2010)
Linux kernel memory model
Calibrating your fear of big bad optimizing compilers (October 11, 2019)
Concurrency bugs should fear the big bad data-race detector (part 1) (April 8, 2020)
Concurrency bugs should fear the big bad data-race detector (part 2) (April 14, 2020)
LLVM
LFCS: Building the kernel with Clang (May 4, 2011)
LFCS: The LLVMLinux project (May 7, 2013)
mmiotrace
Tracing memory-mapped I/O operations (February 26, 2008)
MMTests
Testing for kernel performance regressions (August 3, 2012)
Scheduler benchmarking with MMTests (May 19, 2020)
rt-app
Notes from the LPC scheduler microconference (September 18, 2017)
Rust
Supporting Linux kernel development in Rust (August 31, 2020)
Sparse
Finding kernel problems automatically (June 1, 2004)
Using sparse for endianness verification (October 25, 2006)
Sparse gets a maintainer (November 8, 2006)
Sparse: a look under the hood (June 8, 2016)
Static analysis
One year of Coverity work (August 20, 2014)
Static code checks for the kernel (April 13, 2016)
Smatch: pluggable static analysis for C (June 22, 2016)
Testing
Automated kernel testing (June 8, 2005)
Kernel test automation with LTP (December 17, 2014)
Kernel testing (November 4, 2015)
Memory-management testing (April 27, 2016)
Notes from Linaro Connect (March 15, 2017)
Stack and driver testing (March 22, 2017)
Filesystem test suites (June 13, 2018)
A kernel unit-testing framework (March 1, 2019)
How many kernel test frameworks? (June 5, 2019)
Defragmenting the kernel development process (September 14, 2019)
The 2019 Automated Testing Summit (November 13, 2019)
Preparing for the realtime future (September 9, 2020)
Trinity
KS2012: Regression testing (August 30, 2012)
LCA: The Trinity fuzz tester (February 6, 2013)
Two sessions on kernel testing (October 29, 2013)
Trinity and memory management testing (March 26, 2014)
Undertaker
Three talks on kernel development tools (October 22, 2014)
xfstests
Toward better testing (March 26, 2014)
devfs
The end of the devfs story (June 13, 2005)
The return of devfs (May 6, 2009)
Device drivers
Generic DMA pools (February 3, 2004)
The end of init_etherdev() and friends (March 2, 2004)
The new way of ioctl() (January 18, 2005)
NETIF_F_LLTX and race conditions (February 1, 2005)
HALs considered harmful (March 15, 2005)
RapidIO support for Linux (June 8, 2005)
ACPI, device interrupts, and suspend states (August 3, 2005)
ZONE_DMA32 (September 20, 2005)
Dynamic USB device IDs (November 21, 2005)
bcm43xx and the 802.11 stack (December 6, 2005)
The Novell Partner Linux Driver Process (May 17, 2006)
Device drivers and non-disclosure agreements (October 9, 2006)
KS2007: Hardware support and the i386/x86_64 merger (September 6, 2007)
Linux driver project gets a full-time leader (October 3, 2007)
Short subjects: kerneloops, read-mostly, and port 80 (December 18, 2007)
Merging drivers early (February 27, 2008)
A new suspend/hibernate infrastructure (March 19, 2008)
Why some drivers are not merged early (June 18, 2008)
LIRC delurks (September 10, 2008)
UKUUG: Arnd Bergmann on interconnecting with PCIe (November 19, 2008)
Kernel support for infrared receivers (December 2, 2009)
LCA: Graphics driver ponies (January 26, 2010)
The USB composite framework (July 14, 2010)
Shielding driver authors from locking (October 20, 2010)
Deferred driver probing (July 7, 2011)
The pin control subsystem (November 22, 2011)
Free user space for non-graphics drivers (June 3, 2020)
Asynchronous probing
Slow probing + udev + SIGKILL = trouble (September 9, 2014)
Device dependencies and deferred probing (November 3, 2015)
Block drivers
Cleaning up the block driver API (August 28, 2007)
A new block request completion API (January 29, 2008)
Block layer discard requests (August 12, 2008)
Block layer: solid-state storage, timeouts, affinity, and more (October 15, 2008)
Linux and 4K disk sectors (March 11, 2009)
Reworking disk events handling (January 19, 2011)
Stream IDs and I/O hints (May 4, 2016)
Firmware loading
Firmware loading and suspend/resume (August 15, 2012)
Udev and firmware (October 10, 2012)
Firmware signing (May 27, 2015)
Graphics
A line in the sand for graphics drivers (July 5, 2010)
Toward a unified display driver framework (September 20, 2011)
The Android Graphics microconference (October 9, 2013)
An update on the freedreno graphics driver (April 8, 2015)
Atomic mode setting design overview, part 1 (August 5, 2015)
Atomic mode setting design overview, part 2 (August 12, 2015)
Graphics world domination may be closer than it appears (October 18, 2016)
AMD's Display Core difficulties (December 13, 2016)
Industrial I/O
Ambient light sensors (June 2, 2010)
(Partially) graduating IIO (November 2, 2011)
Input
LCA: Rationalizing the wacom driver (February 1, 2011)
In user space
User-space device drivers (January 20, 2004)
Handling interrupts in user space (March 15, 2005)
Support for drivers in user space (September 4, 2006)
UIO: user-space drivers (May 2, 2007)
Character devices in user space (November 25, 2008)
Safe device assignment with VFIO (January 3, 2012)
Linux drivers in user space — a survey (October 19, 2016)
Network drivers
Large receive offload (August 1, 2007)
Network transmit batching (August 22, 2007)
e1000 v. e1000e (April 15, 2008)
e1000e and the joy of development kernels (September 24, 2008)
Char devices for network interfaces (October 14, 2009)
Accelerating netfilter with hardware offload, part 1 (January 14, 2020)
Accelerating netfilter with hardware offload, part 2 (January 31, 2020)
Nouveau
LCA: The state of the Nouveau project (January 17, 2007)
KS2009: Staging, linux-next, and the development process (October 21, 2009)
The abrupt merging of Nouveau (December 15, 2009)
Nouveau and interface compatibility (March 10, 2010)
Platform drivers
LinuxCon: x86 platform drivers (August 24, 2011)
Support APIs
A new I/O memory access mechanism (September 15, 2004)
PCI error recovery (July 12, 2005)
Driver core API changes for 2.6.19 (September 26, 2006)
API changes: interrupt handlers and vectored I/O (October 2, 2006)
Driver API: sleeping poll(), exclusive I/O memory, and DMA API debugging (November 24, 2008)
Writing a WMI driver - an introduction (June 8, 2010)
Contiguous memory allocation for drivers (July 21, 2010)
APIs for sensors (March 16, 2011)
The platform device API (June 21, 2011)
What are they polling for? (July 7, 2011)
Sharing buffers between devices (August 15, 2011)
DMA buffer sharing in 3.3 (January 11, 2012)
The Android ION memory allocator (February 8, 2012)
The trouble with DMA masks (March 20, 2013)
vm_iomap_memory() (April 17, 2013)
In search of the right RGB LED interface (May 25, 2016)
Semantics of MMIO mapping attributes across architectures (August 24, 2016)
Rethinking device memory allocation (October 19, 2016)
Shared memory mappings for devices (May 7, 2018)
IR decoding with BPF (July 9, 2018)
Device-to-device memory-transfer offload with P2PDMA (October 2, 2018)
Controlling device peer-to-peer access from user space (March 7, 2019)
Destaging ION (July 9, 2019)
DMA-BUF cache handling: Off the DMA API map (part 1) (June 4, 2020)
DMA-BUF cache handling: Off the DMA API map (part 2) (June 11, 2020)
Video
Memory management for graphics processors (November 6, 2007)
LPC: The future of Linux graphics (September 24, 2008)
Large I/O memory in small address spaces (November 4, 2008)
Video4Linux2
The Video4Linux2 API: an introduction (October 11, 2006)
Video4Linux2 part 2: registration and open() (October 18, 2006)
Video4Linux2 part 3: Basic ioctl() handling (October 30, 2006)
Video4Linux2 part 4: inputs and outputs (December 13, 2006)
Video4Linux2 part 5a: colors and formats (January 24, 2007)
Video4Linux2 part 5b: format negotiation (March 23, 2007)
Video4Linux2 part 6a: Basic frame I/O (May 18, 2007)
Video4Linux2 part 6b: Streaming I/O (July 5, 2007)
Video4Linux2 part 7: Controls (August 31, 2007)
Videobuf: buffer management for V4L2 drivers (November 23, 2009)
2.6.35 Video4Linux2 enhancements (May 25, 2010)
The videobuf2 API (June 14, 2011)
Hardware face detection (November 29, 2011)
Wireless networking
The ipw3945 project (March 1, 2006)
A new Intel wireless driver (February 20, 2007)
Regulating wireless devices (August 19, 2008)
Broadcom firmware and regulatory compliance (September 22, 2010)
Radar detection with Linux (December 21, 2010)
Broadcom's wireless drivers, one year later (August 29, 2011)
Device mapper
Kernel Summit: Multipath I/O (July 21, 2004)
Multipath support in the device mapper (February 23, 2005)
MD / DM (January 25, 2006)
Distributed storage (August 21, 2007)
Which I/O controller is the fairest of them all? (May 12, 2009)
Snapshot merge for the device mapper (November 24, 2009)
dm-verity (September 19, 2011)
Device model
Driver core functions: GPL only (September 29, 2004)
Some more 2.6.12 API changes (March 16, 2005)
Device model changes in store (March 22, 2005)
A big set of driver core changes (June 21, 2005)
Nested classes (October 5, 2005)
Sysfs and a stable kernel ABI (February 22, 2006)
Driver core API changes for 2.6.19 (September 26, 2006)
Toward a safer sysfs (April 9, 2007)
A fresh look at the kernel's device model (May 27, 2015)
A tour of /sys/devices (June 3, 2015)
Device naming
Lots of SCSI disks (March 16, 2004)
A new device naming scheme (April 6, 2004)
User-friendly disk names (June 22, 2011)
Reverting disk aliases? (November 16, 2011)
Device numbers
The future of device numbers (January 6, 2004)
A unified device number allocator (March 8, 2005)
Devicescape stack
The 2006 Wireless Networking Summit (April 10, 2006)
Kernel Summit 2006: Mini-summit summaries (July 18, 2006)
Toward a free Atheros driver (November 15, 2006)
A new Intel wireless driver (February 20, 2007)
Device tree
KS2009: Generic device trees (October 19, 2009)
ELCE: Grant Likely on device trees (November 10, 2010)
Dynamic devices and static configuration (March 29, 2011)
Platform devices and device trees (June 21, 2011)
The udev tail wags the dog (August 24, 2011)
Supporting multi-platform ARM kernels (May 9, 2012)
Device tree troubles (July 24, 2013)
Device trees as ABI (July 30, 2013)
Device tree bindings (October 29, 2013)
Device trees I: Are we having fun yet? (November 12, 2013)
Device trees II: The harder parts (November 18, 2013)
Device tree overlays (October 22, 2014)
An alternative device-tree source language (August 9, 2017)
Device-tree schemas (November 14, 2018)
/dev/kmem
Who needs /dev/kmem? (August 16, 2005)
User-space software suspend (September 26, 2005)
A software suspend decision point (November 16, 2005)
Direct memory access
Generic DMA pools (February 3, 2004)
The DMA API changes (March 15, 2004)
A handful of DMA topics (June 23, 2004)
DMA issues, part 2 (June 30, 2004)
Kernel Summit 2005: I/O Busses (July 19, 2005)
ZONE_DMA32 (September 20, 2005)
Memory copies in hardware (December 7, 2005)
Kernel Summit 2006: DMA and IOMMU issues (July 19, 2006)
The chained scatterlist API (October 29, 2007)
Rationalizing scatter/gather chains (December 28, 2007)
A better DMA memory allocator (March 10, 2008)
Driver API: sleeping poll(), exclusive I/O memory, and DMA API debugging (November 24, 2008)
ARM, DMA, and memory management (April 27, 2011)
A reworked contiguous memory allocator (June 14, 2011)
CMA and ARM (July 5, 2011)
Reworking the DMA mapping code (especially on ARM) (November 16, 2011)
DMA buffer sharing in 3.3 (January 11, 2012)
The trouble with DMA masks (March 20, 2013)
Goodbye to GFP_TEMPORARY and dma_alloc_noncoherent() (August 28, 2017)
Bounce buffers for untrusted devices (April 26, 2019)
Destaging ION (July 9, 2019)
DMA-BUF cache handling: Off the DMA API map (part 1) (June 4, 2020)
DMA-BUF cache handling: Off the DMA API map (part 2) (June 11, 2020)
dir_notify()
file_operations method
The end of the fcntl() method (August 18, 2004)
dirreadahead()
Two paths to a better readdir() (July 30, 2014)
Distributed lock management
Clusters and distributed lock management (May 18, 2005)
Merging GFS2 (September 7, 2005)
Distributions
SCALE 8x: Ubuntu kernel development process (March 3, 2010)
Kernel configuration for distributions (July 18, 2012)
Analyzing the patchiness of vendor kernels (April 6, 2016)
dma_declare_coherent_memory()
DMA issues, part 2 (June 30, 2004)
dma_get_required_mask()
A handful of DMA topics (June 23, 2004)
DMTCP
Checkpoint/restart: it's complicated (November 9, 2010)
Preparing for user-space checkpoint/restore (January 31, 2012)
Dnotify
Filesystem notification, part 1: An overview of dnotify and inotify (July 9, 2014)
Documentation
Kernel Summit 2006: Documentation (July 18, 2006)
Kevents and review of new APIs (August 23, 2006)
KS2008: Documentation (September 17, 2008)
In search of the perfect changelog (April 22, 2009)
Better documentation: the window of naive interest (July 3, 2012)
Kernel documentation (November 4, 2015)
The present and future of formatted kernel documentation (January 13, 2016)
Kernel documentation with Sphinx, part 1: how we got here (July 6, 2016)
Kernel documentation with Sphinx, part 2: how it works (July 13, 2016)
A report from the documentation maintainer (October 26, 2016)
Kernel documentation update (November 2, 2016)
Toward a kernel maintainer's guide (November 26, 2018)
How to contribute to kernel documentation (January 23, 2020)
Dracut
Dracut looks to replace the initramfs patchwork (February 4, 2009)
DRBD
DRBD: a distributed block device (April 22, 2009)
drop_caches
A survey of memory management patches (August 6, 2013)
Dynamic frequency selection
Radar detection with Linux (December 21, 2010)
Dynamic tick
Clockevents and dyntick (February 21, 2007)
Deferrable timers (March 28, 2007)
NoHZ tasks (December 20, 2010)
Relocating RCU callbacks (October 31, 2012)
(Nearly) full tickless operation in 3.10 (May 8, 2013)
Is the whole system idle? (July 10, 2013)
Dropping the timer tick — for real this time (October 7, 2015)
EDAC
The 2.6.16 straggler list (January 24, 2006)
EISA
Dropping x86 EISA support (January 21, 2015)
Elevator
Modular, switchable I/O schedulers (September 21, 2004)
Into the ABISS (November 9, 2004)
Which is the fairest I/O scheduler of them all? (December 8, 2004)
Some block layer patches (October 26, 2005)
Variations on fair I/O schedulers (December 3, 2008)
An IOPS-based I/O scheduler (January 4, 2012)
The BFQ I/O scheduler (June 11, 2014)
Embedded systems
Kernel Summit 2006: Embedded systems (July 19, 2006)
Reviving linux-tiny (September 26, 2007)
ELC: Morton and Saxena on working with the kernel community (April 21, 2008)
An interview with the new embedded maintainers (June 4, 2008)
Wakelocks and the embedded problem (February 10, 2009)
SamyGO: replacing television firmware (November 14, 2009)
ELC: Status of embedded Linux (April 14, 2010)
Networking on tiny machines (May 7, 2014)
Kernel tinification (August 20, 2014)
Splicing out syscalls for tiny kernels (December 3, 2014)
Linux as a single-user system (February 4, 2015)
An alternative TTY layer (April 27, 2017)
Shrinking the scheduler (June 14, 2017)
Shrinking the kernel with link-time garbage collection (December 15, 2017)
Shrinking the kernel with an axe (February 8, 2018)
Shrinking the kernel with a hammer (March 2, 2018)
Epoll
EPOLL_CTL_DISABLE and multithreaded applications (October 17, 2012)
EPOLL_CTL_DISABLE, epoll, and API design (October 23, 2012)
Epoll evolving (February 16, 2015)
Issues with epoll() (March 23, 2015)
A ring buffer for epoll (May 30, 2019)
Error codes
-EWHICHERROR? (June 29, 2011)
Extended system call error reporting (September 16, 2015)
eventfs
Kernel events without kevents (March 13, 2007)
Events reporting
A kernel events layer (July 27, 2004)
Figuring out kernel event reporting (September 8, 2004)
Watching filesystem events with inotify (September 29, 2004)
Coming in 2.6.10 (October 20, 2004)
More hooks for kernel events (February 9, 2005)
Extending netlink (April 12, 2005)
Dealing with disk I/O problems (June 21, 2005)
The kevent interface (February 22, 2006)
OLS: A proposal for a new networking API (July 22, 2006)
Toward a kernel events interface (August 1, 2006)
Kevent take 26 (December 12, 2006)
The return of kevent? (May 8, 2007)
The return of syslets (May 30, 2007)
vringfd() (April 7, 2008)
A kernel event notification mechanism (July 25, 2018)
Generalized events notification and security policies (June 11, 2019)
exec()
How programs get run (January 28, 2015)
How programs get run: ELF binaries (February 4, 2015)
execns()
execns() (July 11, 2006)
Execute in place
Kernel Summit: kexec and fast booting (July 21, 2004)
Execute-in-place (May 11, 2005)
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL
On the value of EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL (October 5, 2005)
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL_FUTURE() (February 13, 2006)
Questioning EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL() (June 23, 2014)
The proper use of EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL() (October 27, 2018)
ext3
ext3 block reservation (April 20, 2004)
Which filesystem for Samba4? (November 23, 2004)
Ext3 for large filesystems (June 12, 2006)
Time for ext4? (June 12, 2006)
Benchmark comparing with reiser4
Looking at reiser4 (August 25, 2004)
Ext4
Time for ext4 (July 5, 2006)
Secure deletion and trash bin support (December 5, 2006)
ext4 and data loss (March 11, 2009)
Securely deleting files from ext4 filesystems (October 11, 2011)
Improving ext4: bigalloc, inline data, and metadata checksums (November 29, 2011)
Uninitialized blocks and unexpected flags (November 28, 2012)
A FALLOC_FL_NO_HIDE_STALE followup (December 5, 2012)
Widening ext4's readdir() cookie (March 27, 2013)
Encrypted file backup for ext4 (December 16, 2015)
Externsible firmware interface
The Extensible Firmware Interface - an introduction (August 9, 2011)
fallocate()
fallocate() (March 19, 2007)
The ongoing fallocate() story (July 3, 2007)
Punching holes in files (November 17, 2010)
Allocating uninitialized file blocks (April 17, 2012)
Volatile ranges with fallocate() (June 5, 2012)
Uninitialized blocks and unexpected flags (November 28, 2012)
A FALLOC_FL_NO_HIDE_STALE followup (December 5, 2012)
Finding the proper scope of a file collapse operation (March 5, 2014)
Inserting a hole into a file (January 21, 2015)
Blurred boundaries in the storage stack (March 24, 2016)
fallocate() and the block layer (April 27, 2016)
fanotify
The fanotify API (July 1, 2009)
In Brief (July 29, 2009)
Another new ABI for fanotify (November 11, 2009)
No fanotify for 2.6.36 (October 12, 2010)
Superblock watch for fsnotify (April 5, 2017)
Fast booting
Kernel Summit: kexec and fast booting (July 21, 2004)
LPC: Booting Linux in five seconds (September 22, 2008)
An asynchronous function call infrastructure (January 13, 2009)
fast_gup()
Toward better direct I/O scalability (March 31, 2008)
The lockless page cache (July 29, 2008)
fault()
Faulting out populate(), nopfn(), and nopage() (October 10, 2006)
fault() (July 23, 2007)
Fault injection
Injecting faults into the kernel (November 14, 2006)
BPF-based error injection for the kernel (November 29, 2017)
Fault tolerance
HWPOISON (August 26, 2009)
Hotplugging and poisoning (May 3, 2018)
fcntl() method
A new file_operations method (March 24, 2004)
The end of the fcntl() method (August 18, 2004)
Fibrils
Fibrils and asynchronous system calls (January 31, 2007)
Kernel fibrillation (February 6, 2007)
Alternatives to fibrils (February 13, 2007)
FIEMAP ioctl()
SEEK_HOLE or FIEMAP? (December 3, 2007)
Making FIEMAP and delayed allocation play well together (February 22, 2011)
The return of SEEK_HOLE (April 26, 2011)
File descriptors
Fun with file descriptors (June 4, 2007)
More fun with file descriptors (June 12, 2007)
File handle
Open by handle (February 23, 2010)
Filesystems
pramfs - a new filesystem (March 3, 2004)
Trapfs - an automounter on the cheap (November 3, 2004)
Debugfs (December 13, 2004)
The mini_fo filesystem (May 10, 2005)
A filesystem from Plan 9 space (May 25, 2005)
Files with negative offsets (May 31, 2005)
Coming soon: eCryptfs (October 25, 2005)
Shared subtrees (November 8, 2005)
KHB: A Filesystems reading list (August 21, 2006)
Secure deletion and trash bin support (December 5, 2006)
SEEK_HOLE or FIEMAP? (December 3, 2007)
What's AdvFS good for? (June 25, 2008)
Freezing filesystems and containers (June 25, 2008)
KS2008: Filesystem and block layer interaction (September 16, 2008)
A superficial introduction to fsblock (March 11, 2009)
That massive filesystem thread (March 31, 2009)
The two sides of reflink() (May 5, 2009)
This week's reflink() API (May 19, 2009)
Avoiding a read-only filesystem on errors (June 17, 2009)
Protected RAMFS (June 24, 2009)
Soft updates, hard problems (July 1, 2009)
O_*SYNC (September 1, 2009)
POSIX v. reality: A position on O_PONIES (September 9, 2009)
Featherstitch: Killing fsync() softly (September 30, 2009)
File holes, races, and mmap() (October 21, 2009)
LCA: Why filesystems are hard (January 20, 2010)
One billion files on Linux (August 18, 2010)
The return of SEEK_HOLE (April 26, 2011)
Runtime filesystem consistency checking (April 3, 2012)
O_HOT and O_COLD (April 24, 2012)
LSFMM: Range locking (May 1, 2013)
Two paths to a better readdir() (July 30, 2014)
Filesystem defragmentation (March 23, 2015)
UID/GID identity and filesystems (March 23, 2015)
Trading off safety and performance in the kernel (May 12, 2015)
Heading toward 2038-safe filesystems (January 21, 2016)
A case for variant symlinks (March 23, 2016)
Exposing extent information to user space (May 4, 2016)
Online filesystem scrubbing and repair (April 5, 2017)
Filesystem management interfaces (April 5, 2017)
Filesystem metadata memory management (April 24, 2018)
A filesystem "change journal" and other topics (June 4, 2018)
Implementing fully immutable files (April 19, 2019)
Filesystems for zoned block devices (May 21, 2019)
Filesystems and crash resistance (May 21, 2019)
Lazy file reflink (May 22, 2019)
Accessing zoned block devices with zonefs (July 23, 2019)
On-disk format robustness requirements for new filesystems (August 19, 2019)
Filesystem sandboxing with eBPF (November 6, 2019)
Access-time tracking
Once upon atime (August 8, 2007)
File creation times (July 26, 2010)
Deferring mtime and ctime updates (August 21, 2013)
Introducing lazytime (November 19, 2014)
Lazytime hits a snag (February 25, 2015)
autofs
Fixing the unfixable autofs ABI (April 30, 2012)
bcachefs
The bcachefs filesystem (August 25, 2015)
An update on bcachefs (May 23, 2018)
Bcachefs gets closer (July 11, 2019)
Benchmarking
Kernel Hacker's Bookshelf: Generating Realistic Impressions for File-System Benchmarking (April 28, 2010)
Btrfs
btrfs and NILFS (June 19, 2007)
A better btrfs (January 15, 2008)
Btrfs to the mainline? (October 8, 2008)
Btrfs aims for the mainline (January 7, 2009)
A short history of btrfs (July 22, 2009)
JLS2009: A Btrfs update (October 27, 2009)
Supporting transactions in btrfs (November 11, 2009)
MeeGo and Btrfs (May 11, 2010)
Btrfs: broken by design? (June 22, 2010)
Data temperature in Btrfs (August 3, 2010)
A btrfs update at LinuxCon Europe (November 2, 2011)
Atime and btrfs: a bad combination? (May 31, 2012)
Btrfs send/receive (July 11, 2012)
LSFMM: Btrfs: "are we there yet?" (May 1, 2013)
The Btrfs filesystem: An introduction (December 11, 2013)
Btrfs: Getting started (December 17, 2013)
Btrfs: Working with multiple devices (December 30, 2013)
Btrfs: Subvolumes and snapshots (January 6, 2014)
Btrfs: Send/receive and ioctl() (January 22, 2014)
CoreOS looks to move from Btrfs to overlayfs (December 24, 2014)
In-band deduplication for Btrfs (March 9, 2016)
Btrfs and high-speed devices (August 24, 2016)
Adding encryption to Btrfs (September 21, 2016)
Authenticated Btrfs (April 30, 2020)
Btrfs at Facebook (July 2, 2020)
Case-independent lookups
The kernel and character set encodings (February 18, 2004)
Case-insensitive filesystem lookups (May 23, 2018)
Filesystems and case-insensitivity (November 28, 2018)
Case-insensitive ext4 (March 27, 2019)
Ceph
The Ceph filesystem (November 14, 2007)
Two that didn't make it (December 22, 2009)
LSFMM: FUSE and cloud storage (April 24, 2013)
Chunkfs
Filesystems: chunkfs and reiser4 (April 24, 2007)
What ever happened to chunkfs? (June 17, 2009)
Cluster
Should the Lustre preparation patches go in? (June 9, 2004)
The OCFS2 filesystem (May 24, 2005)
Time to merge GFS? (August 10, 2005)
Merging GFS2 (September 7, 2005)
A look inside the OCFS2 filesystem (September 1, 2010)
Compressed
Squashfs submitted for the mainline (October 29, 2008)
COW links
COW Links (March 29, 2004)
exFAT
The exfiltrated exFAT driver (July 24, 2013)
Examining exFAT (August 30, 2019)
ext3
ext3 block reservation (April 20, 2004)
Online resizing of ext3 filesystems (June 15, 2004)
Ext3 for large filesystems (June 12, 2006)
Time for ext4? (June 12, 2006)
A nasty file corruption bug - fixed (December 31, 2006)
ext3 metaclustering (January 16, 2008)
Barriers and journaling filesystems (May 21, 2008)
Solving the ext3 latency problem (April 14, 2009)
Ext3 and RAID: silent data killers? (August 31, 2009)
The Next3 filesystem (May 11, 2010)
rm -r fs/ext3 (July 21, 2015)
ext4
Time for ext4 (July 5, 2006)
Secure deletion and trash bin support (December 5, 2006)
A better ext4 (January 23, 2008)
Responding to ext4 journal corruption (May 27, 2008)
Online defragmentation for ext4 (February 4, 2009)
Removing ext2 and/or ext3 (February 9, 2011)
Ext4 snapshot concerns (June 8, 2011)
Securely deleting files from ext4 filesystems (October 11, 2011)
Improving ext4: bigalloc, inline data, and metadata checksums (November 29, 2011)
Supporting block I/O contexts (June 18, 2012)
A kernel change breaks GlusterFS (March 27, 2013)
Widening ext4's readdir() cookie (March 27, 2013)
Transparent decompression for ext4 (July 31, 2013)
Ext4 encryption (April 8, 2015)
A tale of two data-corruption bugs (May 24, 2015)
Encrypted file backup for ext4 (December 16, 2015)
Huge pages in the ext4 filesystem (March 28, 2017)
Evolving ext4 for SMR drives (April 19, 2017)
Case-insensitive ext4 (March 27, 2019)
Extended attributes
On reiserfs and external attributes (April 28, 2004)
Which filesystem for Samba4? (November 23, 2004)
Federated filesystem
LSFMM: FedFS (May 1, 2013)
File sealing
Sealed files (April 9, 2014)
Flash
LogFS (May 15, 2007)
UBIFS (April 2, 2008)
Block layer discard requests (August 12, 2008)
AXFS: a compressed, execute-in-place filesystem (August 26, 2008)
On the need for a new removable device filesystem (August 22, 2012)
An f2fs teardown (October 10, 2012)
A NILFS2 score card (November 7, 2012)
JFFS2, UBIFS, and the growth of flash storage (December 11, 2012)
Flash storage topics (June 6, 2018)
Supporting the UFS turbo-write mode (May 20, 2019)
fs-verity
File-level integrity (April 27, 2018)
Protecting files with fs-verity (August 30, 2018)
A setback for fs-verity (January 3, 2019)
Yet another try for fs-verity (June 3, 2019)
Fuzzing
Filesystem fuzzing (March 18, 2015)
GlusterFS
An introduction to GlusterFS (March 25, 2015)
InterMezzo
Goodbye to old code (May 19, 2004)
In user space
FUSE - implementing filesystems in user space (January 27, 2004)
Should FUSE be merged? (November 23, 2004)
FUSE hits a snag (April 12, 2005)
FUSE and private namespaces (April 27, 2005)
LSFMM: FUSE and cloud storage (April 24, 2013)
LSFMM: Coprocessors, exit times, and volatile ranges, and more (April 23, 2013)
Log-structured
Log-structured file systems: There's one in every SSD (September 18, 2009)
Lustre
Will staging lose its Lustre? (June 6, 2018)
Mounting
Unprivileged mounts (January 15, 2008)
Read-only bind mounts (May 6, 2008)
User and group mount options for ext filesystems (May 16, 2012)
Mount point removal and renaming (October 16, 2013)
A new API for mounting filesystems (April 2, 2017)
A new API for mounting filesystems (May 4, 2018)
Six (or seven) new system calls for filesystem mounting (July 12, 2018)
The mismatched mount mess (August 10, 2018)
configfd() and shifting bind mounts (January 10, 2020)
Named stream support
More notes on reiser4 (September 1, 2004)
Network
CRFS and POHMELFS (February 6, 2008)
Open by handle (February 23, 2010)
POHMELFS returns (February 8, 2012)
Network filesystem topics (May 4, 2016)
Network filesystem cache-management interfaces (March 29, 2017)
A network filesystem wish list (April 5, 2017)
Network filesystem topics (May 21, 2018)
SMB/CIFS compounding support (May 22, 2018)
NFS
LSFMM: NFS status (May 1, 2013)
Loopback NFS: theory and practice (April 23, 2014)
NFS performance (March 23, 2015)
NFS topics (May 14, 2019)
Common needs for Samba and NFS (May 15, 2019)
Nonvolatile memory
The NOVA filesystem (August 4, 2017)
The NOVA filesystem (May 18, 2018)
The ZUFS zero-copy filesystem (June 6, 2018)
Taking ZUFS upstream (May 8, 2019)
OrangeFS
The OrangeFS distributed filesystem (May 6, 2015)
osdfs
Linux and object storage devices (November 4, 2008)
POSIX locks
File-private POSIX locks (February 19, 2014)
Optional mandatory locking (December 9, 2015)
shiftfs
Container-aware filesystems (April 3, 2017)
Filesystem UID mapping for user namespaces: yet another shiftfs (February 17, 2020)
stat()
xstat() and fxstat() (June 30, 2010)
task_diag and statx() (May 4, 2016)
xstat() (May 4, 2016)
statx() v3 (November 30, 2016)
Symbolic link depth
Supporting deeper symbolic links (June 30, 2004)
Tux3
Tux3: the other next-generation filesystem (December 2, 2008)
Tux3 posted for review (May 21, 2014)
Union
Unionfs (January 10, 2007)
State of the unionfs (January 15, 2008)
Unifying filesystems with union mounts (December 24, 2008)
Unioning file systems: Architecture, features, and design choices (March 18, 2009)
Union file systems: Implementations, part I (March 25, 2009)
Unioning file systems: Implementations, part 2 (April 7, 2009)
A brief history of union mounts (July 14, 2010)
Another union filesystem approach (September 1, 2010)
Debating overlayfs (June 15, 2011)
Overlayfs for 3.10 (March 13, 2013)
CoreOS looks to move from Btrfs to overlayfs (December 24, 2014)
Overlayfs issues and experiences (March 17, 2015)
Sharing pages between mappings (March 26, 2017)
Overlayfs features (March 29, 2017)
Virtual filesystem layer
Kernel Summit 2005: Virtual filesystem topics (July 19, 2005)
Kernel Summit 2006: The VFS layer (July 19, 2006)
Some VFS address space operations changes (October 17, 2007)
A new way to truncate() files (July 15, 2009)
JLS: Increasing VFS scalability (November 3, 2009)
Big reader locks (March 16, 2010)
VFS scalability patches in 2.6.36 (August 24, 2010)
Resolving the inode scalability discussion (October 26, 2010)
Dcache scalability and RCU-walk (December 14, 2010)
Toward a safer fput() (April 24, 2012)
VFS hot-data tracking (November 20, 2012)
Virtual filesystem layer changes, past and future (March 16, 2015)
Pathname lookup in Linux (June 24, 2015)
RCU-walk: faster pathname lookup in Linux (July 1, 2015)
A walk among the symlinks (July 14, 2015)
An in-kernel file loading interface (February 17, 2016)
VFS parallel lookups (April 27, 2016)
Parallel pathname lookups and the importance of testing (June 29, 2016)
Restricting pathname resolution with AT_NO_JUMPS (May 17, 2017)
Messiness in removing directories (June 13, 2018)
New AT_ flags for restricting pathname lookup (October 4, 2018)
io_uring, SCM_RIGHTS, and reference-count cycles (February 13, 2019)
Restricting path name lookup with openat2() (August 22, 2019)
O_MAYEXEC — explicitly opening files for execution (May 11, 2020)
Virtualization
A filesystem for virtualization (May 14, 2019)
Workshops
Linux Storage and Filesystem workshop, day 1 (April 7, 2009)
Linux Storage and Filesystem Workshop, day 2 (April 8, 2009)
The 2010 Linux Storage and Filesystem Summit, day 1 (August 9, 2010)
The 2010 Linux Storage and Filesystem Summit, day 2 (August 10, 2010)
Linux Filesystem, Storage, and Memory Management Summit, Day 1 (April 5, 2011)
Linux Filesystem, Storage, and Memory Management Summit, Day 2 (April 6, 2011)
XFS
XFS: the filesystem of the future? (January 20, 2012)
XFS: There and back ... and there again? (April 1, 2015)
New tricks for XFS (February 21, 2018)
XFS parent pointers (May 7, 2018)
XFS online filesystem scrubbing and repair (May 16, 2018)
XFS, LSM, and low-level management APIs (October 2, 2018)
Atomic extent swapping for XFS (May 1, 2020)
File Systems Workshop
2006
The 2006 Linux File Systems Workshop (July 5, 2006)
Filtered wakeups
Filtered wakeups (May 5, 2004)
fincore()
fincore() (January 27, 2010)
Firmware
The kernel and binary firmware (April 6, 2005)
Using the firmware loader for static data (May 28, 2008)
Moving the firmware out (June 4, 2008)
KS2010: Lightning talks (November 2, 2010)
The trouble with firmware (January 5, 2011)
Firmware loading and suspend/resume (August 15, 2012)
Udev and firmware (October 10, 2012)
Firmware signing (May 27, 2015)
The Sound Open Firmware project launches (March 21, 2018)
Fistgen
Recent patches of interest (August 4, 2004)
Flexible array
Flexible arrays (August 5, 2009)
flink()
flink() at last? (August 7, 2013)
flink() flunks (August 28, 2013)
Forced unmount
revoke() and frevoke() (July 25, 2006)
Hotplug file descriptors and revoke() (April 14, 2009)
Fork bombs
Defending against fork bombs (May 3, 2005)
Fighting fork bombs (March 29, 2011)
fsblock
Large pages, large blocks, and large problems (September 19, 2007)
A superficial introduction to fsblock (March 11, 2009)
Various page cache issues (March 26, 2014)
FS-Cache
Credential records (September 25, 2007)
Justifying FS-Cache (December 24, 2008)
Ftrace
The source of the e1000e corruption bug (October 21, 2008)
Speeding up ftrace printing (March 4, 2009)
A look at ftrace (March 13, 2009)
On the value of static tracepoints (April 28, 2009)
Seccomp and sandboxing (May 13, 2009)
Dynamic probes with ftrace (July 28, 2009)
Debugging the kernel using Ftrace - part 1 (December 9, 2009)
Debugging the kernel using Ftrace - part 2 (December 22, 2009)
Secrets of the Ftrace function tracer (January 20, 2010)
trace-cmd: A front-end for Ftrace (October 20, 2010)
Using KernelShark to analyze the real-time scheduler (February 2, 2011)
Ftrace, perf, and the tracing ABI (May 11, 2011)
Triggers for tracing (June 26, 2013)
Ftrace: The hidden light switch (August 13, 2014)
Ftrace and histograms: a fork in the road (March 4, 2015)
KernelShark releases version 1.0 (July 31, 2019)
Accurate timestamps for the ftrace ring buffer (September 22, 2020)
FUSYN
FUSYNs - robust user-space synchronization primitives (January 21, 2004)
Futex
FUTEX + rwsem = SNAFU (February 23, 2005)
Robust futexes - a new approach (February 15, 2006)
Priority inheritance in the kernel (April 3, 2006)
A futex overview and update (November 11, 2009)
Adaptive spinning futexes (May 11, 2010)
In pursuit of faster futexes (May 4, 2016)
Adaptive mutexes in user space (November 2, 2016)
Rethinking the futex API (June 18, 2020)
GCC
Shrinking the kernel with gcc (January 21, 2004)
The end of gcc 2.95 support (December 13, 2005)
GCC 4.3.0 exposes a kernel bug (March 7, 2008)
Better kernels with GCC plugins (October 5, 2011)
Betrayed by a bitfield (February 1, 2012)
Signed overflow optimization hazards in the kernel (August 15, 2012)
Rethinking optimization for size (January 30, 2013)
General-purpose I/O
GPIO in the kernel: an introduction (January 16, 2013)
GPIO in the kernel: future directions (January 23, 2013)
get_user_inatomic()
FUTEX + rwsem = SNAFU (February 23, 2005)
get_vaddr_frames()
4.3 Merge window, part 3 (September 14, 2015)
gfp_t
Introducing gfp_t (October 11, 2005)
Avoiding memory-allocation deadlocks (April 16, 2014)
Understanding __GFP_FS (April 30, 2014)
GFS
Kernel Summit: Clustered storage (July 21, 2004)
Time to merge GFS? (August 10, 2005)
Merging GFS2 (September 7, 2005)
Git
The guts of git (April 12, 2005)
A very quick guide to starting with git (April 20, 2005)
Git approaches 1.0 (July 27, 2005)
Bisection divides users and developers (April 15, 2008)
How patches get into the mainline (February 10, 2009)
Rebasing and merging: some git best practices (April 14, 2009)
How old is our kernel? (February 17, 2010)
Finding a patch's kernel version with git (June 16, 2010)
Authenticating Git pull requests (November 9, 2011)
Rebasing and merging in kernel repositories (June 18, 2019)
GmailFS
GmailFS - using Gmail as a filesystem (August 30, 2004)
Goldman Sachs
Kernel Summit: The customer panel (July 21, 2004)
Google
KS2009: How Google uses Linux (October 21, 2009)
GPIO
GPIO in the kernel: an introduction (January 16, 2013)
GPIO in the kernel: future directions (January 23, 2013)
Grand Unified Flow Cache
The Grand Unified Flow Cache (August 7, 2006)
Graphics Execution Manager (GEM)
GEM v. TTM (May 28, 2008)
Greybus
Greybus (June 17, 2015)
Greybus (March 1, 2017)
Group scheduling
CFS group scheduling (July 2, 2007)
TTY-based group scheduling (November 17, 2010)
Group scheduling and alternatives (December 6, 2010)
CFS bandwidth control (February 16, 2011)
A group scheduling demonstration (March 16, 2011)
grsecurity
The future for grsecurity (January 7, 2009)
Post-init read-only memory (December 2, 2015)
Hardware abstraction layers
HALs considered harmful (March 15, 2005)
Hashing functions
Generic hashing functions and the platform problem (May 18, 2016)
SipHash in the kernel (January 10, 2017)
Hash table
A generic hash table (August 8, 2012)
Relativistic hash tables, part 1: Algorithms (September 17, 2014)
Relativistic hash tables, part 2: Implementation (September 17, 2014)
The rhashtable documentation I wanted to read (April 13, 2018)
Rhashtables: under the hood (April 21, 2018)
Head Bubba
KS2007: The customer panel (September 8, 2007)
HostAP
Toward a generic wireless access point stack (June 9, 2004)
Hotplug
Safe PCI hot removal (June 9, 2004)
Configuration of pluggable network adaptors (September 22, 2004)
Rationalizing CPU hotplugging (February 12, 2013)
Optimizing CPU hotplug locking (October 9, 2013)
Revisiting CPU hotplug locking (October 16, 2013)
Braking CPU hotplug (May 14, 2014)
The modernization of PCIe hotplug in Linux (October 8, 2018)
Memory
Fragmentation avoidance (November 2, 2005)
More on fragmentation avoidance (November 8, 2005)
VM followup: page migration and fragmentation avoidance (November 16, 2005)
Short topics in memory management (March 6, 2007)
Plans for hot adding and removing memory (June 12, 2013)
Hotplugging and poisoning (May 3, 2018)
hrtimer
The high-resolution timer API (January 16, 2006)
Clockevents and dyntick (February 21, 2007)
High- (but not too high-) resolution timeouts (September 2, 2008)
Greedy hrtimer expiration (October 4, 2011)
Short sleeps suffering from slack (February 17, 2012)
Leaping seconds and looping servers (July 2, 2012)
Huge pages
Fragmentation avoidance (November 2, 2005)
Application-friendly kernel interfaces (March 26, 2007)
Large pages, large blocks, and large problems (September 19, 2007)
Transparent hugepages (October 28, 2009)
Huge pages part 1 (Introduction) (February 16, 2010)
Huge pages part 2: Interfaces (February 24, 2010)
Huge pages part 3: Administration (March 3, 2010)
Huge pages part 4: benchmarking with huge pages (March 17, 2010)
Huge pages part 5: A deeper look at TLBs and costs (March 23, 2010)
Memory management for virtualization (April 7, 2010)
Transparent huge pages in 2.6.38 (January 19, 2011)
Huge pages, slow drives, and long delays (November 14, 2011)
Adding a huge zero page (September 26, 2012)
Supporting variable-sized huge pages (January 23, 2013)
A survey of memory management patches (August 6, 2013)
Huge page issues (March 26, 2014)
Transparent huge page reference counting (November 11, 2014)
Improving huge page handling (March 11, 2015)
Two transparent huge page cache implementations (April 20, 2016)
Transparent huge pages in the page cache (May 11, 2016)
Huge pages in the ext4 filesystem (March 28, 2017)
Transparent huge pages for filesystems (May 22, 2019)
hugetlbfs
Huge pages part 1 (Introduction) (February 16, 2010)
HWPOISON
HWPOISON (August 26, 2009)
Hotplugging and poisoning (May 3, 2018)
Hyperthreading
Is hyperthreading dangerous? (May 17, 2005)
HZ
Boot-time clock frequency selection (December 14, 2004)
How fast should HZ be? (August 2, 2005)
NoHZ tasks (December 20, 2010)
ia32e
Intel's new 64-bit architecture and Linux (February 25, 2004)
IDA
IDA: simplifying the complex task of allocating integers (September 4, 2018)
idr
idr - integer ID management (September 22, 2004)
A simplified IDR API (February 6, 2013)
Tags and IDs (June 19, 2013)
in_atomic()
Atomic context and kernel API design (March 25, 2008)
Include files
Kernel headers and user space (November 30, 2004)
The UAPI header file split (July 25, 2012)
Unscheduled maintenance for sched.h (February 8, 2017)
indirect()
sys_indirect() (November 19, 2007)
System call updates: indirect(), timerfd(), and hijack() (November 28, 2007)
Extending system calls (May 14, 2008)
Industrial I/ | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} | 0.00001 |
United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
___________
No. 08-1121
___________
United States of America, *
*
Appellee, *
* Appeal from the United States
v. * District Court for the
* District of South Dakota.
Robert Plenty Chief, *
*
Appellant. *
___________
Submitted: November 12, 2008
Filed: April 9, 2009
___________
Before MELLOY, BOWMAN, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.
___________
SMITH, Circuit Judge.
A jury convicted Robert Plenty Chief of aggravated sexual abuse against his
step daughter, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153, 2241(c), and 2246(2) ("Count 1");
sexual abuse of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153, 2243(a), and 2246(2)
("Count 2"); and abusive sexual contact, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153,
2244(a)(3), and 2246(3) ("Count 3"). Count 1 referenced an incident that occurred in
2004, when the victim was 11 years old, while Counts 2 and 3 referenced an incident
that occurred in 2005, when the victim was 12 years old. Plenty Chief appeals, arguing
that his convictions on Counts 2 and 3 violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth
Amendment because "18 U.S.C. § 2243(a) as charged in Count 2, and 18 U.S.C. §
2244(a)(3) as charged in Count 3 are nearly identical statutes, with nearly identical
elements." Additionally, he argues that insufficient evidence supports his convictions
on all three counts. We now affirm the judgment of the district court.1
I. Background
In 2004, Plenty Chief married Lynnelle Quinn in Eden, South Dakota. Quinn
had three children from previous relationships, including an 11-year-old daughter,
T.Q. Shortly after the marriage, Plenty Chief, Quinn, and her three children moved to
a home in Red Iron, South Dakota. Plenty Chief and Quinn slept in the basement,
while the three children all had separate bedrooms.
According to T.Q., one evening in 2004, while T.Q. was sleeping alone in her
bed, she was awakened when she heard her bedroom door shut. She looked toward the
door, where she saw Plenty Chief standing. Plenty Chief then walked toward T.Q.'s
bed, where he sat down. According to T.Q., Plenty Chief smelled strongly of alcohol
when he came near her. Eventually, Plenty Chief began rubbing T.Q.'s legs. At the
time, T.Q. was wearing a pair of shorts, a T-shirt, and a pair of underwear. T.Q.
recalled that, after Plenty Chief rubbed her legs and thighs, he placed one hand inside
her underwear, inserted his finger into her vagina, and started grabbing her chest with
his other hand. T.Q. stated that "[i]t hurted" when Plenty Chief inserted his finger
inside her vagina. T.Q. estimated that Plenty Chief was in her room for 20 to 25
minutes. The incident scared T.Q. and made her reluctant to leave her room. She did
not tell anyone about the incident.
In July 2005, when she was 12 years old, T.Q. was once again asleep in her
bedroom when she was awakened by the sound of the door slamming shut. According
to T.Q., the second incident proceeded much like the first incident. Plenty Chief sat
on T.Q.'s bed and began to rub her legs, thighs, and chest. In an effort to get away
1
The Honorable Charles B. Kornmann, United States District Judge for the
District of South Dakota.
-2-
from Plenty Chief so that his finger would not penetrate her vagina, as in the first
incident, T.Q. "kept rolling over." T.Q. estimated that the second incident, like the
first, lasted approximately 20 to 25 minutes. As with the first incident, T.Q. did not
tell anyone. In October 2005, Plenty Chief and Quinn separated, and Plenty Chief
moved out of the house.
In April 2006, T.Q. disclosed Plenty Chief's molestation during a counseled
youth group session in which another teenager had recounted an incident of sexual
abuse. The group's counselor did not explore the issue in front of the group but later
interviewed T.Q. in greater detail. At that time, T.Q. told the counselor that Plenty
Chief had sexually abused her. The counselor reported the incident to her supervisor.
In May 2006, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) interviewed Plenty
Chief. Plenty Chief never denied inserting his finger into T.Q.'s vagina but instead
maintained that it was an accident. In a recorded statement, Plenty Chief recalled an
incident in 2005 in which he entered T.Q.'s bedroom one night when it was raining
and attempted to close her window. According to Plenty Chief, when he reached over
her bed, he may have rested his hand on her pelvic area. He told the FBI that his hand
may have "penetrated a little bit." Later in the interview, he also stated that his finger
may have penetrated T.Q.'s vagina up to his first knuckle.
Plenty Chief was charged in a superseding indictment with aggravated sexual
abuse, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153, 2241(c), and 2246(2) ("Count 1"); sexual
abuse of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153, 2243(a), and 2246(2) ("Count
2"); and abusive sexual contact, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153, 2244(a)(3), and
2246(3) ("Count 3"). Count 1 referenced the incident that occurred in 2004, when T.Q.
was 11 years old, while Counts 2 and 3 referenced the incident that occurred in 2005,
when T.Q. was 12 years old.
-3-
At trial, during the government's case-in-chief, the jury heard T.Q.'s testimony,
as well as Plenty Chief's recorded statement to the FBI. Additionally, pursuant to
Federal Rule of Evidence 413, the jury heard testimony concerning another act of
sexual abuse Plenty Chief perpetrated on Quinn's other daughter.
At the close of the government's case-in-chief, Plenty Chief made a motion to
dismiss, arguing that the government "has not proven [its] case substantially in
accordance with Rule 29." Thereafter, the district court and the government engaged
in the following exchange:
THE COURT: Mr. Wright [government counsel], what—in the
superseding, in the superseding indictment, is it the Government's
position that counts two and three deal with the same alleged incident?
MR. WRIGHT: Yes. If I may, Your Honor?
THE COURT: Yes. Go ahead.
MR. WRIGHT: Count one deals with the first incident that [T.Q.]
labeled, which happened shortly after they moved into the blue house
that she thought was the summer of 2004 when she was 11. She testified
that the defendant walked in there, put his finger in her vagina. If that
evidence is believed, the jury could find the defendant guilty.
Counts two and three refer to the second incident, we believe, when the
defendant went into the bedroom and attempted a sexual act. Count two
charges a sexual act or an attempt, count three charges sexual contact.
Also, Your Honor, when the defendant was interviewed by Agent
Burdge [of the FBI], he did say he went in the bedroom and put his
finger in the vagina by accident, but he said it happened in May of 2005.
So if the jury thinks the defendant's recollection is better than [T.Q.'s],
then that incident occurred, a sexual act, in May of 2005. So there's a
difference between when she says the finger was in the vagina and when
the defendant says that. And it's an important difference because the law
-4-
changed that September. She was 11 during the summer of 2004, she
turned 12 in the fall, and then the following incident occurred when she
was 12. So depending on who's correct as to when the finger was there,
they can find him guilty of count one or count two, or they can find him
guilty of all three counts if they believe count two was an attempted
sexual act, which the Government asserts that it was, and sexual contact.
THE COURT: So it's your position that the Government can charge a
defendant in connection with the same incident as either having sexual
contact or attempted sexual contact, and either attempting to commit a
sexual act or—well, obviously, there's no evidence that he did engage in
a sexual act the second time.
MR. WRIGHT: Other than his statement that it happened in May of
2005, which is within that time period—
THE COURT: Right.
MR. WRIGHT: —when his finger was in the vagina. And the jury could
think that his recollection as to when it actually happened is better than
hers. So we have to, we have to cover both time periods of the sexual act
because this is when she said it occurred and this is when he said it
occurred.
THE COURT: You think that the defendant can be convicted of both
counts two and three?
MR. WRIGHT: Yes. Yes, I do. If they find that in count one it was a
sexual act and [T.Q.] was correct about the date, and count two, it was
an attempted sexual act. An attempt at a sexual act.
THE COURT: Well, I'm skeptical about that, but we'll see. Well—
MR. WRIGHT: I don't expect—I'm sorry.
THE COURT: Excuse me. Go ahead.
-5-
MR. WRIGHT: I don't expect a guilty verdict on all three counts, but I,
but certainly I can see any combination depending on where they think
the testimony is accurate. And of course, the court can revisit this if there
is a conviction.
During the defense's case-in-chief, Plenty Chief testified that, in the spring of
2005, he entered T.Q.'s bedroom to shut her window because it was going to rain.
After entering T.Q.'s bedroom and approaching her bed, Plenty Chief testified as
follows:
I leaned across her bed as I usually did. She usually sleeps at the head of
the bed, but—and the window is by the foot of the bed. So when I leaned
over where I usually put my hand close to the window, she was laying
under the window. Either she was hot or she was cold; I don't know.
Because the heat register is right under the window, also. The heat was
on and the window was open. I had to choose one of the two. Since it
was going to rain and heat register is electric, I chose to shut the window.
This happened in a matter of about two or three seconds. Leaning over,
I was around 335 pounds at this time, so when I felt myself touch
[T.Q.'s] body, I pulled away, readjusted, shut the window, covered [T.Q.]
up, and I left the room. And I did not shut the door.
Plenty Chief further testified that while he did touch her in the pelvic area, his "finger
did not go in her vagina."
The jury found Plenty Chief guilty on all three counts.
II. Discussion
Plenty Chief makes two arguments on appeal. First, he claims that his
convictions on Counts 2 and 3 violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth
Amendment because "18 U.S.C. § 2243(a) as charged in Count 2, and 18 U.S.C.
§ 2244(a)(3) as charged in Count 3 are nearly identical statutes, with nearly identical
-6-
elements." Additionally, he asserts that Count 3 is a lesser included offense of
Count 2.
Second, he asserts that insufficient evidence supports his convictions on all
three counts because the jury convicted him "based solely on the testimony of the
alleged victim and the victim's sister. No corroborating evidence was presented, and
the victim's motive was suspect. Plenty Chief and the victim's mother were in the
process of a divorce."
In response, the government first argues that we must review Plenty Chief's
double jeopardy argument for plain error because he never asked the district court to
dismiss Count 2 or Count 3 based upon that claim. According to the government,
while some discussion occurred between the district court and the government
regarding whether Plenty Chief could be convicted on both counts, Plenty Chief never
moved to dismiss based on this argument or asked the district court for relief
regarding the alleged double jeopardy claim.
The government also maintains that it presented ample evidence to sustain
Plenty Chief's convictions on all three counts because the jury heard T.Q.'s testimony,
Plenty Chief's recorded admissions, and testimony that Plenty Chief sexually abused
T.Q.'s sister.
A. Double Jeopardy
We first address Plenty Chief's argument that his convictions on Counts 2 and
3 violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Because our review
-7-
of the record reveals that Plenty Chief never asked the district court to dismiss either
of these counts on such a ground,2 our review is limited to plain error.3
"'Under plain error review, [Plenty Chief] must prove that (1) there was an
error, (2) the error was plain, (3) it affects substantial rights, and (4) it seriously affects
the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings.'" United States v.
Two Elk, 536 F.3d 890, 897–98 (8th Cir. 2008) (quoting United States v. Brandon,
521 F.3d 1019, 1027 (8th Cir. 2008)). "In considering the facts underlying the
allegedly multiplicitous convictions, this court accepts them in the light most
favorable to the verdict." Id. at 898.
The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment states that "[n]o person
shall . . . be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb."
U.S. Const. amend. V. This clause "proscribes the imposition of multiple punishments
for the same criminal offense." Two Elk, 536 F.3d at 898 (internal quotations,
alteration, and citation omitted). "Demonstrating that an indictment violates the double
2
Plenty Chief based his motion to dismiss on the ground that the government
failed to prove its case, meaning that insufficient evidence existed to support
convictions on all three counts.
3
We recognize that there are "two lines of cases" concerning whether a
defendant may raise a double jeopardy challenge for the first time on appeal. United
States v. Two Elk, 536 F.3d 890, 897 (8th Cir. 2008). In Two Elk, the defendant argued
that "this court reviews for plain error a double jeopardy challenge not raised in the
district court." Id. (citing United States v. Sickinger, 179 F.3d 1091, 1092–93 (8th Cir.
1999); United States v. Bercier, 506 F.3d 625, 633 (8th Cir. 2007)). In response, the
government argued that a defendant may not raise such a claim for the first time on
appeal. Id. (citing United States v. High Elk, 442 F.3d 622, 624 (8th Cir. 2006); United
States v. Goodwin, 72 F.3d 88, 91 (8th Cir. 1995); United States v. Garrett, 961 F.2d
743, 748 & n.7 (8th Cir. 1992)). We found it unnecessary to "reconcile these two lines
of cases" because we concluded that, even under plain error review, no such error
occurred. Id. In the present case, because the government argues that plain error
review applies, we once again need not resolve these two competing lines of cases.
-8-
jeopardy clause requires the defendant to show that the two offenses charged are in
law and fact the same offense." Id. (internal quotations and citation omitted). In
deciding whether the offenses are the same, we "must scrutinize the statute in question
to determine whether Congress intended the facts underlying each count to make up
a separate unit of prosecution." Id. (internal quotations and citation omitted). We
determine Congress's intent from "the statutory language, legislative history, and
statutory scheme." Id. (internal quotations and citation omitted). If we are left in doubt
about that intent "(because, for example, Congress's intended unit of prosecution is not
clear and unambiguous), this court resolves doubt in favor of lenity for the defendant."
Id. (internal quotations, alterations, and citation omitted).
We have recognized that "while abusive sexual contact may be a lesser included
offense when a single criminal event is involved, aggravated sexual abuse is a
different crime, and each may be violated during a series of distinct criminal acts."
United States v. Bercier, 506 F.3d 625, 633–34 (8th Cir. 2007). In Bercier, we found
that the defendant's conduct "established that [the defendant] engaged in conduct that
violated each statute during the alleged assault." Id. at 634. First, we found that
"touching and kissing" the victim's breast constituted "abusive sexual contact" under
§ 2244(a). Id. at 634. Second, we concluded that "digital sex" was a "sexual act" "that
constituted aggravated sexual abuse when done by force or threat." Id. (citing 18
U.S.C. §§ 2241(a)(1), 2246(2)(B)).
But the "real question" in Bercier was "how many sex crimes does a defendant
commit when he inflicts a series of distinct sexual offenses on the victim during a
single incident?" Id. We explained that such a question turns on "'whether Congress
intended the facts underlying each count to make up a separate unit of prosecution.'"
Id. (quoting United States v. Chipps, 410 F.3d 438, 447 (8th Cir. 2005)). To answer
this question, we examine "whether Congress intended to punish [the crime] 'as a
course of conduct . . . or whether Congress sought to punish separately individual acts
within an [ ] episode.'" Id. (quoting Chipps, 410 F.3d at 448). "If the offense is a
-9-
'course-of-conduct offense,' this court then applies 'the impulse test,' treating as one
offense all violations that arise from that singleness of thought, purpose or action,
which may be deemed a single 'impulse.'" Two Elk, 536 F.3d at 899 (internal
quotations and citation omitted). But if the offense constitutes a "separate-act offense,"
then "our inquiry is at an end because there is no double jeopardy problem." Id. In
Bercier, we concluded that the district court did not commit plain error, stating:
In this case, the district court instructed the jury, without objection, that
[the defendant] was charged with two offenses and that it must separately
consider the evidence pertaining to each offense. A number of cases have
held that state court convictions for multiple sex offenses did not violate
the Double Jeopardy Clause if, under state law, "a defendant may receive
multiple punishments for numerous sex offenses rapidly committed with
the sole aim of sexual gratification." Rhoden v. Rowland, 10 F.3d 1457,
1462 (9th Cir. 1993); see Holdren v. Legursky, 16 F.3d 57, 62 (4th Cir.),
cert. denied, 513 U.S. 831, 115 S. Ct. 106, 130 L. Ed. 2d 53 (1994);
State v. James, 643 S.E.2d 34, 37–38 (N.C. Ct. App. 2007); State v.
Cleveland, 237 Wis. 2d 558, 614 N.W.2d 543, 550–51 (2000). We have
not found a case thoroughly addressing this question in the context of the
federal sexual assault offenses here at issue. Cf. United States v. Torres,
937 F.2d 1469, 1471, 1475 (9th Cir. 1991); Pinson v. Morris, 830 F.2d
896, 897 (8th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 829, 109 S. Ct. 83, 102
L. Ed. 2d 59 (1988). As there was sufficient evidence that [the
defendant] committed two distinct sex offenses during the assault, there
was no plain error. However, we leave the question open for further
development on remand.
506 F.3d at 634 (reversing the district court and remanding because statements made
shortly after encounter with defendant were not admissible as prior consistent
statements and treating physician's testimony regarding her interview with victim in
which she identified abuser were not admissible); see also Two Elk, 536 F.3d at 899
(holding that aggravated sexual abuse was a separate-act offense for purposes of
double jeopardy analysis and therefore various sex acts in violation of statute within
a single course of conduct were separate offenses for double jeopardy purposes).
-10-
In the present case, Count 2 charged Plenty Chief with sexual abuse of a minor
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 2243(a) and 2246(2). Section 2243(a) makes it a crime to
"knowingly engage[] in a sexual act" with a minor or to "attempt[] to do so." A
"sexual act" includes "the penetration, however slight, of the anal or genital opening
of another by a hand or finger or by any object, with an intent to abuse, humiliate,
harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person." 18 U.S.C.
§ 2246(2)(C).
Count 3 charged Plenty Chief with abusive sexual contact pursuant to 18 U.S.C.
§§ 2244(a)(3) and 2246(3). Section 2244(a)(3) makes it a crime to "knowingly
engage[] in or cause[] sexual contact with or by another person, if so to do would
violate . . . subsection (a) of section 2243 of this title had the sexual contact been a
sexual act." "Sexual contact" is defined as "the intentional touching, either directly or
through the clothing, of the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of
any person with an intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the
sexual desire of any person." 18 U.S.C. § 2246(3).
Under the government's theory, Plenty Chief's touching of T.Q.'s breasts and
thighs during the 2005 incident constituted the "sexual contact" forming the basis of
Count 3, while Plenty Chief's "attempted sexual act" upon T.Q. during the 2005
incident, as alleged in Count 2, was thwarted when T.Q. rolled way from him, to
prevent him from inserting his finger into her vagina, as he had previously done in
2004.
Here, "in light of Bercier's tone and its reference to the state decisions holding
various sex acts within a single course of conduct to be separate offenses," Two Elk,
536 F.3d at 899, we hold that the district court did not commit plain error by not
dismissing Counts 2 and 3 on the basis of double jeopardy. As discussed infra,
because "there was sufficient evidence that [Plenty Chief] committed two distinct sex
offenses during the assault, there was no plain error." Bercier, 506 F.3d at 634.
-11-
Furthermore, we note that attempted sexual abuse of a minor and abusive sexual
contact have different statutory elements. Attempted sexual abuse of a minor, 18
U.S.C. § 2243(a), requires an attempted sexual act, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2246(2).
In contrast, abusive sexual contact, 18 U.S.C. § 2244(a)(3), does not require the sexual
act or attempt and requires only sexual contact, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2246(3).4
B. Sufficiency of the Evidence
We now turn to Plenty Chief's argument that insufficient evidence exists to
support his convictions on all three counts. "We review the sufficiency of the evidence
supporting a conviction in the light most favorable to the Government and draw all
reasonable inferences in favor of the jury's verdict." United States v. Lohnes, 554 F.3d
1166, 1168 (8th Cir. 2009) (internal quotations and citations omitted). We will only
reverse "if we conclude that no reasonable jury could have found the accused guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt." Id. at 1168–69 (internal quotations and citations omitted).
"The crux of [Plenty Chief's] argument is that the evidence was insufficient
because the government's case consisted solely of testimony from [T.Q. and T.Q.'s
sister]." United States v. Fuller, __F.3d__, 2009 WL 529851, at *2 (8th Cir. Mar. 4,
2009). Plenty Chief "contends that reversal is warranted because no corroborating
evidence supported [T.Q. and her sister's testimony]." Id. He also argues that T.Q.'s
motive was suspect, given that Plenty Chief and her mother, Quinn, were in the
process of a divorce. But "the jury was fully apprised of the witnesses' backgrounds
and potential motives, and it was the jury's prerogative to decide whether to credit the
testimony." Id. "It is the sole province of the jury to weigh the credibility of a
witness." United States v. Cvijanovich, __F.3d__, 2009 WL 454717, at *5 (8th Cir.
4
Resolution of this issue is not without some doubt. The court in Bercier
recognized the difficult double jeopardy issues implicit in charging a defendant under
these two statutes. While we do not find the district court plainly erred because there
were two distinct acts, we leave for another day the final resolution of this issue in a
case in which the issue has been properly preserved.
-12-
Feb. 25, 2009) (internal quotations and citation omitted). Here, the jury was permitted
to credit T.Q.'s testimony and reject Plenty Chief's testimony.
T.Q.'s testimony alone is sufficient to support Plenty Chief's convictions on all
three counts. Count 1 charged Plenty Chief with aggravated sexual abuse pursuant to
18 U.S.C. § 2241(c). Section 2241(c) prohibits a person from engaging in a "sexual
act" with a minor. A "sexual act" includes "the penetration, however slight, of the anal
or genital opening of another by a hand or finger or by any object, with an intent to
abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person."
18 U.S.C. § 2246(2)(C). T.Q. testified that, in 2004, Plenty Chief inserted his finger
in her vagina and that "[i]t hurted."
Count 2 charged Plenty Chief with sexual abuse of a minor pursuant to
18 U.S.C. §§ 2243(a) and 2246(2). A defendant violates this statute by "attempting"
to "knowingly engage[] in a sexual act" with a minor, 18 U.S.C. § 2243(a), which
includes "the penetration, however slight, of the anal or genital opening of another by
a hand or finger or by any object, with an intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade,
or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person." 18 U.S.C. § 2246(2)(C). T.Q.
testified that, in 2005, Plenty Chief once again entered her bedroom and began
rubbing her thighs; she thwarted his efforts to penetrate her vagina with his finger, as
he had done in 2004, by rolling away from him several times during the incident.
Count 3, which also stemmed from the 2005 incident, charged Plenty Chief
with abusive sexual contact. A defendant violates this statute by "knowingly
engag[ing] in or caus[ing] sexual contact" with a minor, 18 U.S.C. § 2244(a)(3),
including "the intentional touching, either directly or through the clothing, of the
genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person with an intent to
abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person."
18 U.S.C. § 2246(3). T.Q. testified that, in 2005, Plenty Chief entered her bedroom,
sat on her bed, and began rubbing her thighs and chest.
-13-
Based upon the evidence presented at trial, we conclude there was sufficient
evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that Plenty Chief committed each
of the alleged crimes.
III. Conclusion
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
______________________________
-14-
| {
"pile_set_name": "FreeLaw"
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Schools, Colleges and Universities in Philippines
Glossary of Medical Terms
Health
In accordance with the Constitution of the
World Health Organization
(1948), health is "a state of complete physical, mental and social
well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". Health is
defined here as a positive concept, emphasizing social and personal
resources as well as physical capabilities.
Health Care
Services provided to individuals or communities by a health care system or
by professionals to promote, maintain, monitor, or restore health. Health
care contains a broad spectrum of services and activities delivered by a
team of health personnel. This contrasts with medical care, which
concentrates on diagnostic and therapeutic actions performed by or under
the supervision of an individual physician.
Health Economics
A discipline which concentrates on application of the principles and rules
of economics in the sphere of health. In broad terms, it includes analysis
and evaluation of health policy and the health system from an economic
perspective. In particular, it includes health system planning, market
mechanisms, demand for and supply of health care, micro-economic
evaluation of individual diagnostic and therapeutic procedures,
determinants of health and its valuation, and evaluation of the
performance of health care systems in terms of equity and allocative
efficiency.
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)
An organization that arranges a wide spectrum of health care services
which commonly include hospital care, physicians' services and many other
kinds of health care services with an emphasis on preventive care.
Health Management
Systematic use of the full range of human, technical and financial
resources of the health system through planning, organizing, leading and
controlling the effort of members to achieve stated goals and to render
optimum services at minimum cost. Health managers achieve desired goals by
directing and influencing subordinates, and organizing others to perform
essential tasks to ensure that the organization is moving towards its goal
of improving health.
Health Maintenance Services
Any health care service or program that helps maintain an individual's
good health. This includes all preventive medical practices such as
immunizations and periodic examinations, as well as health education and
special self-help programs.
Health Plan
A term that has different meanings depending upon the context. "Health
plan" can be used to mean an HMO; a "health benefits plan" is provided by
an employer to its employees, or services offered by an insurer or third
party administrator to employers and/or employees.
Health Policy
A set of decisions or commitments to pursue courses of action aimed at
achieving defined goals of improving health. Policies usually state or
imply the values that underpin the policy position. They may also specify
the source of funding that can be applied to planning and implementation
of policy and to relevant institutions to be involved in this process.
Health Promotion
The process of enabling individuals to increase control over and improve
their health. It involves the population as a whole in the context of
their everyday lives, rather than focusing on people at risk for specific
diseases, and is directed toward action on the determinants or causes of
health.
Health Risks Appraisal
A method of describing an individual's probability of becoming ill or
dying from selected causes. Starting from the average risk of death for
that individual's age and sex, various lifestyle and physical factors are
considered and it is determined whether the individual is at greater or
lesser than average risk from the commonest causes of death for their age
and sex. Health risk appraisal also indicates the reduction in risk which
could be achieved by the individual's altering any of the causal factors
(such as cessation of cigarette smoking).
Health Services
Services performed by health care professionals or by others under their
direction for the purpose of promoting, maintaining, or restoring health.
In addition to personal health care, health services include health
protection, health promotion, and disease prevention.
Health Status
A general term for the state of health of an individual, group or
population that reflects the degree to which a person is able to function
physically, emotionally, and socially, with or without aid from the health
care system.
Health System
A complex of interrelated elements that contribute to health in homes,
educational institutions, workplaces, public places, and communities. A
health system is usually organized at multiple levels, starting at the
most local level, also known as community or primary health care level,
and proceeding through the intermediate (district, regional or provincial)
to the central level, providing progressively more complex and more
specialized care and support.
Healthy Behavior
The combination of knowledge, practices and attitudes that together
contribute to motivate actions we take regarding our own health. Healthy
behavior may promote and preserve good health. On the other hand,
behaviors harmful to health such as tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking,
drug abuse and lack of physical exercise may be determinants of disease.
Hippocratic Oath, The
An affirmation usually taken by physicians about to enter the practice of
medicine. It is attributed to Greek physician, Hippocrates of Cos, who is
called the "Father of Medicine" (circa 460- 377 B.C). Its content reflects
the ethical code of the physicians' attitudes and behavior and obligations
towards patients, colleagues and society. The complete text can be found
here . | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} | 0.000349 |
Q:
Calculating an expression using recursive formulas
How can I calculate this:
($\dots$(((2 * 3) * 4) * 5) * $\dots$) * 2017 ;
if x * y = $\frac{x + y}{1 + xy}$, (notice x*y is not multiplication). This should be calculated using recursive formulas only.
A:
Note that $ \star $ is associative
\begin{eqnarray*}
x \star y \star z = \frac{x+y+z+xyz}{1+xy+yz+zx}.
\end{eqnarray*}
Now if
\begin{eqnarray*}
g(X)=(X-x)(X-y) (X-z) =X^3+X(xy+yz+zx)-(X^2(x+y+z)+xyz)
\end{eqnarray*}
then
\begin{eqnarray*}
g(1) =1+(xy+yz+zx)-((x+y+z)+xyz) \\
g(-1)=1+(xy+yz+zx)+((x+y+z)+xyz) \\
\end{eqnarray*}
so
\begin{eqnarray*}
x \star y \star z = \frac{x+y+z+xyz}{1+xy+yz+zx} =\frac{g(-1)-g(1)}{g(-1)+g(1)}
\end{eqnarray*}
And a similar arguement will work for more iterands.
Now define
\begin{eqnarray*}
f(X)=(X-2)(X-3) \cdots (X-2017)
\end{eqnarray*}
then
\begin{eqnarray*}
2 \star 3 \cdots 2016 \star 2017 = \frac{f(-1) -f(1)}{f(-1)+f(1)} =\frac{2018! -2 \times 2016!}{2018! + 2 \times 2016!}.
\end{eqnarray*}
| {
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
} | 0 |
(1)
Barón Crespo (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, acabo de ter conhecimento de uma comunicação dos serviços da sessão na qual é dito aos deputados - e parece que isto foi anunciado ontem à meia-noite - que, em relação ao relatório Boogerd-Quaak sobre a liberdade de expressão e de informação, tendo em conta o grande número de pedidos de votação nominal, em separado e por partes, a votação não pode realizar-se hoje.
Recordará, Senhor Presidente, que V. Exa. e eu falámos ao telefone ontem às 22H30 e que lhe exprimi a minha preocupação por todos os incidentes em torno deste caso. Tenho realmente de dizer agora que esta decisão, tomada não sei por quem - e seria conveniente sabê-lo e, também, se esta decisão tem o seu apoio -, vai contra todas as práticas seguidas nesta Assembleia. O meu grupo - quanto aos outros, não sei - não foi consultado e solicito que, no início do período de votações das 12H00, se proceda à votação da reinscrição deste ponto no período de votações.
Presidente.
- Quando falámos ontem à noite, a Assembleia estava reunida em sessão a debater o relatório Boogerd-Quaak. Fui informado ontem à noite, tal como o senhor deputado foi informado, por isso não há qualquer política de exclusão no circuito informativo.
Fui informado ontem à noite que, atendendo à quantidade de votações e ao grande número de pedidos que foram recebidos de votações em separado, por votação nominal, etc., os serviços da sessão pura e simplesmente não têm capacidade de elaborar, entre a hora a que o debate terminou ontem à noite e o meio-dia de hoje, a documentação necessária para a votação do relatório. Não se trata de uma questão das minhas preferências políticas. Tenho aqui uma lista de 51 páginas com pormenores sobre a votação. Esta questão do procedimento a seguir não tem a ver com a expressão de nenhum tipo de preferência política. Eu estou disposto a tratar de aspectos processuais hoje ao meio-dia, mas a informação que tenho é que, para os serviços, é materialmente impossível preparar a votação deste relatório até ao meio-dia.
Foram-me apresentadas outras questões processuais; tratarei delas ao meio-dia e tomarei decisões. Estou convencido, porém, que apesar dos diversos pedidos apresentados, a Assembleia terá de tratar deste assunto e de o pôr à votação. Como e quando é que é bastante complicado. Vou analisar tudo isto com os serviços durante a manhã para vermos o que podemos fazer.
Watson (ELDR ).
- Senhor Presidente, este relatório não é sobre Silvio Berlusconi. É um relatório sobre concentração dos meios de comunicação social em todos os países da União Europeia, que é uma questão que legitimamente preocupa a opinião pública. É um relatório que foi redigido de acordo com os procedimentos normais da nossa Assembleia e, em sinal de reconhecimento das sensibilidades eleitorais de algumas pessoas, a relatora prontificou-se a suprimir do relatório o nome de Silvio Berlusconi. Ainda assim, há colegas que procuram protelar, fazer obstrução, perturbar os nossos procedimentos, com o intuito de se furtarem à luz penetrante e crua de uma verdade amarga.
O meu grupo convida o Grupo PPE-DE a retirar as suas alterações devastadoras; se o não fizer, estamos prontos para proceder à votação de todas as 350. Solicitamos-lhe que permita à Assembleia decidir se devemos ou não prosseguir e saudamos a garantia que nos deu de que teremos a oportunidade de pôr este relatório à votação.
Presidente.
- Tenho, ao que parece, a bênção de contar com muitos amigos em muitos grupos desta Assembleia! Gostaria de agradecer aos meus numerosos amigos a quantidade de conselhos relativos a esta questão que lançaram sobre mim nas últimas 24 horas, sem que os tenha solicitado. Asseguro-lhes que vou agir de forma adequada. Vai ser necessário tratar deste assunto ao meio-dia de hoje.
Poettering (PPE-DE ).
- Na verdade, não tinha intenção de usar da palavra, mas tenho de responder ao que o senhor deputado Watson, presidente do Grupo do Partido Europeu dos Liberais, Democratas e Reformistas, acaba de dizer. Insta o nosso grupo a retirar as suas alterações. Permita-me que diga ao senhor deputado Watson que o número de alterações se eleva a 338, das quais 157 foram apresentadas pelo nosso grupo. Isso significa que os outros grupos apresentaram 181 alterações. É injusto insinuar que o nosso grupo é o único responsável por todas as alterações. São inúmeros os deputados insatisfeitos com este relatório e é por isso que 181 alterações foram apresentadas por outros grupos.
Peço-lhe instantemente, Senhor Presidente, que assegure que os oradores não falem apenas das alterações do nosso grupo.
Cohn-Bendit (Verts/ALE ).
- Senhor Deputado Poettering, pode ser tão sofisticado quanto desejar - a conduta vergonhosa dos deputados do seu grupo na comissão não foi a conduta vergonhosa de outros deputados de outros grupos. Se tivesse estado presente e tivesse ouvido os relatórios, teria podido testemunhá-lo por si próprio. Este é o primeiro ponto. Em segundo lugar, Senhor Presidente, o senhor deputado Watson fez uma pergunta directa e nós queremos uma resposta. Queremos votar hoje às 12H00 sobre o momento em que o relatório será posto a votação. O nosso grupo está disposto a votar este relatório à 14H00, 15H00, 17H00 ou esta noite à meia-noite, seja quando for. O que se está a passar aqui é escandaloso! O grau de conluio entre dois grupos que tentam evitar uma votação sobre um relatório importante constitui um escândalo em si mesmo e este Parlamento deveria responder honradamente a esta situação escandalosa votando esta tarde ou esta noite, pouco importa em que momento, a fim de demonstrar que estas manobras ardilosas não nos impedirão de votar esta importante relatório. Queremos votar às 12H00 para que este relatório possa ser posto hoje a votação.
Presidente.
- Tratarei da questão da votação ao meio-dia. Agradeço os vossos conselhos, mas durante a minha presidência recuso-me a ser instrumentalizado nesta Assembleia.
Quero analisar sistematicamente todas as alterações para ver se consigo arranjar maneira de as reduzir. Preciso de ter tempo, hoje de manhã, para o fazer. Voltarei aqui e, com a máxima boa fé, dar-lhes-ei conta das possibilidades que há. Entretanto, recuso-me a deixar que me empurrem para um anúncio prematuro de quando é que vamos proceder à votação.
Ludford (ELDR ).
– Ponto de ordem, Senhor Presidente! Não me passaria pela cabeça tentar empurrá-lo para anunciar alguma coisa, mas vou dar-lhe um conselho. Há-de verificar que - isto em sede de comissão parlamentar - quando os dois grupos solicitaram uma votação em separado com o propósito de manter as alterações na agenda de trabalhos do plenário, não votaram contra uma única alteração. Embora o Regimento autorize qualquer grupo a solicitar uma votação em separado de qualquer alteração, teremos de tentar tirar a limpo quais são aquelas que realmente querem votar em separado. Acho que não vamos encontrar nos dois grupos um único voto negativo contra as alterações. Há aqui um grande conluio, como já alguém afirmou, no sentido de que um dos grupos solicita votações em separado de todas as alterações do outro grupo, e este solicita votações em separado de todas as alterações dos colegas. É uma tentativa ridícula de subverter a democracia e de fazer obstrução.
O Senhor Presidente tem as suas responsabilidades, mas tanto o Senhor Presidente como os seus serviços estão em perigo de serem vítimas de subversão.
Presidente.
- Muito obrigado pelos cuidados que eu e os serviços lhe merecemos. Vou ser muito claro. A Assembleia debateu esta questão até à meia-noite de ontem. Estou nesta Assembleia desde as 7 horas da manhã a tentar preparar as coisas para hoje. Podem ter a certeza de que concentrarei toda a minha atenção sobre este assunto, mas entre as sete da manhã e agora não foi possível resolver algumas das questões que me apresentaram. Daqui até ao meio-dia será ou não. Ao meio-dia dar-vos-ei conta dos progressos que fizer, isto se entretanto fizer alguns.
Duthu (Verts/ALE ).
- Senhor Presidente, tenho uma questão extremamente urgente e bastante diferente a colocar-lhe. Convidei o Sr. Akhmed Zakaiev que, como sabe, é o Vice-Primeiro-Ministro do Governo Maskhadov para uma audição a realizar esta noite e amanhã de manhã aqui mesmo. Akhmed Zakaiev, como sabe também, vive em Londres e solicitei ao Ministério francês dos Negócios Estrangeiros que acelerasse o processo de emissão de um visto.
O visto foi recusado ao Sr. Zakaiev com a justificação de haver uma pedido de extradição contra ele. Ora, como é do seu conhecimento, este pedido de extradição já foi rejeitado pelos Governos dinamarquês e britânico e, além disso, o Sr. Zakaiev pôde visitar recentemente o Bundestag na Alemanha. Peço-lhe, assim, o favor de interceder junto do Sr. Michel Barnier, o nosso Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros, para que o Sr. Zakaiev e o seu filho, que lhe serve de tradutor, possam assistir à audição desta noite ou de amanhã de manhã, ou a ambas, o que seria o ideal.
Presidente.
- Peço-lhe que forneça todos os pormenores relevantes ao meu gabinete e tentaremos dar seguimento ao problema que nos apresenta.
Kaufmann (GUE/NGL ).
- Senhor Presidente, queria intervir a respeito do ponto precedente. Também não é meu desejo fazer qualquer comentário sobre os debates e os acontecimentos que tiveram lugar na comissão, nem sobre o que aparentemente se passou aqui ontem à noite. Em nome do meu grupo, queria manifestar o meu apoio aos seus esforços e dizer muito simplesmente que queremos que uma votação tenha lugar sobre esta questão. Pensamos que este tema é demasiado importante para desaparecer da ordem do dia, mesmo que tal possa vir a suceder.
Korakas (GUE/NGL ).
– Senhor Presidente, gostaria de dizer algo sobre uma questão diferente. Obrigado por me dar o uso da palavra.
Às segundas-feiras, quando se reinicia a sessão, costumamos dispor de meia hora para que cada deputado possa apresentar as questões actuais que desejar. Esta segunda-feira, por motivos de ordem processual, V. Exa. mudou essa meia hora para o final da sessão, para a meia-noite e porventura até para mais tarde. Todavia, esse debate e essa possibilidade são proporcionados aos deputados para que possam, como referi, colocar questões actuais que, à uma da manhã, já perderam a actualidade. Gostaria de protestar porque eu pedi para usar da palavra sobre uma questão muito séria e V. Exa. não autorizou a minha intervenção nem o debate. Pedia que este tipo de procedimento não voltasse a repetir-se.
Presidente.
- Tenho perfeita consciência de que os senhores deputados utilizam de forma adequada e correcta esta nova possibilidade de intervirem no início das sessões. Como puderam constatar quando aqui estavam a querer usar da palavra no início do período de sessões desta semana, eu estava num dilema. Travámos uma importante troca de impressões sobre outro assunto, de tal modo que às 18H00 - uma hora depois da hora marcada para o início da sessão - ainda não tínhamos começado os debates, isto numa tarde em que já tínhamos prolongado a sessão até às 23H00.
Apresento também as minhas desculpas aos senhores deputados que desejavam usar da palavra e tiveram de o fazer mais tarde ou por escrito, mas foi um caso excepcional. Espero que não seja algo que me veja obrigado a repetir.
McKenna (Verts/ALE ).
– Senhor Presidente, há algumas semanas este Parlamento procedeu à votação do relatório Maat sobre o bem-estar dos animais durante o transporte. A Presidência irlandesa propôs um compromisso sobre esta questão e é necessário que a Assembleia saiba que esse compromisso é completamente inaceitável se se levar em consideração a forma como o Parlamento votou. Eu não fiquei satisfeita com o resultado final do relatório Maat. pessoas que se preocupam com o bem-estar dos animais acharam que o relatório não foi suficientemente longe. No mínimo dos mínimos, o compromisso proposto pela Presidência irlandesa deveria ter levado em conta a vontade do Parlamento, em especial no que respeita a diversas questões cruciais, como por exemplo a temperatura do veículo em que os animais são transportados e o facto de que não vai ser obrigatório descarregá-los durante algum tempo nos portos.
A questão mais importante e crucial é que o Parlamento votou de forma bem clara a favor de uma duração total máxima da viagem até ao local de abate, o que também se reflectiu na declaração assinada por mais de 400 deputados desta Assembleia. O compromisso proposto pela Presidência irlandesa ignora totalmente a vontade do Parlamento. Fui contactada por muitos grupos de defesa do bem-estar dos animais que estão muito preocupados com esta situação e que consideram que, se o compromisso proposto pela Presidência irlandesa for aprovado, isso representará um recuo em matéria de bem-estar dos animais. O compromisso proposto pela Presidência irlandesa deveria pelo menos ter em conta a duração total máxima da viagem aquando do transporte dos animais para o local de abate.
Rovsing (PPE-DE ).
– Senhor Presidente, desejo manifestar o meu total apoio à redução do tempo de viagem. Em minha opinião, oito horas deve ser um máximo absoluto.
Presidente.
- Seguem-se na ordem do dia as declarações do Conselho e da Comissão sobre as perspectivas de unificação de Chipre antes da adesão do país à União Europeia.
No início deste debate, gostaria de citar o Secretário-Geral das Nações Unidas, Kofi Annan, quando se dirigiu ao Conselho de Segurança no fim da semana passada. Afirmou o seguinte: "O plano é complexo e o seu equilíbrio é precário. Como acontece em qualquer negociação, trata-se, inevitavelmente, de um compromisso. A apresentação do conteúdo do plano à opinião pública não foi sempre igualmente equilibrada."
Tendo seguido intensamente o debate, não posso deixar de dizer que partilho de facto das preocupações expressas pelo Secretário-Geral das Nações Unidas a este respeito.
Gostaria também de acrescentar uma preocupação pessoal: é de registar, em especial no que se refere às transmissões feitas em Chipre, que há uma manipulação evidente dos períodos de transmissão no chamado horário nobre; que os estrangeiros têm sido deliberadamente excluídos, como é o caso do Senhor Comissário Verheugen - que será o , o concidadão europeu, dos nossos colegas cipriotas nas próximas semanas; e que isso representa um espectáculo nada salutar, indigno de um Estado que noutros aspectos procura cumprir, e deverá cumprir, os critérios de Copenhaga.
Congratular-me-ia profundamente se estas observações, a título de modesta sugestão de uma opinião alternativa, fossem transmitidas no local em questão, apesar da falta de equilíbrio que aí reina em matéria de transmissões.
Roche,
Senhor Presidente, estou seguro de que todos os deputados desta Assembleia, tal como o seu Presidente, estarão cientes da importância deste debate.
Estou muito grato pela oportunidade de contribuir para este debate em nome do Conselho e da Presidência. A discussão que travámos hoje de manhã ocorre apenas três dias antes de uma data verdadeiramente significativa para o povo da ilha de Chipre. A 24 de Abril vão votar, em referendos separados mas simultâneos, o texto da solução abrangente para o problema de Chipre que foi recentemente apresentado pelo Secretário-Geral das Nações Unidas, Kofi Annan, no contexto de um quadro negocial acordado.
A União Europeia está profundamente grata ao Secretário-Geral e, em particular, ao seu Conselheiro Especial, o Sr. Alvaro de Soto, pelos esforços incansáveis que envidaram para promover um acordo. Trabalharam em estreita colaboração com as partes envolvidas e em colaboração com os Governos da Grécia e da Turquia, tendo criado uma oportunidade única e histórica para se chegar a uma solução abrangente para o problema de Chipre.
Se o povo de Chipre votar "Sim" nos dois referendos de sábado, será um Chipre unido que adere à União Europeia a 1 de Maio, juntamente com outros nove novos Estados-Membros. A adesão de um Chipre unido continua a ser a forte preferência - sublinho, a forte preferência - da União Europeia. Recordarei hoje o compromisso, assumido por sucessivos Conselhos Europeus, de que a nossa União Europeia está pronta para acolher os termos do acordo em sintonia com os princípios sobre os quais assenta.
A União Europeia tem as suas origens na guerra mais terrível da história da Humanidade, uma guerra que quase destruiu o nosso continente. A União nasceu de um profundo desejo de incentivar as nações europeias a trabalharem em conjunto para a melhoria das condições de vida de todos os seus povos e para resolverem pacificamente as suas divergências, sem recurso a conflitos. A adesão à União Europeia permitiu que nações e comunidades divididas da Europa superassem divergências profundas e amargas que as mantinham separadas. Estou confiante que, com o tempo, também vai ser este o caso para um Chipre unido no seio da União Europeia.
A adesão de dez novos Estados-Membros daqui a apenas nove dias porá formalmente fim às divisões trágicas do continente europeu no pós-guerra. Existe agora uma oportunidade para pôr fim a mais uma divisão na Europa. A decisão relativa ao Plano de Resolução apresentado pelo Secretário-Geral Kofi Annan está agora, em última análise, nas mãos dos cidadãos de Chipre. A escolha e a decisão são deles. Deverão estar certos da solidariedade da União Europeia no momento em que ponderam, individual e colectivamente, uma decisão que terá um profundo efeito sobre o seu futuro e também sobre o futuro dos seus filhos e dos filhos dos seus filhos.
No momento em que os cidadãos de Chipre exercerem os seus direitos democráticos, deverão estar plenamente conscientes da natureza histórica desta decisão e das oportunidades que estão ao alcance de Chipre, dos seus vizinhos e também do resto da Europa. Deverão ter ouvido - como nós ouvimos - as palavras do Secretário-Geral Kofi Annan, de que o plano "é a única via disponível e previsível para a reunificação de Chipre".
A União Europeia e a comunidade internacional em sentido mais lato estão prontas para ajudar a aplicar essa solução, tanto a nível político como económico. O empenho e a esperança da comunidade internacional eram evidentes na conferência preparatória de alto nível dos doadores que se realizou na semana passada, em Bruxelas, sob a presidência do Senhor Comissário Verheugen. Estive nessa conferência e sucessivos oradores manifestaram a sua disponibilidade, os seus desejos, as suas esperanças e a sua ansiedade de prestarem ajuda financeira com vista à implementação do referido plano.
Foram assumidos diversos compromissos muito importantes e definitivos. Se acaso o plano for aprovado, a Comissão Europeia já pôs de parte fundos consideráveis destinados ao desenvolvimento económico de Chipre e à melhoria das condições de vida do povo de Chipre. Muitos Estados-Membros, entre eles a Irlanda, declararam que irão anunciar a atribuição de financiamentos consideráveis e especificamente destinados a apoiar a implementação do plano de resolução numa conferência em que estarão presentes todos os doadores, a realizar, segundo esperamos, no Outono.
Os resultados da conferência internacional da semana passada foram saudados numa importante declaração emitida no dia 16 de Abril pelo Presidente do Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas. Fazendo notar que cabe agora aos cipriotas tomarem uma decisão histórica relativamente ao seu futuro, os membros do Conselho de Segurança comprometeram-se, no caso de o plano ser aprovado, a prontificar-se para tomar novas medidas, conforme previsto no plano; dessas medidas faz parte o desenvolvimento de uma nova acção das Nações Unidas de apoio à rápida e total implementação do plano por todas as partes. Os membros do Conselho de Segurança comprometer-se-iam também a contribuir para assegurar o pleno cumprimento dos compromissos assumidos por todas as partes nos termos do plano de resolução.
Nos últimos quarenta anos, as Nações Unidas têm estado profundamente envolvidas na questão de Chipre. A força das Nações Unidas em Chipre foi criada em 1964 e constitui umas das operações de manutenção de paz há mais tempo em actividade na história das Nações Unidas. Os Estados-Membros, incluindo o meu país, orgulham-se de contribuir com soldados, polícias e pessoal civil para essa força, no interesse de todo o povo de Chipre.
A União Europeia tem acompanhado sempre a questão de Chipre. Agora, a 24 de Abril, os cidadãos de Chipre vão fazer a sua escolha democrática - é mesmo a sua escolha - relativamente às propostas de solução que lhes são apresentadas. Trata-se de uma oportunidade única e histórica. A escolha é deles e só deles.
Desejamos muitas felicidades aos cidadãos de Chipre ao fazerem essas escolhas. É um momento difícil. Compreendemos que seja. Compreendemos a história. Compreendemos todas as paixões que estão aqui envolvidas, mas a escolha é deles e só deles. Respeitaremos a escolha que fizerem, seja ela qual for, e esperamos que a decisão que tomarem permita a integração pacífica de um Chipre unido na nossa União, no dia 1 de Maio.
Verheugen,
. - Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, o princípio fundamental subjacente à unificação europeia é o desejo comum de cooperar e de prosseguir políticas que garantam a coexistência pacífica das nações europeias. É por essa razão que nos unimos e é por essa razão que nos juntámos aqui esta manhã. O que esperamos, acima de tudo, de todos os nossos Estados-Membros e o que esperamos sobretudo dos países que deverão juntar-se à União Europeia dentro de menos de dez dias, é a adesão total a este princípio fundamental da unificação europeia enquanto projecto de paz. É o que espero também do Governo da República de Chipre.
Chipre é o último país na Europa que continua dividido. Chipre é o último país na Europa cuja capital está dividida em duas por uma linha mortal de arame farpado e campos de minas. Desde o início deste conflito, nunca tínhamos estado tão perto de encontrar uma solução. Poucos centímetros nos separam do nosso objectivo e, todavia, devo dizer-vos que tenho muito pouca esperança de que consigamos ultrapassá-los. Permitam-me que explique porquê.
A situação que agora surgiu é a seguinte. Para surpresa geral, o Governo cipriota liderado pelo Presidente Papadopoulos declarou que rejeitava categoricamente o plano de paz das Nações Unidas e exorta a comunidade cipriota grega a votar contra o mesmo.
Na minha óptica, esta é uma situação muito desanimadora por duas razões. Em primeiro lugar, quando mudámos de estratégia em relação a Chipre em 1999 e, a pedido premente do Governo cipriota, prometemos ao Governo cipriota grego que a resolução do conflito não seria uma condição prévia à adesão da ilha à União Europeia, isso assentava no entendimento claro de que faríamos todos os possíveis para facilitar a adesão de Chipre e, por seu turno, o Governo da República de Chipre faria tudo o que estivesse ao seu alcance para encontrar uma plataforma de entendimento e para que em circunstância alguma a resolução do conflito pudesse fracassar devido à oposição cipriota grega. Mantive dezenas de encontros com o antigo Presidente Glafkos Clerides e o Presidente Papadopoulos a este respeito. Não pode haver mal-entendidos neste ponto. Tínhamos um acordo claro: organizaríamos a adesão de Chipre e eles assegurariam que nenhum entendimento fracassasse devido aos cipriotas gregos. Não podíamos falar pelos cipriotas turcos.
Insto o Presidente Papadopoulos a cumprir a sua parte do contrato.
O segundo ponto que queria abordar é este: o processo de negociação lançado sob os auspícios do Secretário-Geral das Nações Unidas ficou paralisado durante muito tampo devido à oposição categórica dos cipriotas turcos. Graças, especialmente, aos esforços da União Europeia, este bloqueio foi ultrapassado e, a cada etapa do processo, o Governo da República de Chipre reafirmava o seu apoio ao esquema de base do plano Annan, dizendo que desejava ver alguns pontos menores alterados, mas respeitando os parâmetros do plano - cito: "".
As declarações do Presidente Papadopoulos no final das conversações na Suíça significam uma rejeição categórica dos princípios de base expostos no plano. Com base no que Presidente Papadopoulos disse, só posso concluir que o Governo da República de Chipre rejeita agora a solução federal para o problema cipriota, que se baseia na coexistência e na igualdade entre os cipriotas gregos e turcos e que é apoiada pelas Nações Unidas e por toda a comunidade internacional.
Permitam-me que seja pouco diplomático. Minhas Senhoras e meus Senhores, sinto-me pessoalmente traído pelo Governo da República de Chipre. Durante meses - meses - fiz tudo o que podia, como todos os outros, de boa fé e confiando nas promessas feitas pelo Governo cipriota grego, para estabelecer parâmetros que permitissem aos cipriotas gregos aprovar este plano. Infelizmente, tal não foi conseguido. No entanto, o mínimo que se pode esperar hoje de um país que deseja aderir à União Europeia dentro de menos de dez dias é que procure assegurar, pelo menos, o fornecimento de informações justas e equilibradas sobre os objectivos e o conteúdo deste plano. É a primeira vez na história da Comissão Europeia que se proíbe a um dos seus membros que faça declarações sobre uma questão europeia crucial num Estado-Membro sob o pretexto de que isso constitui uma ingerência nos seus assuntos internos. Convido o Presidente Papadopoulos a garantir que as liberdades fundamentais de informação e de opinião no seu país sejam estritamente garantidas e que, a partir de hoje, todas as pessoas que possam fornecer uma explicação completa deste plano em conformidade com as intenções das Nações Unidas tenham livre acesso aos meios de comunicação cipriotas. Continuo, como antes, disposto a fazê-lo.
Permitam-me que diga uma coisa para concluir. A solução não pretende ser uma transação no interesse do comércio. Em minha opinião, é bastante lamentável que em muitas declarações que ouvi do lado cipriota grego nos últimos dias, as palavras "paz", "reconciliação", "compreensão mútua " e "coexistência de diferentes comunidades e religiões" quase não tenham sido proferidas. A tónica é quase sempre colocada nos aspectos comerciais. Permitam-me que deixe isto bem claro: o nosso objectivo é fornecer um modelo, nesta região do mundo, que demonstre que o conceito de integração europeia é suficientemente forte, não só para evitar conflitos, mas também para resolver os que já existem. Isso enviaria um sinal muito forte, sobretudo nesta região, onde a coexistência de comunidades de diferentes culturas e religiões produziu a crise global mais profunda e mais difícil que conhecemos nos últimos tempos. É por isso que a importância desta questão vai muito para além do próprio Chipre.
A Comissão respeitou os seus compromissos. Como previsto, apresentámos um dossiê ao Conselho no qual as disposições do plano das Nações Unidas são adaptadas em conformidade com o acervo. Após uma análise cuidadosa, assegurámo-nos de que a nova República de Chipre, a República unida de Chipre, pode falar a uma só voz, respeitar os seus compromissos internacionais, não bloqueará os fóruns internacionais e será dotada de estruturas suficientemente sólidas para aplicar o direito internacional. Declarámos que, enquanto guardiã dos Tratados, a Comissão fiscalizará de perto tudo isso a fim de garantir que estas disposições são respeitadas. Finalmente, prometemos contribuir para o financiamento dos custos resultantes deste acordo e estamos a trata-se de promessas generosas.
Permitam-me que diga claramente uma coisa aos cipriotas gregos: não haverá nunca um plano que satisfaça plenamente cada uma das partes. É impossível. O que podemos fazer é aproximar-nos o mais possível de um plano assim, e não haverá melhor plano do que este. Àqueles que dizem hoje "muito bem, mas neste caso demasiados soldados turcos permanecerão na ilha", responderei que rejeitar o plano perpetua a presença de 30 000 soldados turcos em Chipre.
Outra queixa é a de que demasiados colonos turcos permanecerão na ilha. Deixem-me que vos diga isto: rejeitar o plano abre a porta a mais 100 000 colonos turcos para que venham instalar-se em Chipre.
Este plano oferece uma solução que vai ao encontro dos interesses da comunidade grega e dos interesses da comunidade turca. É uma solução vai ao encontro dos interesses da União Europeia, e lanço daqui um último apelo aos cidadãos de Chipre para que, no sábado, tomem uma decisão que permita a este país aderir à União Europeia com um bilhete de entrada que ateste o seu apoio à paz e à compreensão na Europa e no mundo.
Presidente.
- Muito obrigado, Senhor Comissário, pela franqueza com que fez os seus comentários.
Brok (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, Senhor Comissário Verheugen, a pedido da Conferência dos Presidentes, a Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa elaborou um relatório, baseado no trabalho do senhor deputado Poos, que visa assegurar, também do nosso ponto de vista, que as garantias serão mantidas e que o plano Annan pode de facto ser implementado sem problemas importantes para a população.
Temos de compreender que, para questões deste género, as pessoas farão perguntas e que este tipo de solução não pode resolver todos os aspectos para satisfação de todos os cidadãos. Isto é válido, por exemplo, para as questões que dizem respeito à propriedade, à reinstalação ou aos compromissos sobre o estacionamento de tropas. É preciso que fique claro que todos podem exercer os seus direitos, o que inclui a apresentação de queixas perante os tribunais do Luxemburgo e Estrasburgo. Contudo, devemos também dizer claramente que uma solução positiva para estas questões e a reunificação da ilha melhorarão de modo geral a situação dos habitantes dos dois lados da linha de demarcação e, por essa razão, nenhum problema particular específico deveria interpor-se neste caminho rumo a uma solução global.
Penso - e esta é a opinião do Grupo do Partido Popular Europeu (Democratas-Cristãos) e dos Democratas Europeus, que tenho a honra de representar - que era necessário encontrar um compromisso e que, nas circunstâncias actuais, o compromisso proposto é justo. No entanto, como Comunidade Europeia, devemos igualmente assegurar-nos que os cidadãos têm confiança neste plano e deveríamos trabalhar activamente para garantir que esta confiança seja consolidada também do nosso lado. Por isso, considero importante que os nºs 13 e 14 da proposta de resolução do senhor deputado Poos instem claramente todas as instituições internacionais que tem interesse neste processo a darem garantias de que o plano Annan será efectivamente implementado e que o Parlamento Europeu, através dos seus órgãos permanentes, controlará a implementação a fim de assegurar que estas garantias são respeitadas, garantindo assim que a reunificação beneficie os próprios habitantes.
Eu próprio tornei-me deputado europeu numa altura em que o meu país ainda estava dividido. A situação não é totalmente comparável. Chipre não é uma nação dividida; aqui, existem duas nações diferentes num só país. É esta a diferença. No entanto, penso que devemos reconhecer que, embora podendo surgir problemas com este tipo de reunificação, os benefícios para as duas partes são, na globalidade, claramente superiores aos custos. Por isso dizemos que os cidadãos cipriotas têm o direito de decidir sobre o seu destino de forma independente e soberana. Temos também de admitir que, numa comunidade como a Europa, devemos apoiar-nos uns aos outros a fim de garantir que possamos viver em conjunto no seio da nossa comunidade com base na confiança, e isso significa que as promessas têm de ser cumpridas. Com base nisto, pedimos aos habitantes cipriotas que aprovem o plano. É tudo o que podemos fazer. Na primeira conferência de doadores, que teve lugar na semana passada, chegámos a acordo quanto a montantes consideráveis de dinheiro e manifestámos a nossa vontade de apoiar este processo com meios adequados.
Espero que, com base nisto e no espírito descrito pelo Comissário Verheugen, que se tem empenhado fortemente nesta questão desde há anos, possamos ainda contar com um resultado positivo no sábado.
Poos (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, na história de uma nação, há momentos em que os cidadãos são colocados perante uma escolha fundamental. É como se estivessem a meio caminho na travessia de um vau. Podem avançar em direcção à outra margem ou voltar para trás. À sua frente abre-se a via da reunificação, da reconciliação e da paz civil, deixando para trás o passado. É a via que o Parlamento Europeu sempre favoreceu. Depositámos as nossas esperanças e a nossa confiança nas capacidades de negociação e de mediação do Secretário-Geral das Nações Unidas. Não vamos abandoná-lo no final do percurso.
Desde o recomeço das negociações, o Parlamento Europeu enunciou também algumas condições fundamentais: capacidade de falar a uma só voz, personalidade jurídica única, não a uma derrogação permanente ao Tratado. A Comissão assegurou-nos hoje que estas condições estão preenchidas na versão final do plano Annan. Consequentemente, não há qualquer razão para duvidar que o plano é conforme ao Tratado.
A segunda via que se abre aos eleitores cipriotas é a rejeição do que o Sr. Alvaro de Soto apresenta como ponto culminante de trinta anos de esforços com vista a uma solução política. Isso significa voltar atrás.
Se o plano for rejeitado, a ilha permanecerá dividida por tempo indefinido. É de facto uma ilusão pensar que o documento final será reaberto à negociação dentro de três meses ou dentro de três anos. Com que interlocutores? Sob os auspícios de quem? Com que apoio internacional? É também uma ilusão esperar que, caso o plano seja rejeitado, os difíceis problemas relacionados com o regresso dos refugiados, a propriedade, as tropas turcas, etc. poderão ser resolvidos. É o oposto que se verificará. A situação actual ficará selada. Nem um único refugiado de um lado e de outro regressará à sua aldeia natal e nem um único soldado turco deixará a zona ocupada.
O nosso projecto de resolução transmite uma mensagem clara. Esperamos que os eleitores cipriotas gregos e cipriotas turcos tenham a coragem de seguir em frente agora. Antes da vossa entrada na União Europeia, dizemo-vos: deixem o nacionalismo para trás de vós,
A União Europeia ajudar-vos-á a ultrapassar quaisquer dificuldades que possam surgir durante a construção de uma República de Chipre unida.
Watson (ELDR ).
- Senhor Presidente, no sábado Chipre vota o Plano Annan e o seu futuro. Chipre encontra-se numa encruzilhada histórica. Os Liberais Democratas e Reformistas europeus desta Assembleia têm exortado de forma coerente todas as partes a apoiarem o plano em causa e fazem-no de novo agora.
O Plano Annan oferece a Chipre uma possibilidade de reconciliação e de renovação. É uma porta que se abre para um futuro melhor numa ilha que já sofreu demasiado durante demasiado tempo. Esse plano faz concessões importantes a ambos os lados. Com boa vontade de ambos os lados, poderá ser um primeiro passo para se sair de uma situação de divisão que dura há anos. O meu grupo agradece ao Senhor Comissário Verheugen a liderança que demonstrou nesta matéria. Lamentamos que não tenha havido mais dirigentes da União Europeia a manifestar o mesmo empenhamento com mais entusiasmo. A União Europeia vai subscrever uma grande parcela do processo de reunificação e o Tribunal de Justiça fornecerá um quadro jurídico para a resolução desse processo. Esta é a última esperança, e a melhor, de que no dia 1 de Maio seja um Chipre unificado a aderir à União Europeia.
Saudamos os dirigentes de ambos os lados, em Chipre, que apoiaram o processo Annan e o recomendaram aos seus compatriotas. "Não" seria a escolha simples: a resposta que rimava facilmente com ressentimento e convinha aos expedientes políticos. Para dizer "Sim" era preciso ter coragem.
Há muitos cipriotas, especialmente do lado grego, que perguntam porque é que realizamos este debate, uma vez que este assunto não nos diz respeito. Perante toda a nossa preocupação e consternação, limitam-se a encolher os ombros e a falar em autodeterminação. Podem votar, e votarão, como lhes apetecer e têm o direito de votar "Não". Considero, porém, que seria uma escolha lamentável e sectária, a escolha errada pelos motivos errados. Além do mais, se o objectivo da autodeterminação é a liberdade de continuar a alimentar velhos ressentimentos e o direito de pesar o dinheiro que se tem no bolso hoje face à reconciliação amanhã, desejamos um bom proveito aos cipriotas que viraram a cara a este processo. Só lhes peço que reflictam no seguinte: então e se os alemães ocidentais tivessem optado por esse tipo de autodeterminação em 1990?
No nosso continente marcado por cicatrizes e com uma tão grande densidade histórica, há velhos ajustes de contas em que a restituição e a compensação só podem ser sempre relativas. Só os analfabetos em termos históricos podem acreditar que é possível reparar de alguma forma o que aconteceu em Chipre, tal como reparar o que aconteceu no Kosovo e na Sérvia, ou em Israel e na Palestina. Do que Chipre necessita é de um : uma forma de vida que olhe para a frente em vez de olhar para trás.
O Plano Annan é um . Se se deixar perder no sábado, poderá significar um atraso de uma geração na reunificação de Chipre. A União Europeia teria, nesse caso, de fazer face a uma nova realidade no terreno: perder-se-á a possibilidade de uma transferência pacífica de terra; o exército turco continuará a guardar aquilo que continuará a ser uma fronteira militarizada; haverá elementos da força de manutenção de paz das Nações Unidas a patrulhar território no seio da União Europeia.
O escritor inglês Lawrence Durrell, que viveu muitos anos em Chipre, registou um provérbio cipriota grego que diz que em cinzas velhas não arde fogo. Os Liberais Democratas e Reformistas desta Assembleia esperam para lá de toda a esperança que no domingo não haja cipriotas a remexer as cinzas velhas e frias de uma história triste.
Modrow (GUE/NGL ).
- Senhor Presidente, visitei a ilha na semana passada no âmbito das conversações. O processo de adesão à UE dez nascer a esperança de encontrar uma solução para o conflito, mas muitas expectativas ainda estão por responder, sobretudo entre os cipriotas gregos. O facto de estarem a decorrer negociações em Nova Iorque e na Suíça quase não foi informado aos cidadãos das cidades e das aldeias de Chipre. Os esforços envidados pelo Secretário-Geral Kofi Annan merecem o maior respeito, mas é difícil comunicar 9 000 páginas de tratado às duas comunidades da ilha em poucas semanas e isso não foi possível, claramente, devido aos diversos interesses políticos em jogo. Há diferentes interpretações do plano mesmo no seio da coligação no poder na República de Chipre, como o demonstram as declarações do Presidente e dos parceiros da coligação. Estas diferentes apreciações não podem ser ignoradas, Senhor Comissário.
Pelas razões que referi, houve apelos no sentido de um adiamento do referendo a fim de ganhar tempo para que os cidadãos pudessem estar informados e formar uma opinião. O partido no poder, AKEL, que está associado ao meu grupo, não se opõe ao plano Annan, mas, tendo em conta a situação, está profundamente preocupado com o possível fracasso do referendo, como já foi referido nesta Assembleia. São agora necessários, uma vez mais, sinais claros da parte da UE e das Nações Unidas. Não devemos minimizar a situação. O país passou por uma guerra. A parte norte de Chipre está sob ocupação turca desde há 30 anos. Tendo em conta as preocupações existentes, é preciso enviar de forma mais clara sinais de paz e segurança e, tendo em mente estas preocupações, é preciso deixar bem claro que nenhuma das partes beneficiará de vantagens unilaterais. Mesmo no que se refere aos 100% que muito justamente questiona, subsiste um problema, ou seja, que estas preocupações pura e simplesmente existem. A política não assenta em situações definitivas e verdades eternas - o processo de reunificação alemã ensinou-nos isso. Trata-se de processos em constante evolução que, numa certa medida, podem ser organizados previamente, requerendo no entanto uma abordagem proactiva e muito reflectida em todas as fases. Nesta situação crítica, a UE tem o dever, com as Nações Unidas, de ser um parceiro fiável para a República de Chipre, mas igualmente para as duas comunidades, no âmbito da resolução do conflito. Não apenas Chipre, mas Europa no seu conjunto, sairão vencedores se conseguirmos cicatrizar esta ferida.
Cohn-Bendit (Verts/ALE ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, enfrentamos, na verdade, uma situação não só difícil mas também muito triste. Durante anos, alegámos nesta Assembleia que não podíamos permitir que uma posição nacionalista turca impedisse a adesão de Chipre à União Europeia. Fomos sempre firmes na nossa posição. Porém, isto conduziu-nos a uma armadilha para a qual os Verdes já tinham alertado há alguns anos. Perguntámos que garantias existiam de que, havendo uma mudança radical do lado turco, a adesão garantida da parte grega de Chipre não se faria à custa da parte norte da ilha. Este debate foi sempre descurado nesta Assembleia e estamos hoje a pagar um preço elevado por essa incúria.
A situação é irreversível e, quando votarem no referendo, os cipriotas gregos não estarão a decidir o seu próprio futuro. Decidirão o futuro da comunidade cipriota turca da parte norte da ilha. Os cipriotas gregos estão prestes a aderir à União Europeia. E depois refere o plano. Senhor Deputado Modrow, por favor pense nisto por um momento: a situação é como se os alemães dos Sudetas dissessem "Recusamo-nos a permitir que a República Checa adira à União Europeia até as nossas reivindicações na República Checa terem sido atendidas". Esta Assembleia afirmou claramente que isso é inaceitável. Como pessoa de esquerda, por favor transmita também essa mensagem aos cipriotas gregos. Este plano é histórico. À esquerda e à direita, para cima e para baixo, estamos sempre a dizer que as Nações Unidas devem fazer isto e aquilo… Agora, as Nações Unidas tomaram uma decisão. É claro que um plano é apenas um plano; ele não reflecte a posição dos cipriotas gregos nem a dos cipriotas turcos. Este plano das Nações Unidas constitui uma tentativa de eliminar a última fronteira de arame farpado da UE. Qual é a nossa resposta? Os sofistas – pois estamos aqui a tratar com gregos – estão de novo no poder e dizem, "Sim, ele vai no bom sentido, mas podia ser melhor". Sim, o mundo podia ser um lugar melhor, reconheço isso. O mundo poderia ser um lugar muito melhor, mas mesmo que os Verdes obtenham a maioria absoluta na Europa…
…o mundo não se tornará um lugar melhor! Vedes, fostes demasiado ligeiros a concluir que eu ia dizer outra coisa, mas sei aquilo que digo. Estou persuadido de que devemos transmitir a seguinte mensagem. Se houver uma votação pelo "não", no sul, e pelo "sim", no norte, a União Europeia deveria encetar relações políticas com o norte. Numa primeira fase, devemos exercer pressão para que seja levantado o embargo contra o norte da ilha. Os cidadãos do norte não devem ficar reféns do sul. Não podemos permiti-lo por uma questão de decência política. Veremos então o que acontece. Uma coisa é certa, porém: não existe um plano "possível" das Nações Unidas: este é o único que existe. Não há um futuro "possível": este é o único futuro.
Muitos de vós sois religiosos. Acredito em milagres. Acredito no milagre de que as pessoas da parte sul da ilha mostrem ser, na realidade, mais inteligentes do que os seus auto-nomeados líderes, incluindo os partidos dos verdes de Chipre.
Dillen (NI ).
– Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores, o facto de a Europa ter tido a ideia de oferecer à Turquia uma perspectiva de adesão à União Europeia em Helsínquia, sem estabelecer como condição essencial que aquele país pusesse incondicional e imediatamente fim à ocupação ilegal do Norte de Chipre, denota uma frivolidade quase criminosa por parte do Conselho Europeu.
Em Chipre, a Europa põe muito simplesmente na gaveta o princípio sagrado da livre circulação de pessoas, no qual a nossa União se baseia há décadas. Assim sendo, posso apenas ter compreensão pela posição intransigente dos Cpriotas gregos e do seu Presidente, Sr. Tassos Papadopoulos, que rejeitam o hesitante compromisso do Secretário-Geral das Nações Unidas, e dentro de três dias irão votar "não" no referendo sobre a reunificação da sua ilha. Não se trata aí, porém, de uma reunificação, uma vez que a ocupação turca se manteria. A fronteira militar continuaria a existir, os cem mil colonos turcos seriam autorizados a permanecer em Chipre, o exército turco permaneceria e os cipriotas não gozariam dos mesmos direitos que os demais cidadãos da UE, pois os seus direitos de propriedade e de livre iniciativa seriam restringidos.
Em suma, o plano Annan perpetua e legitima a ocupação turca. Por esse motivo, gostaria de aproveitar esta ocasião para declarar o meu sincero apoio aos Cpriotas gregos e reiterar que, pela parte que nos toca, a Turquia islâmica jamais deverá aderir à União Europeia.
Oostlander (PPE-DE ).
– Senhor Presidente, a declaração excepcionalmente sombria do Senhor Comissário Verheugen é deveras chocante para todos nós, uma vez que estamos prestes a encontrar uma solução por via do Plano Annan. No passado pensámos que o lema "a solução não é uma solução" só poderia ser atribuída ao senhor Denktash. No entanto, vemos agora que ele é igualmente utilizado pelo Primeiro-Ministro da República Grega de Chipre. Isso é inaceitável, naturalmente.
Entrevistas pessoais com o Sr. Papadopoulos, aliadas a outras indicações, sempre me provocaram a desagradável sensação de que estávamos a ser enganados, de que a República de Chipre não estava verdadeiramente empenhada em fazer todos os esforços para chegar a uma solução para o problema de Chipre. No entanto, a presunção de que essa República iria fazer tudo o que estivesse ao seu alcance para chegar a uma solução e de que não fracassaria constituiu a base para a adesão desse país à União Europeia. Parece existir a presunção de que também é possível abrir caminho para a adesão à União Europeia através de artimanhas. Isso é inaceitável.
Acabámos de ouvir também que determinadas questões que são parte integrante dos critérios de Copenhaga, em particular, tais como a liberdade de imprensa e o acesso aos meios de comunicação, estão encerradas não só para o nosso Comissário Verheugen e para estrangeiros, como também para os partidos da oposição nacionais. Quando isso acontece noutros países, ficamos ofendidos e dizemos-lhes que cessamos as negociações com eles, como fizemos com a com a Roménia, por exemplo.
Estamos agora, portanto, em vésperas de admitir um novo Estado-Membro que o conseguiu de modo fraudulento. Em minha opinião, não podemos de modo algum aceitar uma coisa destas, posto que denota falta de respeito para com a União Europeia. Já tivemos essa experiência no passado com a Eslováquia, que nos disse que estávamos a ingerir-nos nos seus assuntos internos. A adesão à União Europeia implica, porém, que nos envolvamos intensamente nos assuntos internos uns dos outros. Isto aplica-se sobretudo quando se trata de matérias associadas aos critérios de Copenhaga e, em particular, de questões que se prendem com a vontade de cooperar de boa-fé com a União Europeia no sentido de encontrar uma solução capaz de trazer enormes benefícios tanto aos habitantes da parte Norte como da parte Sul.
Rothe (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, Chipre irá aderir à União Europeia em 1 de Maio. Sempre esperámos que o processo de adesão servisse de catalisador para pôr fim à divisão do País. Dentro de três dias, os próprios cipriotas deverão decidir se querem viver num Estado unificado após quase 30 anos de divisão e se, ao fim de quase 30 anos, desejam aderir à União Europeia como um Estado unificado. Desde que a Linha Verde foi aberta aos cipriotas, em 23 de Abril do ano passado, vimos muito claramente que os cipriotas das duas comunidades estão dispostos a coexistir pacificamente e que são capazes de o fazer. O Plano Annan, que será votado pelas duas comunidades em 24 de Abril, constitui um compromisso entre os desejos e as exigências legítimas de ambas as partes. O plano pode não ser totalmente equilibrado; talvez tenha mesmo insuficiências no tocante aos poderes do Governo central, e talvez as garantias de aplicação das diversas medidas não sejam suficientemente claras. Estas dúvidas serão realmente um motivo para rejeitarmos o plano? Justificarão essas insuficiências incontestáveis que se rejeitem as oportunidades que a proposta oferece? Os meus vinte anos de experiência a trabalhar na busca de uma solução para Chipre, para a sua adesão à UE e para a sua unidade, dizem-me que as oportunidades ultrapassam, de longe, aos riscos.
Não somo nós que temos de decidir em 24 de Abril. Apesar de termos esperanças num resultado positivo, aceitaremos a decisão democrática do povo de Chipre. O que o Parlamento Europeu pode afirmar com certeza, porém, é que estamos em 2004 e não em 1964 ou 1974. Um Chipre unido tornar-se-á Estado-Membro da União Europeia e, como tal, não se limitará a gozar da plena protecção proporcionada pela adesão. Verificará igualmente que a responsabilidade conjunta da União Europeia em assegurar uma boa aplicação do Plano Annan garante esta oportunidade de coexistência pacífica.
Hoje, o Parlamento Europeu comprometer-se-á a acompanhar o processo de aplicação na sua globalidade, através do trabalho da sua comissão. Vemos presentemente que existem muitos receios, especialmente por parte dos cipriotas gregos, que olham para o passado. Contudo, o melhor é olhar para o futuro. A Turquia, em 2004, é um país com uma perspectiva europeia. Já não é a Turquia de 1974. Os cipriotas turcos mostraram, em Dezembro, que já se libertaram em grande medida da herança de Rauf Denktash. É pouco provável que surjam novas oportunidades num futuro próximo. A única alternativa ao plano é a actual divisão instalada na ilha. Este plano oferece uma oportunidade, que não deve ser desperdiçada devido a informações falsas ou inadequadas.
Como deputados do Parlamento Europeu, enviamos hoje uma mensagem aos que muito em breve serão nossos concidadãos na União Europeia. As declarações de um comissário europeu, do Parlamento Europeu ou de deputados a título individual não constituem uma interferência nos assuntos internos de Chipre, nem uma pressão do exterior. São opiniões bem intencionadas. São informações que circulam na família em cujo seio devemos conceber o futuro da Europa a partir de 1 de Maio. Espero que o dia da adesão, em 1 de Maio, constitua uma verdadeira celebração da reunificação de Chipre – a unificação de todos os cipriotas com quase 450 milhões de pessoas na União Europeia.
Davies (ELDR ).
– Senhor Presidente, o Senhor Comissário disse que se sentiu enganado pelo Governo de Chipre. Foi demasiado delicado. Foi traído na sua boa fé, tal como aconteceu ao nosso relator, o senhor deputado Poos.
Nos termos do direito internacional, toda a ilha de Chipre vai aderir à União Europeia no dia 1 de Maio, independentemente do resultado do referendo, e os cipriotas turcos tornar-se-ão cidadãos da União Europeia. No entanto, se os cipriotas gregos rejeitarem o Plano Annan, os cipriotas turcos serão cidadãos da União Europeia a quem é negado reconhecimento e representação e que são mantidos numa situação de pobreza devido a sanções económicas aplicadas pela União Europeia. Os cipriotas turcos estão entre a espada e a parede: por um lado, estão ameaçados pelos colonos turcos e, por outro, estão ameaçados pelo poder económico dos cipriotas gregos. São mal dirigidos há anos. No entanto, agora a maré mudou e se votarem "Sim" no referendo de sábado, farão tudo aquilo que nós e as Nações Unidas lhes pedimos que fizessem. Nessas circunstâncias, a manutenção das sanções económicas seria completamente inaceitável. Não podemos perseguir os nossos próprios cidadãos. A Presidência e a Comissão, juntamente com as Nações Unidas, têm de tomar medidas, sem demora, através de meios de transporte e do comércio, para aliviar o fardo que pesa sobre eles.
Papayannakis (GUE/NGL ).
– Senhor Presidente, permita-me que diga uma coisa diferente daquilo que ouvimos até agora.
Penso que a imagem que foi dada é muito distorcida. A maioria das forças políticas, tanto na Grécia como em Chipre, considera que o plano Annan pode ajudar a resolver o problema de Chipre, especialmente tendo em perspectiva a integração de um Chipre unido na União Europeia. Essa é a verdade da questão. Está a ser dada uma imagem distorcida. Existe a questão de saber como é que uma parte da opinião pública está a encarar este processo, como é que o sente. Há aqui um problema, um enorme problema do passado, quanto a saber se este plano pode realmente ser aplicado em tempo oportuno, plenamente e de forma fiável em todos os seus pormenores, que são particularmente complicados e particularmente difíceis. Temos aqui muitas experiências de acordos violados.
Assim, em vez de procurarmos algum tipo de milagre, como sugere o meu amigo Cohn-Bendit, façamos o que podemos fazer. Deixemo-nos de exageros, insultos e críticas mútuas. Aquilo que podemos fazer é exigir que haja uma garantia séria e fiável da parte da ONU e da União Europeia de que o plano Annan na sua totalidade, tal como se apresenta, será aplicado até ao fim e não haverá estratagemas nem rodeios ao fim de um ano ou depois de oito meses ou dois anos. Exijamos isso. Essa é a única coisa que podemos fazer neste momento, antes do referendo. Veremos o resto mais tarde.
Maes (Verts/ALE ).
– Senhor Presidente, Senhor Comissário, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, dois povos e duas culturas vivendo num só país é frequentemente uma questão delicada. Isso exige bom senso, mas os sentimentos também entram em jogo. O plano Annan é realmente um bom plano, mas é uma solução nascida da razão. Porém, os cipriotas não decidem apenas com a razão, mas também com o coração.
Trinta anos de ocupação são muitos anos. Ouvi uma jovem cipriota turca ser entrevistada na rádio. Ela disse que, quando era criança, pensava que do outro lado viviam apenas homens. Pedimos aos cipriotas que digam "sim" ao plano Annan, porque estamos convictos de que isso irá trazer-lhes paz, reconciliação e perspectivas. Mas será que a população confia suficientemente nos países que deverão garantir a execução desse plano, por exemplo? Não terão a Turquia, a Grécia e o Reino Unido mantido sempre as suas próprias agendas na história de Chipre? Será que durante esses trinta anos se trabalhou o suficiente para promover a confiança entre os seres humanos?
Apelamos aos cipriotas para que votem "sim", mas temos de ter presente que, tendo em vista a adesão de alguns Estados dos Balcãs, é importante ganhar a confiança da população. Acabei de ouvir o Senhor Comissário Verheugen dizer que somos nós que organizamos a adesão de Chipre à UE, mas que é a Grécia que tem de viabilizar a unidade nesse país. Acho isso um pouco chocante: afinal, onde está o povo do Chipre em tudo isto?
Pois bem, esse povo vai ter oportunidade de se pronunciar. Pedimos-lhes que digam "sim", mas, mesmo que ainda não esteja suficientemente confiante para o fazer, temos de continuar a construir essa confiança e de velar por que o processo de unificação seja bem sucedido e por que aquilo que não é possível hoje possa sê-lo amanhã.
Trakatellis (PPE-DE ).
– Senhor Presidente, a nossa posição, numa palavra, como a descreveu também o Presidente Karamanlis da Grécia e como a descreveu o meu colega Brok ainda há pouco, é que os aspectos positivos do voto "sim" superam os negativos, especialmente se considerarmos o sim à reunificação de Chipre numa perspectiva europeia, ou seja, a pensar que Chipre será membro da União Europeia.
A questão que se coloca, porém, é a seguinte: como podemos nós contribuir para o voto no sim, como podemos tentar conduzir a um voto no sim no referendo? Mas para isso temos de compreender a razão por que o voto no não encontrou e encontra tanta ressonância entre os cipriotas. Permitam-me que dê alguns exemplos. Por que é que os milhares de refugiados haveriam de votar no sim, quando o seu futuro parece incerto, quando nem todos eles regressarão aos seus lares e nem todos irão recuperar os seus bens, e quando em simultâneo vão ser privados do direito humano básico da protecção judicial do Tribunal Europeu dos Direitos do Homem? De igual modo, a manutenção de Chipre, um Estado-Membro da União Europeia, sob um regime de garantias de países terceiros, um dos quais nem sequer é membro da União, contraria os princípios da União Europeia e compromete o desenvolvimento da política europeia de segurança e defesa, sem contar que a presença permanente de tropas gregas e turcas na ilha viola o princípio da desmilitarização estabelecido no plano. Poderia alongar-me sobre muitas outras razões que estão na origem da ressonância do voto no não entre os cipriotas gregos.
Assim, se queremos promover o voto no sim, temos de reconhecer e assinalar algumas dessas causas no texto que vamos votar, mesmo que não passem de meras listas de desejos, demonstrando em simultâneo que a realidade europeia é também o Parlamento Europeu, onde os direitos humanos ocupavam, ocupam e hão-de ocupar um lugar central. Estamos, portanto, a tentar veicular, através deste texto, a ideia de que haverá, como afirmou o senhor deputado Papayannakis, garantias de segurança para a execução do plano e de que esta Assembleia estará atenta às questões dos direitos humanos. Só assim podemos convencer da importância do voto no sim, baseado doravante na perspectiva europeia. Por isso, lanço um apelo à Assembleia para que garanta a votação a favor de certas alterações que melhoram o texto e mostre que o Parlamento Europeu está aqui para apoiar o voto no sim.
Katiforis (PSE ).
– Senhor Presidente, primeiro que tudo, gostaria de dizer que lamento que o Senhor Comissário Verheugen tenha ido embora. Certamente que ele tinha outros assuntos urgentes para tratar. Subscrevo tudo o que ele disse e partilho do seu desapontamento relativamente a esta questão, porque ele foi efectivamente um dos protagonistas que trabalhou muito arduamente para fazer amadurecer as coisas a ponto de podermos iniciar a reconciliação concreta entre gregos e turcos em Chipre.
Na minha juventude, sofri pessoalmente no meu próprio país a supressão da liberdade de imprensa e sinto dor e vergonha por ver que hoje há gregos que procuram a sua liberdade e negam ao Senhor Comissário Verheugen o direito de se lhes dirigir e de tentar convencê-los daquilo que ele considera correcto, ele que tanto lutou para se conseguir chegar a uma situação satisfatória.
Nós queremos que ganhe o sim. Todos os políticos na Grécia, com o Ministro Papandreou à cabeça, afirmaram desejar que ganhe o sim. Queremos que as garantias de que aqui ouvimos falar sejam dadas com ênfase, mas a maior garantia reside na alteração da situação global. Os cipriotas encontram-se divididos porque foram divididos por um regime colonial agora falido, porque foram divididos pela Guerra-Fria. Esses factores deixaram de existir. A União Europeia refutou tudo isto e está a convidá-los para o seu seio, para poderem ter uma vida diferente. Não para os manter divididos. A maior garantia está dentro deles e são eles que têm de a fazer brotar de dentro de si mesmos.
Vou terminar lembrando aos meus compatriotas de Chipre as palavras do grande político grego Eleftherios Venizelos, que dizia que cada nação traça o seu próprio destino e que tudo o que fizer por capricho será uma coisa a menos para o seu inimigo fazer.
Ludford (ELDR ).
– Senhor Presidente, compreendo porque é que o Senhor Comissário Verheugen se sente enganado relativamente ao acordo de 1999, nos termos do qual o Governo cipriota grego promoveria um acordo se a adesão fosse incondicional.
A minha opinião em 1999 era que a adesão não seria exequível sem unificação. Deveríamos ter mantido ambas as partes na incerteza para manter a pressão sobre elas. Fui criticada por ter essa opinião e acusada de não ser imparcial. No entanto, parece que a comunicação com os cipriotas turcos - convencendo-os de que a Europa é amistosa e acolhedora - deu resultado. Esse tipo de esforço também foi envidado pela Comissão Europeia perante objecções de carácter legalista.
As Instituições da União Europeia talvez tenham frustrado as expectativas dos cipriotas gregos porque não foram capazes de pôr suficientemente em causa a sua versão da história nem de os incentivar a compreender que seria necessário um compromisso - não um regresso a uma situação anterior a 1974. Esta Assembleia tem nisso algumas responsabilidades. O senhor deputado Poos convida os cipriotas a deixarem o nacionalismo à porta. Congratulo-me com esse convite. Só desejaria que, ao longo dos últimos cinco anos, ele tivesse sido feito de forma coerente a ambas as comunidades.
Se, na realidade, o norte de Chipre votar "Sim" e o sul "Não", o não poderá manter-se e será necessário proceder a uma nova avaliação. Terão de se encontrar maneiras de retirar os cipriotas turcos do isolamento político e económico em que se encontram. Por exemplo, temos de pôr de lado o requisito de os cipriotas terem como língua materna o grego para poderem ser funcionários das Instituições da União Europeia. Tem de haver uma delegação do Parlamento Europeu na região norte de Chipre.
Estou a precipitar-me. Continuo a ter a profunda esperança de que, no sábado, tanto os cipriotas gregos como os cipriotas turcos votem "Sim". O Banco Mundial prevê um enorme surto de crescimento de 5% ao ano se isso acontecer.
Alyssandrakis (GUE/NGL ).
– Senhor Presidente, em primeiro lugar, quero expressar o total apoio do Partido Comunista da Grécia ao insubmisso povo cipriota que, ao contrário da União Europeia, não atira para o cesto dos papéis as resoluções da ONU sobre a invasão e ocupação de Chipre pelo exército turco.
Enquanto acompanhava o debate, lembrei-me das palavras do poeta: quantas vezes vieram os meus inimigos vestidos de amigos. Efectivamente, algumas pessoas em Chipre confiavam na União Europeia. Acreditavam que o tão apregoado acervo comunitário iria conduzir à resolução do problema. Acontece que o acervo comunitário se revelou uma desilusão, uma misturada sem valor, enquanto os amigos de outrora estão agora a pressionar, a coagir, a ameaçar, incluindo V. Exa., Senhor Presidente, e o Senhor Comissário Verheugen, que com a sua ausência mostra o desdém que tem por nós.
É inaceitável e incorrecto da parte do Senhor Comissário Verheugen acusar o Presidente de Chipre de o ter desiludido. O Presidente Papadopoulos e os líderes cipriotas gregos nunca prometeram aceitar uma monstruosidade qualquer cozinhada pelo Secretário-Geral da ONU. Do que é que o Senhor Comissário tem medo? Das obrigações decorrentes do facto de uma parte de um Estado-Membro da União Europeia vir a ficar sob a ocupação de um país candidato? A quem é que serve o plano Annan? Os cipriotas gregos e os cipriotas turcos, ou planos imperialistas mais vastos? Que tipo de Estado é esse que vai funcionar como uma capa para dois Estados praticamente independentes, que poderão inclusive enviar representantes aos Conselhos Europeus e missões diplomáticas, dois Estados que precisarão de acordos especiais para regular as suas relações, enquanto ficam à mercê das potências garantes e de tribunais estrangeiros? Que segurança sentirão os cipriotas sem um exército próprio mas com a presença militar da Turquia, da Grécia, do Reino Unido, talvez até da ΝΑΤΟ? O que pensa do facto de os acordos militares entre o regime ocupante e a Turquia estarem a ser convertidos em direito comunitário primário? O que pensa do facto de Chipre ser obrigado a apoiar a candidatura da Turquia em quaisquer circunstâncias?
Deixem finalmente que os cipriotas gregos e os cipriotas turcos avaliem a situação e tomem uma decisão em função dos seus próprios interesses. Respeitem a sua história, respeitem a sua dignidade, libertem-se dessa arrogância e soberba de suserano!
Tannock (PPE-DE ).
– Senhor Presidente, como amigo da grande comunidade cipriota que represento em Londres, sempre fui apoiante da reunificação pacífica de Chipre. No entanto, nunca subestimei as dificuldades práticas e políticas criadas ao longo dos 30 anos após as invasões, 30 anos durante os quais a Turquia deslocou 120 000 colonos do continente para a região norte da ilha, onde não partilham do património histórico insular comum e, em geral, não falam inglês nem grego, que eram anteriormente as línguas bicomunais.
O Plano Annan III deu um grande contributo para resolver divergências de uma maneira justa e . No entanto, recebi centenas de dos meus constituintes cipriotas gregos, que estão preocupados com o facto de este plano não oferecer garantias no que se refere à execução da retirada das tropas e à restituição da terra e da propriedade por parte dos Turcos. É interessante que mesmo os cipriotas gregos - os que tiveram a sorte de receber a promessa de que as suas casas lhes seriam devolvidas - parecem estar contra o plano. Também se opõem a que seja concedida a cidadania aos colonos do continente, pois isso pareceria ser uma recompensa para o agressor e uma violação das Convenções de Genebra, que proíbem a fixação de populações trazidas do exterior pela potência ocupante.
O Presidente cipriota Tassos Papadopoulos rejeitou as propostas e solicitou à comunidade cipriota grega que vote "Não". Pessoalmente, considero que o melhor é que os estranhos a esta questão, incluindo os deputados desta Assembleia, não exerçam qualquer pressão sobre o processo de realização de um referendo, pois isso seria entendido como uma ingerência nos assuntos em que Chipre é soberano.
Para além disso, se ambas as comunidades não derem o seu livre consentimento e houver uma ruptura dos acordos no futuro, a culpa será atribuída aos actores que pressionaram os cidadãos cipriotas a votar no "Sim".
O Governo britânico está disposto a ceder uma parte do excedente do território soberano de base consoante as necessidades, caso isso ajude. Eu, e como eu muitos dos meus colegas, desejamos que o processo de referendo corra bem e apoiaremos o resultado da votação de 24 de Abril, qualquer que ele seja.
Souladakis (PSE ).
– Senhor Presidente, dentro de três dias, realiza-se em Chipre um referendo para decidir sobre a aceitação ou não do plano Annan. Um voto no sim ou no não nesse referendo não serão duas faces da mesma moeda; serão faces diferentes de moedas diferentes. O dia seguinte não será igual ao dia anterior. O debate de hoje confirma o papel vital do Parlamento Europeu em todo o moroso processo de desenvolvimento da esperança na questão cipriota e no papel excepcionalmente positivo do Senhor Comissário Verheugen, do senhor deputado Poos, e de todas as partes da União Europeia em geral. É agora chegado o momento de todos os líderes políticos de Chipre, tanto dos cipriotas gregos como dos cipriotas turcos, da Grécia e da Turquia e de toda a União Europeia, assumirem as suas responsabilidades.
O partido a que pertenço, o PASOK, e o seu Presidente, Georgos Papandreou, são e foram protagonistas dos desenvolvimentos ocorridos em Chipre no que se refere à resolução do problema e à sua integração na União Europeia. É chegado o momento da verdade. Todos nós temos de responder aos desafios da história, olhando o dilema bem de frente e respondendo de forma responsável e positiva. Um voto no sim, com todas as preocupações mas que funcione no novo ambiente da União Europeia, abre uma janela ao futuro e à esperança. Um voto no não exige uma resposta. Em todo o caso, a resposta será dada pelo povo cipriota. O Parlamento Europeu e a União Europeia dão ambos o seu apoio e as suas capacidades como garantias de segurança para a plena exploração de todos os aspectos do plano de Annan. Temos de pedir o mesmo à ONU.
A nossa resolução de hoje reflecte precisamente esta perspectiva. Pessoalmente, enquanto eurodeputado grego que teve o primeiro contacto com a política e a consciência política nas demonstrações e nas lutas dos cipriotas para escapar ao colonialismo inglês e, posteriormente, em todos os acontecimentos dramáticos ocorridos em Chipre, considero que um voto no sim terá como resultado um equilíbrio histórico com perspectivas de uma reconciliação histórica positiva, na qual todos podem esperar um futuro positivo de prosperidade e segurança para todos, cipriotas gregos e cipriotas turcos, e para a região em geral.
Gostaria de finalizar com um ditado grego antigo: o tempo não espera por ninguém.
Marinos (PPE-DE ).
– Senhor Presidente, gostaria de também poder dizer Senhor Comissário, mas o Comissário Verheugen foi-se embora muito cedo, o que lamento, pois quase todos os partidos políticos da Grécia e os partidos mais importantes de Chipre se manifestaram a favor do plano Annan. Todavia, eles partilham das preocupações e dúvidas do povo cipriota, que neste caso não está a seguir os partidos.
A reacção negativa que se revelou em Chipre deve-se, julgo eu, à enorme pressão do tempo, que não permitiu que o povo fosse informado com calma e em pormenor. Mas como podia ser feita essa informação num espaço de quinze dias após a apresentação do último plano Annan? Não podia. Pelo contrário, prevaleceram os incitamentos das paixões e a desinformação, o que veio exacerbar medos e dúvidas. Se o referendo fosse adiado, como se propôs, o povo poderia ser informado mais calmamente e mais substancialmente e, ao mesmo tempo, poderiam ser dadas garantias claras e convincentes de que todo o texto do plano e o acordo seriam respeitados e não seriam novamente violados por algumas das potências garantes. Porque é aí que reside o problema, nas potências garantes. Foram elas as causadoras da maior parte dos desastres em Chipre. É preciso que também sejam dadas garantias pelo Conselho de Segurança, pela União Europeia e pelo Parlamento Europeu, o qual, com a sua resolução melhorada pelas alterações propostas pelo PPE-DE, pelo Partido Socialista e pelo senhor deputado Papayannakis, reforçará, julgo eu, a tendência e o desejo dos cipriotas de dizerem sim. Não se deve dar a ideia de que o Parlamento Europeu está a exercer pressões. A chantagem, com ameaças de sanções, que infelizmente também saiu de lábios oficiais, incentivou a posição negativa de um povo desinformado e aterrorizado.
É por isso que, a juntar às garantias de segurança, há que deixar em aberto a perspectiva de um segundo referendo depois do que se realiza dentro de três dias e cujo resultado se anuncia negativo. Uma melhor informação dos cipriotas e maiores garantias de segurança poderiam alterar o clima e assim, dentro de dois ou três meses, produzir o resultado positivo que muitos esperam. Não compreendo por que razão a repetição de um diferendo, que outros Estados-Membros da União Europeia podem realizar quando o voto é não, como aconteceu no seu país, Senhor Presidente, não deveria ser também permitida para os cipriotas. Agradeço que votem a favor das minhas alterações, que tornam a resolução do Parlamento Europeu encorajadora, tranquilizadora e amistosa para com os cipriotas gregos e os cipriotas turcos e irá, estou certo disso, encorajá-los a darem uma resposta mais positiva ao plano Annan.
Presidente.
- Nós achámos que o Tratado de Nice era tão bom que devíamos pô-lo à votação duas vezes!
Tsatsos (PSE ).
– Senhor Presidente, não há dúvida que o plano Annan levanta problemas de ordem prática. Não coloca ambas as partes em pé de igualdade e prevê períodos de transição penosamente longos para a transposição do acervo comunitário. Ainda assim, apoiamos incondicionalmente a resolução Poos e as propostas construtivas que contém, porque preconiza, em primeiro lugar, a retirada das forças turcas que ocupam ilegalmente a parte norte da ilha, a proibição da continuação da colonização, a restituição de certas propriedades gregas e a possibilidade de reinstalação de um certo número de refugiados. Esta posição positiva depende, como hoje foi salientado numerosas vezes, de um rigoroso sistema de garantias de que o plano Annan será respeitado na íntegra. Em segundo lugar, depende também de uma declaração expressa de que aceitamos antecipadamente respeitar qualquer resultado, como salientou hoje aqui avisadamente o Presidente em exercício do Conselho.
Dimitrakopoulos (PPE-DE ).
– Senhor Presidente, em primeiro lugar, gostaria de felicitar o senhor deputado Poos pelo seu trabalho, a senhora deputada Mechtild Rothe pelos esforços que desenvolveu durante todos estes anos como Presidente da Comissão Parlamentar Mista, o senhor deputado Oostlander, o senhor deputado Brok que não se encontra presente e, como é óbvio, o Senhor Comissário Verheugen, que infelizmente teve de se ausentar.
Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, é um facto que neste momento estamos a realizar um debate político geral sobre o clima que rodeia os preparativos para o referendo de sábado e não sobre o conteúdo do plano Annan, porque um debate sobre o conteúdo desse plano, pese embora o facto de os seus pontos positivos superarem largamente os negativos, poderia transformar-se num debate exaustivo de várias horas.
A posição dos meus colegas, do Senhor Comissário e do Presidente em exercício, e todas as desilusões expressas nesta Assembleia a respeito do clima que neste momento se vive em Chipre levam-me a concluir que, para além da questão do voto no sim ou no não que também foi aqui longamente debatida, deveríamos realizar também um debate circunstanciado sobre a proposta apresentada pelo Presidente do Parlamento cipriota, Dimitris Christofias, relativa ao adiamento do referendo, sobretudo porque esse adiamento teria de ser acompanhado, por um lado, pela clarificação de determinados pontos do plano que estão a gerar problemas, tais como as questões de segurança – pedia ao Senhor Comissário Patten que transmita ao Senhor Comissário Verheugen a questão do direito primário e das pessoas que recorrem aos tribunais – e, por outro lado, por um trabalho a realizar pelo Conselho de Segurança sobre a nova resolução que pretendemos ver adoptada e que deverá incluir garantias. Penso que estes dois pólos ajudariam seguramente a inverter o clima.
Por último, e para concluir, gostaria de dizer que é sem dúvida necessário exprimir uma opinião e essa opinião do Parlamento Europeu está a ser expressa através da resolução apresentada pelo senhor deputado Poos, juntamente, como é óbvio, com todas as alterações que foram propostas.
Roche,
Senhor Presidente, desejo agradecer aos senhores deputados os contributos que deram para este debate.
Senhor Presidente, tanto V. Exa. como eu vimos de uma ilha dividida e compreendemos alguma coisa das paixões que um debate desta natureza despertará na ilha de Chipre. Também compreendemos que um conflito que está enraizado na história e arraigado ao longo de gerações não é fácil de resolver. Também compreendemos, porém, como políticos práticos que somos, que de vez em quando - talvez uma vez em cada geração, ou mesmo mais raramente - surge uma oportunidade que permite mudar, de facto, as coisas. O acordo apresentado por Kofi Annan proporciona uma dessas oportunidades. Como afirmei anteriormente, é aos cidadãos de Chipre que cabe tomar uma decisão - tanto aos da região norte como aos da região sul. A decisão é deles e só deles e nós respeitá-la-emos.
Em resumo, apenas posso repetir o que o Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, o , Bertie Ahern, disse ontem à noite. Gostaria, primeiro, de assinalar que temos de pesar as nossas palavras com todo o cuidado, pois todos compreendemos a dor e as preocupações que esta questão envolve e é necessário que tenhamos o máximo cuidado de nada fazer nem dizer nas próximas 72 horas que agrave uma situação que já de si é sinistra.
Ontem à noite, o Senhor Presidente Ahern resumiu da seguinte maneira a posição do Conselho Europeu: "Este é um momento crucial para Chipre e para o seu povo. No sábado, o povo da ilha - do norte e do sul - vai votar nos referendos relativos a um plano de resolução do conflito apresentado pelo Secretário-Geral das Nações Unidas. Através dos esforços pacientes e decididos que envidaram em colaboração com as partes envolvidas, o Secretário-Geral e a sua laboriosa equipa criaram uma oportunidade única e histórica para se encontrar uma solução para o problema de Chipre. No relatório que apresentou ao Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas, ontem publicado, Kofi Annan afirmou claramente que o plano é a única via disponível, a única via previsível para a reunificação de Chipre. A decisão está agora nas mãos do povo de Chipre, exclusivamente nas mãos do povo de Chipre, no livre exercício dos seus direitos democráticos. O povo de Chipre sabe que a forte preferência do Conselho Europeu vai para a adesão de um Chipre unido à União Europeia, no dia 1 de Maio. A União Europeia está pronta a acolher os termos do acordo em sintonia com os princípios que servem de fundamento. Como Presidente do Conselho Europeu, travei, ao longo dos últimos meses, debates sobre Chipre com dirigentes políticos de toda a Europa." E o aspecto importante é este, Senhor Presidente: "É absolutamente correcto dizer que a opinião da esmagadora maioria é que o acordo proposto será bom para ambas as comunidades cipriotas e bom para a União Europeia".
São estas as opiniões do Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho Europeu e da vasta maioria dos dirigentes democraticamente eleitos dos Estados-Membros da União Europeia.
Disse no início da minha intervenção que precisamos de pesar cuidadosamente as nossas palavras. Não desejamos causar dificuldades nem dar a impressão de nos estarmos a imiscuir em decisões que, em última análise, são da competência do povo de Chipre. Desejamos felicidades ao povo de Chipre nas horas que ainda restam antes de tomarem a sua decisão e esperamos que a decisão que tomarem seja a que melhor sirva os interesses do povo da ilha de Chipre como um todo - tanto da região norte como da região sul.
Patten,
Gostaria apenas de dizer uma ou duas palavras sobre este assunto, que não se inscreve no âmbito das minhas competências normais. Em primeiro lugar, gostaria de apresentar um pedido de desculpas, em nome do Senhor Comissário Verheugen, que teve de sair antes do fim do debate. Tinha outro compromisso extremamente importante, e este debate estava marcado para acabar bastante mais cedo. Compreendo, porém, porque é que o debate se prolongou tanto: é um assunto que desperta grandes paixões e um grande interesse em todos os sectores da Assembleia.
Perguntaram-nos o que aconteceria se o lado grego da ilha votasse "Não" e a comunidade turca votasse "Sim". Devo sublinhar que a Comissão já anunciou que em breve apresentaremos propostas de ajuda à comunidade turca, caso essa lamentável eventualidade se concretize - mas continuamos a ter esperança de que isso não aconteça. Como é evidente, não podemos permitir que a comunidade turca seja punida em termos económicos e sociais por causa de decisões que outros tomaram, por isso teríamos de tentar encontrar uma solução tão eficaz e tão rápida quanto possível para o problema do isolamento económico da comunidade turca.
Gostaria de dizer umas breves palavras acerca do Conselho Europeu de Helsínquia de 1999 - o primeiro Conselho Europeu em que participei. Segundo me lembro, sempre soubemos que a política que então apoiámos continha um elemento de risco. Não é surpresa nenhuma. Pensámos que era importante dissociar o conflito de Chipre da integração da Europa Central e Oriental na União Europeia. Estou convencido de que tomámos, na altura, a decisão certa e de que procedemos correctamente. Mas com esse pano de fundo e à luz de algumas das coisas que o Senhor Comissário Verheugen afirmou, compreenderão porque é que não é apenas o Senhor Comissário que tem um profundo sentimento de que nestes últimos dias e mesmo semanas as nossas expectativas ficaram profundamente frustradas. É um sentimento que reina em toda a Comissão e muito para além da Comissão. Continuo a fazer votos de que não nos venhamos a sentir frustrados nas nossas expectativas. No entanto, não é possível ignorar o facto de que existe essa sensação de que fomos enganados.
Presidente.
Comunico que recebi 1 proposta de resolução, apresentada nos termos do nº 2 do artigo 37º do Regimento(2).
Está encerrado o debate.
Souchet (NI ),
- A propósito dos referendos em Chipre, o Parlamento deveria ter por objectivo primordial aplicar a si próprio os princípios que proclama alto e bom som: o respeito dos direitos do Homem e o respeito da democracia.
Relativamente ao primeiro ponto, o plano Annan levanta objecções fundamentais. Como poderia o Parlamento Europeu dar o seu aval a um projecto de compromisso que nega aos refugiados o direito de recuperarem os bens de que foram espoliados, que constitui uma restrição permanente à liberdade de circulação e de instalação de pessoas, que perpetua a presença de tropas de ocupação e que não prevê qualquer recurso contra as violações dos direitos do Homem perante o Tribunal de Estrasburgo?
Quanto ao segundo ponto, o Parlamento não pode pactuar com as escandalosas pressões exercidas sobre os cipriotas gregos tanto pelos Estados Unidos como pela Comissão Europeia - e, em especial, pelo Comissário Verheugen, um dos mais entusiastas defensores da entrada da Turquia na União Europeia. A regra democrática impõe que a decisão das populações tem de ser respeitada, sobretudo se elas se exprimirem pela via mais incontestável nesta matéria: a do referendo.
Presidente.
Seguem-se na ordem do dia as declarações do Conselho e da Comissão sobre a situação no Médio Oriente.
Roche,
Senhor Presidente, na sequência do assassinato deliberado do novo líder do Hamas, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, o Senhor Presidente do Conselho emitiu, no dia 18 de Abril, uma declaração em que manifestava a sua profunda preocupação ante o ciclo contínuo e aparentemente interminável de violência retaliatória que envolve grupos de Palestinianos e as autoridades e forças de defesa israelitas. A declaração condenava tanto o assassinato do líder do Hamas como o ataque bombista suicida no passagem fronteiriça de Erez para a Faixa de Gaza, ocorrido no mesmo dia. Na declaração dizia-se ainda que era preciso pôr imediatamente fim a essa violência e chamava-se a atenção para a futilidade óbvia de tal violência, quer como meio de libertar os Palestinianos da ocupação quer como meio de garantir paz e segurança a longo prazo ao povo de Israel.
O Presidente do Conselho recordou uma vez mais ao Governo de Israel que os assassinatos extrajudiciais violam o direito internacional e chamou a atenção para o facto de que o respeito pelo direito internacional deverá marcar de imediato uma diferença entre governos democraticamente eleitos e grupos terroristas.
Entretanto, nas conclusões da reunião informal dos Ministros dos Negócios Estrangeiros realizada no dia 17 de Abril em Tullamore, o Presidente do Conselho proferiu uma importante declaração em nome dos seus colegas relativamente à situação actual no Médio Oriente. Os Ministros dos Negócios Estrangeiros da União Europeia reafirmaram certos princípios básicos da política europeia com vista a uma qualquer solução do conflito do Médio Oriente, incluindo o seu empenho numa solução negociada acordada entre as partes envolvidas, que prevê a existência de dois Estados. Essa solução traduzir-se-ia na existência de um Estado palestiniano viável, contíguo, soberano e independente, lado a lado e em paz com um Estado de Israel, delimitado por fronteiras reconhecidas e seguras.
Os ministros reafirmaram que o Roteiro para a Paz representava a única via para se chegar a esse tipo de resultado. A União está decidida a prosseguir vigorosamente o caminho definido no Roteiro e convida ambos os lados a cumprirem as suas obrigações nos termos desse Roteiro. A posição estabelecida da União Europeia, reafirmada pelo Conselho Europeu de 25 e 26 de Março, é que a União não reconhecerá quaisquer alterações às fronteiras anteriores a 1967 que não tenham sido alcançadas através de um acordo entre as partes.
A União sublinhou que opiniões expressas acerca da forma que o acordo final eventualmente assuma não podem antecipar-se às negociações sobre esse acordo e diminuir com isso a sua eficácia. Os ministros sublinharam que a questão dos refugiados e a forma como poderá concretizar-se o direito de regresso também são questões respeitantes ao estatuto final. O Roteiro declara que um acordo definitivo e abrangente relativo a um estatuto permanente que ponha fim ao conflito israelo-palestiniano tem de incluir uma solução acordada, justa, equitativa e realista para esta questão.
Neste contexto, a União registou a reafirmação que o Presidente Bush fez do empenho dos Estados Unidos no Roteiro para a Paz e numa solução negociada. A União sublinha o princípio, partilhado pelo Presidente Bush, de que as questões relativas ao estatuto final são uma questão de negociação e acordo entre as partes e não devem enfermar de preconceitos.
Os ministros também concordaram com o Presidente dos Estados Unidos em que das negociações entre as partes, em conformidade com a Resolução 242 do Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas e a Resolução 338 das Nações Unidas, deveriam resultar fronteiras seguras e reconhecidas. Essas e outras resoluções relevantes do Conselho de Segurança devem formar a base de uma solução justa e duradoura para o conflito.
A perspectiva da retirada de Israel da Faixa de Gaza é bem-vinda. O Conselho Europeu declarou que essa retirada representaria um passo significativo para a implementação do Roteiro, desde que fosse efectuada em conformidade com determinadas condições. Esta é uma oportunidade que a comunidade internacional, liderada pelo Quarteto, não deve deixar escapar. A retirada proposta deverá ser devidamente orquestrada com a comunidade internacional de modo a garantir que daí resulte uma situação tranquila em Gaza, que permita a manutenção da segurança e também a reabilitação e a reconstrução de que a região tão urgentemente necessita. A União exorta todas as partes a empreenderem preparativos urgentes com esse objectivo.
Nesta base, a União Europeia está disposta a apoiar a Autoridade Palestiniana a assumir a responsabilidade pela manutenção da ordem pública e também a manter a ajuda que actualmente presta à Autoridade Palestiniana e a analisar possíveis necessidades futuras que possam surgir no contexto de uma situação nova em Gaza.
Os ministros sublinharam igualmente a necessidade de evitar um vazio político e os perigos que isso implicaria no período intercalar entre o momento actual e o início de qualquer retirada. Recordaram que há diversas medidas que precisam de ser adoptadas no futuro imediato nos domínios político, da segurança e humanitário, a fim de impedir uma maior deterioração da situação e tendo em vista que se voltem a registar progressos.
É essencial pôr fim à violência e ao terrorismo e também o reinício do cessar-fogo que abranja todas as partes e todos os grupos. Ambos os lados precisam de reatar sem demora negociações sobre o processo de paz. Todos sabemos da experiência passada e da história que a resolução de questões difíceis e complexas decorre invariavelmente de um processo negocial, e de facto só decorre de um processo negocial.
Uma paz justa, duradoura e abrangente tem de ir ao encontro das legítimas aspirações tanto do povo israelita como do povo palestiniano e tem de incluir também o Líbano e a Síria. Todos os Estados da região têm de envidar todos os esforços possíveis para promover a paz e combater o terrorismo. A União Europeia aguarda com o maior interesse a próxima reunião do Quarteto a nível de princípios. O Quarteto deverá desempenhar um papel activo na prossecução do objectivo de estabelecer uma paz abrangente a nível regional e incentivar as partes em conflito a avançarem decididamente com base nos princípios atrás delineados.
Os ministros continuarão a debater o processo do Médio Oriente nas reuniões do Conselho, na segunda-feira. Apreciarão a posição a assumir pela União Europeia na reunião do Quarteto, que se realizará no dia 4 de Maio, em Nova Iorque.
Espero ter conseguido dar aos senhores deputados uma impressão clara de como esta Presidência continua a concentrar activamente a sua atenção na dificílima situação que se vive no Médio Oriente. Continuaremos, da mesma forma, a escutar com grande atenção as opiniões que o Parlamento actualmente tem sobre esta importante questão.
Patten,
Senhor Presidente, não desejo nem tenciono repetir o que a Presidência acabou de dizer sobre recentes discussões acerca do Médio Oriente ocorridas em sede de Conselho, nem sobre a forma como reagiu à declaração feita pelo Presidente Bush em Washington, a semana passada, depois do seu encontro com o Primeiro-Ministro Sharon. A declaração surpreendeu muita gente, compreensivelmente ou não, e não se pode dissimular o facto de que parece ter suscitado grande preocupação no mundo árabe. Houve quem argumentasse posteriormente que não deveria ter suscitado tal preocupação, afirmando que ela oferece uma via para a implementação do Roteiro em vez de representar o rasgar desse Roteiro. Argumentaram que devemos procurar extrair os aspectos positivos, como é o caso da prometida e bem-vinda retirada de Israel da Faixa de Gaza, em vez de nos concentrarmos nos aspectos negativos.
Seja, então. Não estou a tentar adivinhar as interpretações sem dúvida bem intencionadas de outros nem minar esforços que visam aproveitar ao máximo a situação excepcionalmente difícil que se vive actualmente. É evidente que há sempre quem olhe para um copo e ache que ele está meio cheio enquanto outros consideram que está meio vazio. Outros ainda consideram que é muito estimulante acreditar que um copo está meio cheio quando, de facto, não conseguem ver grande quantidade de líquido no copo. Penso que, tal como acontece com a beleza, a verdade está nos olhos de quem a vê. Não é meu desejo alongar-me sobre essas questões. Chamarei apenas a atenção para cinco aspectos de que temos de tratar se quisermos extrair algo de positivo da funesta situação com que neste momento nos deparamos.
Primeiro: como o Conselho dos Assuntos Gerais e das Relações Externas e o Conselho Europeu têm dito e repetido, só é possível chegar a um acordo definitivo que resulte de negociações entre Israel e os Palestinianos, as quais se traduzam na existência de dois Estados viáveis, soberanos e independentes, com base nas fronteiras de 1967, talvez alteradas de comum acordo; Estados que vivam lado a lado em paz e segurança, tal como se encontra estabelecido, por exemplo, no Roteiro para a Paz.
Tem sido este o fio condutor do pensamento europeu, de Veneza em 1980 a Berlim em 1999 e a Sevilha em 2002, e mesmo até às conclusões do último Conselho Europeu, no mês passado. Não é de admirar que estejamos de acordo com aquela que é, há 37 anos, a coerente posição americana, ou seja, que os colonatos estabelecidos para lá das fronteiras de 1967 são ilegais e representam "obstáculos à paz". Todos sabemos quais serão os ingredientes para um acordo final. Estão contidos no relatório Mitchell e em documentos subsequentes, incluindo a iniciativa de paz da Liga Árabe, de 2002. Também se encontram no Roteiro que foi aprovado pela comunidade internacional.
Um acordo não está à espera de um qualquer discernimento celestial. Está à espera do exercício da vontade política por ambos os lados - israelita e palestiniano. A meu ver, é uma tragédia o facto de as propostas corajosas dos representantes da sociedade civil que negociaram a iniciativa de Genebra não serem partilhadas, ao que parece, pelos dirigentes políticos nas respectivas comunidades.
Segundo: lamentamos a violência que adia a reconciliação e qualquer possibilidade de paz, seja ela qual for. Sempre lamentámos sem reservas e condenámos com todas as nossas energias os ataques bombistas suicidas que ceifam vidas inocentes e a propaganda obscura que ensombra o espírito de tanta gente. Também criticamos profundamente a severa retaliação militar que destrói vidas, lares e possibilidades de subsistência, o tipo de retaliação que faz aumentar o extremismo e não aumenta a segurança. Consideramos que os assassinatos deliberados são errados, ilegais e contraproducentes.
Um dos políticos palestinianos que mais admiro, uma voz de sanidade e de razão, referiu-se recentemente ao barulho ensurdecedor dos tambores de guerra dos dois lados e ao facto amargo de ambas as comunidades estarem, ao que parece, presas num abraço em que a única coisa que interessa, aparentemente, é causar dor ao outro lado. Há uma oferta imensa de dor, mas a promessa de paz não é grande.
Terceiro: quaisquer que sejam as críticas feitas à abordagem europeia do conflito, podemos dizer que ao longo das semanas, dos meses e dos anos de derramamento de sangue e de desespero, sustentámos instituições que poderão um dia constituir a base de um Governo palestiniano reformado. Tem sido essa a política do Conselho Europeu, com o apoio deste Parlamento. Temos recebido felicitações pelo que fazemos; entre outros, do Banco Mundial. Ainda há pouco tempo recebi uma carta do Ministro das Finanças palestiniano, Salam Fayad, que registava que com a ajuda da União Europeia a Autoridade Palestiniana já cumpriu todos os compromissos de reforma que tinha assumido, há ano e meio, perante o Conselho Legislativo Palestiniano. Neste momento existe um elevado grau de responsabilidade democrática, com processos orçamentais transparentes. Já não se fazem pagamentos em numerário ao pessoal de segurança palestiniano; estes funcionários recebem agora os seus salários por transferência bancária.
Em privado, incentivaram-nos a fazer mais - a dar mais ajuda. Em público, fomos criticados por fazer fosse o que fosse. Houve quem argumentasse que, de facto, não podia haver acusação mais grave do que dizer que a tentativa de promover reformas e sustentar algum tipo de vida na Palestina financiou o terrorismo. O Parlamento realizou o seu próprio inquérito a estes problemas e o OLAF investigou essas alegações.
Não tenho mais nada a dizer sobre o assunto, a não ser para prestar homenagem aos funcionários dos meus serviços que tentaram executar uma política difícil com honestidade, transparência e integridade. Quando olho para o que aconteceu nestes últimos anos, vejo quão poucos foram os que conseguiram alcançar o mesmo que eles alcançaram.
Voltando-me agora para o futuro, há quem diga - talvez apenas por dizer - que depois da prometida retirada reconstruiremos Gaza e tentaremos lançar os alicerces de uma nova Palestina. O que têm em mente, se calhar, é uma Palestina que seja verdadeiramente viável e não uma colecção de bantustões isolados divididos por tanques, colonatos e muros.
Estamos, sem dúvida, dispostos a prosseguir a nossa ajuda humanitária e a apoiar a reconstrução das infra-estruturas das regiões de onde as forças de defesa israelitas retirarem. Mas devo dizer que, desta vez, deveremos procurar obter determinadas garantias das forças de defesa israelitas de que não voltarão a destruir o que nós construirmos. Deverão ter em conta os cinco pontos estabelecidos pelo Conselho Europeu de 25 e 26 de Março, principalmente a condição de que a retirada seja implementada no âmbito do Roteiro e a facilitação da actividade económica no território de onde as forças de defesa israelita retirarem.
Foi o Banco Mundial que chamou a atenção para o facto de o maior obstáculo à recuperação económica ser a falta de acesso e a falta de suficiente liberdade de circulação de pessoas e mercadorias. O acesso ao mundo exterior é essencial para a recuperação da economia palestiniana. Deveremos procurar garantir também a prestação de assistência humanitária nas mesmas condições em que seria prestada em qualquer outro lugar. Neste momento a prestação de assistência custa mais do que na maior parte dos outros lugares em consequência do comportamento e das actividades das forças de segurança.
Para encontrarmos uma maneira de regressar à implementação do Roteiro, precisamos de discutir com muito cuidado com o Governo israelita os termos da retirada e de ver como é que podemos associar a gestão da retirada aos objectivos do Roteiro. O nosso propósito deve ser que os Israelitas voltem a reconhecer a Autoridade Palestiniana como sua parceira no processo de paz. O objectivo deverá ser a transferência de Gaza e de partes da Cisjordânia para a Autoridade Palestiniana, não para o Hamas, e assegurar que essa transferência decorra de forma ordeira e não de uma forma que gere mais caos e mais violência.
Por último, direi que, graças a Deus, ainda há gente moderada na Palestina, em Israel e no mundo árabe. Faço esta pergunta o mais calma e diplomaticamente que sou capaz: que apoio estamos a dar hoje em dia a esses moderados? Se não nos dispusermos a defender corajosamente a moderação, como é que podemos esperar que eles se disponham?
Não é hiperbólico afirmar que hoje em dia as perspectivas na região são mais preocupantes do que têm sido desde há algum tempo. Parecem-me, sem dúvida, muito mais inquietantes do que pareciam, por exemplo, no princípio do ano passado, quando nos diziam que a via para a paz no Médio Oriente assentava na libertação militar de Bagdade e na implantação da democracia no Iraque. Talvez o Iraque venha um dia a ser estável e democrático e talvez constitua um farol para outros países da região. Que outra coisa se poderá esperar? Sejam quais forem as nossas opiniões acerca do passado, para que outra coisa se pode trabalhar? No entanto, para podermos ter alguma possibilidade de conseguir esse resultado e de incentivar a modernização e a democracia em toda aquela região, temos de evitar palavras e políticas que alienem grandes parcelas do mundo islâmico e ameacem precisamente a ocorrência do choque de civilizações que todos os homens e mulheres sensatos deverão desejar evitar a todo o custo.
Uma característica profundamente deprimente dos cinco anos em que desempenhei as funções de Comissário é que o mundo que hoje se abre à minha frente parece-me ser muito mais perigoso do que era em 1999. Temos de tentar sempre trabalhar para que o mundo seja melhor e não participar com uma inconfessada ausência de esperança. Hoje, entre outras coisas, temos de ver o que é que podemos salvar do que resta do processo de paz do Médio Oriente. Não é uma perspectiva muito encorajadora, mas qual é a alternativa?
Laschet (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, Senhor Comissário Patten, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, penso que o início da intervenção do senhor Comissário mostrou claramente que os acontecimentos recentes exigem alguma reflexão. Consideramos que o rumo estabelecido no roteiro para a paz está morto e enterrado após a reunião entre o Primeiro-Ministro Sharon e o Presidente Bush, ou deveremos vislumbrar novas oportunidades a explorar nos próximos dias, semanas e meses? Devo reconhecer que a reacção inicial da Presidência irlandesa se inclina para a primeira posição, ao passo que a atitude adoptada por vários ministros dos Negócios Estrangeiros nas suas declarações pendia para a segunda.
Por mim, apoio a posição adoptada pelos ministros dos Negócios Estrangeiros, nomeadamente do ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros alemão, quando afirmou que esta iniciativa faz mexer o processo e que deveríamos explorar esse facto. Apesar de todo o cepticismo que possamos sentir face à proposta de retirada de Gaza, que nos foi descrita ontem e novamente hoje pelos dois representantes da iniciativa de Genebra, a União Europeia deveria exercer a sua influência sobre as partes no conflito, em especial sobre Israel, e deixar claro que esta retirada deve ser a primeira fase da sua retirada de todos os territórios ocupados. Nesse sentido, a retirada é a atitude correcta. Sendo assim, um Primeiro-Ministro que está ligado à direita em Israel e que em breve poderá ser responsável pela expulsão de colonos, pela força, das suas casas em Gaza, necessita de um enquadramento mais amplo para explicar a sua posição.
Se a retirada de Gaza for de facto bem sucedida, se a transferência pacífica para a Autoridade Palestiniana se realizar tal como o senhor Comissário exigiu mais uma vez, há momentos, se muitas das casas actualmente utilizadas forem então oferecidas à população de Gaza e as infra-estruturas não forem destruídas mas sim entregues à Autoridade Palestiniana, decerto que poderá abrir-se uma nova oportunidade para a paz. Se partirmos do pressuposto de que nada disto vale a pena e está condenado ao malogro, não teremos qualquer possibilidade de influenciar o processo. Se o encaramos, porém, como uma oportunidade positiva e trabalharmos no seu âmbito, creio que o roteiro para a paz poderá ser revitalizado.
Lendo atentamente a carta do Presidente dos Estados Unidos ao Primeiro-Ministro israelita, vemos que também se espera que os israelitas façam a sua parte. O próprio Presidente refere a Resolução 242 do Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas. Ele próprio afirma também que, em última análise, só as negociações poderão produzir uma solução. Devemos realçar estas passagens da sua carta nas nossas futuras posições sobre este conflito.
Permiti que acrescente um segundo ponto. Creio, na verdade, que uma solução para este conflito, que não se restrinja exclusivamente a Gaza, apenas poderá ter êxito, a longo prazo, no âmbito de dois Estados viáveis e independentes.
O senhor Comissário também mencionou o trabalho do Parlamento em relação ao uso dos fundos europeus. Aprovámos dois relatórios sobre esta questão, um relatório maioritário e outro minoritário, mas as suas conclusões obtiveram 80% de acordo. Uma delas pode ser partilhada hoje com esta Assembleia: a acusação de que a União Europeia financiou o terrorismo não pode ser provada e é indefensável. Quanto à questão de saber se a decisão de conceder assistência financeira directa foi certa ou errada, podemos tomar várias posições. No entanto, a decisão foi tomada pelos ministros dos Negócios Estrangeiros e não pelo senhor Comissário. A Comissão contribuiu o mais que pôde para a reforma da Autoridade Palestiniana. Empenhou-se fortemente em controlar a utilização dos fundos europeus e hoje podemos confirmar que a situação existente na Autoridade Palestiniana melhorou, efectivamente, em comparação com a de há três anos. Devemos agradecer à Comissão e ao senhor Comissário Patten pelo seu trabalho nesta questão, não obstante os pontos de vista divergentes quanto à natureza certa ou errada da decisão.
Menéndez del Valle (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, o nº 51 da recente resolução deste Parlamento sobre os resultados do Conselho Europeu afirma que "sem o exercício de firmes pressões junto de ambas as partes, o Roteiro para a Paz permanecerá letra morta". Naturalmente, é minha opinião que o Roteiro para a Paz permanece letra morta e pergunto-me onde está a pressão sobre Israel.
O Parlamento insta igualmente "a Administração dos Estados Unidos a assumir as suas responsabilidades na crise actual". Em minha opinião, o Governo americano não só não assumiu as suas responsabilidades, como se rendeu ao Governo de Israel. As declarações de Powell da passada quinta-feira são, em minha opinião, uma mescla de devaneios absurdos e cinismo, quando disse que a reunião entre Bush e Sharon tinha produzido resultados positivos para os Palestinianos e as suas aspirações a um Estado. Prova disso é o facto de o ministro sem pasta do Governo de Israel, Guidon Ezra, ter declarado na sexta-feira que os comentários de Powell, destinados a suavizar o tom pró-israelita de Bush, não reflectem a opinião do próprio Bush.
A resolução deste Parlamento pede ainda que ambas as partes "se empenhem seriamente no reatamento de negociações efectivas". Em minha opinião, a Autoridade Nacional Palestiniana tem estado à espera há meses pelo reatamento dessas negociações, mas é evidente que Israel não quer negociar com a Autoridade Nacional Palestiniana e se prepara actualmente, com o total apoio de Bush, para uma retirada unilateral de Gaza fora do quadro do Roteiro para a Paz.
Tornou-se suficientemente claro, a meu ver, que não se trata de Gaza primeiro e da Cisjordânia depois, mas unicamente de Gaza.
Depois de todos estes acontecimentos, convém recordar outros dois números da nossa resolução; o nº 48, incorporado após o assassínio do Xeque Yassin, que "exorta o Conselho e a Comissão a ponderarem a possibilidade de agir em total conformidade com o artigo 2º do Acordo de Associação com Israel caso prossiga a política de execuções extrajudiciais". Pois bem, as execuções extrajudiciais continuam, tendo a mais recente sido a de Abdel Aziz Rantisi. Creio, portanto, que o Parlamento deve reiterar a sua exigência ao Conselho e à Comissão.
E ainda, para finalizar, no nº 49, o Parlamento "solicita ao Conselho que convide os Estados-Membros da UE com assento no Conselho de Segurança da ONU a apresentarem imediatamente uma proposta para o envio de uma força internacional de manutenção da paz para as fronteiras de 1967, com o mandato de proteger tanto o povo israelita como o palestino contra os ataques terroristas e as incursões e intervenções militares ". Devemos igualmente reiterar esta exigência.
Ludford (ELDR ).
– Senhor Presidente, depois do apoio do Presidente Bush ao juízo antecipado de Ariel Sharon sobre as negociações relativas ao estatuto final - excluindo-se como mediador imparcial do processo de paz - é fácil alguém sentir-se desencorajado relativamente às perspectivas da coexistência de um Estado de Israel seguro e de um Estado palestiniano viável, mas essa é a única solução real segundo o Roteiro. Pode bem acontecer que a manutenção, por parte de Israel, de alguns colonatos fundamentais na Cisjordânia e a aceitação, por parte dos Palestinianos, que o regresso dos refugiados se fará para um Estado palestiniano - com que, pessoalmente, estou de acordo - venham de facto a fazer parte de um acordo negociado a que acabe por se chegar. O Quarteto, liderado pela União Europeia, deve, no entanto, provar que é falsa a afirmação de Ariel Sharon de que o seu plano desfere um rude golpe nas esperanças palestinianas de constituição de um Estado independente.
Estou absolutamente empenhada na existência de Israel como pátria e Estado judaico - embora deva ser um Estado onde os israelitas árabes tenham plenos direitos e igualdade de direitos - e no direito de Israel a viver em paz e segurança no interior de fronteiras reconhecidas. A minha consternação perante a ocupação não tem apenas a ver com a desgraça dos cidadãos comuns palestinianos, mas também com o modo como o papel de ocupante colonial está a prejudicar a integridade de Israel e o seu compromisso de respeitar o Estado de direito. Condeno todos os actos terroristas contra Israel e não considero que os bombistas suicidas sejam pura e simplesmente o produto do desespero que reina entre os Palestinianos - por muito real que esse desespero seja. Há também a exploração dos jovens e uma cultura desprezível do martírio naquilo que é uma perversão do Islão.
O muro ou barreira poderia ser justificável se se situasse na Linha Verde - mas não se situa. A política de derrota militar de Bush-Sharon não vai garantir a segurança de Israel. O Hamas é uma organização perigosa e intransigente devotada à destruição de Israel, mas os recentes assassinatos ilegais dos seus líderes apenas vêm gerar mais azedume e recrutas para o terrorismo.
Estou profundamente preocupada com a crescente incidência do anti-semitismo na Europa e fortemente interessada em combatê-la, tal como em combater outros tipos de preconceito racial e religioso. O atraso do Observatório Europeu do Racismo e da Xenofobia na apresentação de trabalho atempado sobre a ameaça às comunidades judaicas da Europa veio naturalmente alimentar suspeitas sobre preconceitos. Precisamos de agir com renovado vigor na denúncia e erradicação do anti-semitismo e de traçar uma linha que separe as críticas legítimas às políticas do Governo israelita da demonização dos Judeus.
Compreendo o choque que os Israelitas deverão ter sentido perante os resultados da sondagem do ano passado, segundo a qual 59% dos Europeus consideravam que Israel era uma ameaça à paz mundial. Acredito que muitos dos inquiridos tivessem lido essa pergunta como tendo sido feita no contexto do conflito entre Israel e os Palestinianos, mas não ajudou nada formulá-la da forma como foi formulada. No entanto, o resultado foi um grito de alerta. Precisamos de um diálogo mais intenso entre a União Europeia e Israel. É por isso que, pessoalmente, me oponho a quaisquer apelos lançados no Parlamento Europeu para a realização de um boicote a Israel, e os apelos ao corte das relações académicas são completamente contraproducentes. Opus-me de igual modo a tentativas de eliminar o financiamento da União Europeia à Autoridade Palestiniana. Congratulo-me com o facto de serem os próprios Palestinianos a solicitar que se elimine a corrupção, mas Israel precisa de um parceiro com quem negociar e o nível de pobreza, verdadeiramente subsariano, dos Palestinianos seria ainda mais acentuado sem o apoio da União Europeia.
Por último, é indigno de Israel e da sua tradição de justiça perseguir Mordechai Vanunu de forma vingativa depois da sua libertação. Mordechai Vanunu cumpriu a sua pena e agora deve ser livre.
Gahrton (Verts/ALE ).
Senhor Presidente, hoje, Mordechai Vanunu deverá ser libertado. Ele é um dos heróis do nosso tempo, o homem que confirmou que Israel possui importantes de armas nucleares que poderiam transformar todo o Médio Oriente num deserto nuclear. Por este feito ao serviço da paz, a sua recompensa foi ser raptado pelo Estado de Israel e condenado a 18 anos de prisão.
O mundo, de um modo geral, esqueceu-o. Permite-se que Israel possua as suas armas nucleares em paz, enquanto os Estados árabes e muçulmanos que tentam obter protecção para si próprios contra a ameaça das armas nucleares de Israel são bombardeados até não ficar pedra sobre pedra e destruídos. Porque é que a comunidade mundial não intervém em relação às armas nucleares israelitas? Porque não acontece a Dimona aquilo que aconteceu a Ossirak?
A atitude desequilibrada da comunidade mundial é um dos motivos do desespero que hoje prevalece no Médio Oriente, sentimento aqui confirmado ontem no Parlamento por dois dos principais defensores da paz na região, Abraham Burg e Yassir Rabo. No , o Presidente Mubarak, do Egipto, declarou que o ódio do Mundo Árabe pelos Estados Unidos nunca foi tão forte como agora. Os Estados Unidos apoiam Israel a 100%. Por essa razão, os Estados Unidos não podem realizar a paz sozinhos. É necessário um maior equilíbrio, e a UE poderia produzi-lo apoiando os palestinianos tão fortemente como os Estados Unidos apoiam Israel.
A UE poderia traduzir as suas palavras em actos e aplicar o pedido do Parlamento para que o Acordo de Associação com Israel seja suspenso. A UE poderia enviar tropas para proteger as zonas palestinianas. A UE poderia exigir que Israel desmantele os seus de armas nucleares. A UE poderia fazer um convite a Vanunu e conceder-lhe asilo no país da UE que ele escolhesse.
A UE poderia ir ainda mais longe. Há alguns anos, conheci Shimon Perez. Ele propôs que se oferecesse a Israel e à Palestina a possibilidade de aderirem à UE, desde que conseguissem instaurar uma paz estável. É evidente que a UE exerce uma atracção fora das suas fronteiras que nem sempre exerce entre os seus próprios Estados-Membros. Utilizemos esse facto. Ofereça-se a adesão à UE à Palestina e a Israel como recompensa por estabelecerem uma paz definitiva.
Dhaene (PSE ).
– Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, na minha qualidade de Vice-Presidente da delegação para as relações entre a UE e o Estado de Israel, sinto-me indirectamente envergonhado pela política unilateral conduzida pelo Primeiro-Ministro Sharon, que atira cada vez mais achas para a fogueira no Médio Oriente ou, na verdade, em todo o mundo, pois não se trata de um conflito isolado; bem pelo contrário. As execuções ilegais dos líderes do Hamas irão produzir um efeito de e haverá sempre novos líderes prontos a substituí-los. Sharon só pode fazê-lo devido ao apoio incondicional que recebe do Presidente Bush. As coisas que foram acordadas em Washington constituem uma afronta aos parceiros do Quarteto, e à UE em particular. Tanto quanto sei, a União Europeia não foi consultada uma única vez. Enquanto Parlamento Europeu, temos de exigir que Javier Solana se imponha nas suas conversações com o Quarteto.
Se os EUA quiserem agora apoio para o Iraque, terão também de dar apoio à força militar internacional na Faixa Gaza, na sequência de uma retirada de Israel, e, seguidamente, na margem Ocidental do Jordão. Javier Solana poderia também pôr o Acordo de Genebra em cima mesa. Afinal de contas, Colin Powell aprovou-o e secunda-o. Isto tem também de ser esclarecido. Abraham Borg, que esteve ontem presente nesta Câmara, disse certa vez que o Roteiro tinha de ser produzido em Genebra. Penso que, como sinal ao povo palestiniano, podemos exigir um reforço da ajuda humanitária que prestamos a esta população empobrecida.
De Rossa (PSE ).
– Senhor Presidente, uma coisa que gostaria de sublinhar nos poucos segundos de que hoje aqui disponho é que a União Europeia tem de ser mais enfática na apresentação da sua posição face ao Médio Oriente. Tem de deixar claro a Israel, aos Palestinianos e também aos Estados Unidos que estamos a falar a sério quando falamos em encontrar uma solução.
Para que isso aconteça, a comunidade internacional tem de agir, por intermédio do Quarteto, como um mediador imparcial em prol da paz. É profundamente lamentável que a Administração norte-americana tenha decidido abandonar o Roteiro por motivos puramente eleitorais. Temos de tentar insuflar-lhe nova vida, na medida do possível, e desejo boa sorte à Presidência nos seus esforços para o conseguir ao longo das próximas semanas.
Temos, porém, nas nossas mãos uma arma que nos temos sempre recusado a utilizar, ou mesmo a ameaçar utilizar, e que é a suspensão do Acordo de Associação com Israel. De que outra arma dispomos para exercer pressão sobre Israel para que assuma com seriedade as suas responsabilidades naquela região? A meu ver, não há outra maneira de levar os Israelitas a sentarem-se à mesa das negociações com uma atitude séria. A decisão que o Governo dos EUA tomou, a semana passada, de fazer o jogo do Governo de Sharon não teve como resultado o fim da política de assassinatos deste último. Não teve como resultado o fim da sua política de construção de "muros de " nem da sua política de reforço dos colonatos na Cisjordânia, políticas que constituem, todas elas, uma receita para a continuação do sofrimento e da catástrofe no Médio Oriente.
Roche,
Gostaria de agradecer a todos os senhores deputados os contributos que deram para a realização deste importantíssimo debate.
Escutei o cansaço que transparecia na voz do Senhor Comissário Patten, quando usou da palavra. É um cansaço que todos partilhamos, na medida em que temos de voltar vezes sem conta à mesma questão. É com pesar que registo que nas escassas três semanas que decorreram desde a última vez que debatemos esta questão, a situação piorou, não melhorou. Todos nos sentimos deprimidos pela sequência interminável de acontecimentos funestos na região.
Este debate oferece-nos, porém, uma oportunidade de continuar a recordar a todos os actores e às partes envolvidas na questão do Médio Oriente - isto para pegar no aspecto focado pelo senhor deputado De Rossa na sua última intervenção - que as pessoas têm de se comportar com imparcialidade e dentro dos limites aceitáveis do direito internacional. Deveremos aproveitar também a oportunidade para recordar a outras partes que não existe alternativa para a negociação cabal e imparcial de uma solução que implica a existência de dois Estados, que desta solução deverá resultar um Estado palestiniano independente, viável, contíguo e soberano e que o Roteiro é a única forma de que dispomos para chegar a essa solução.
Se ouvi bem o que disse o senhor deputado Laschet, ele abordou dois aspectos. Em primeiro lugar, creio que o senhor deputado sugeriu que a Presidência olha para o Roteiro como se, de certo modo, já estivesse morto. Essa não é, certamente não é, a opinião desta Presidência. Temos dito repetidamente que o Roteiro é a única saída viável do atoleiro em que neste momento estamos mergulhados. O senhor deputado Laschet sugeriu também, ao que parece, que não vemos que dos planos israelitas de retirada de Gaza resulte qualquer oportunidade de acção. Esta interpretação não reflecte com exactidão nem a posição da Presidência nem a declaração que fiz em Tullamore.
Rejeito a ideia de que os Estados-Membros da União Europeia estejam de alguma forma desunidos relativamente a este problema. Sobre este assunto existe um acordo absoluto no seio da União, como de resto o Conselho de Ministros deixou claro. A importante e considerável declaração final, que contou com o acordo unânime dos 25 ministros no fim-de-semana passado, deixa muito clara essa posição.
Levantam-se dúvidas sobre se o Roteiro está morto ou não. O Roteiro continua a ser o único quadro que existe, é a única opção disponível. Não existe mais nada para além dele. Esse aspecto tem de ficar muito claro. Estou confiante que o Roteiro não só continua válido e tão relevante e fulcral como era quando foi originalmente traçado, mas também que a sua relevância, importância e significado têm de continuar a ser reiterados, especialmente aquando da reunião do Quarteto - provavelmente a 4 de Maio, em Nova Iorque.
Foi levantada a questão dos planos de desmantelamento dos colonatos israelitas na Faixa de Gaza. Uma vez mais, os Ministros dos Negócios Estrangeiros e os Ministros dos Assuntos Gerais deixaram claro que neste domínio há cinco elementos importantes: primeiro, a retirada de Gaza tem de ser implementada no âmbito do Roteiro; segundo, tem de ser vista como um passo na via de uma solução que implica a existência de dois Estados; terceiro, não pode implicar a transferência da implantação de colonatos para a Cisjordânia; quarto, tem de haver uma transferência de responsabilidades organizada e negociada para a Autoridade Palestiniana; quinto, Israel tem de facilitar a reconstrução humanitária de Gaza, em que a União Europeia investiu muito consideravelmente.
Foi colocada a questão do anti-semitismo. Não se deve permitir que as dificuldades que continuamente se fazem sentir na região sirvam de base para que o anti-semitismo volte a levantar a cabeça na Europa. Nesse aspecto específico concordo com a senhora deputada Baronesa Ludford. Tomei nota do aspecto que focou. No Outono passado, a União Europeia tomou uma iniciativa sem precedentes na Assembleia Geral das Nações Unidas ao propor uma resolução autónoma condenando todas as manifestações de anti-semitismo. Na conferência da OSCE que se vai realizar em Berlim nos dias 28 e 29 de Abril, a União desempenhará plena e adequadamente o seu papel referindo-se a este fenómeno aterrador e condenando-o.
O senhor deputado De Rossa disse muitas coisas sobre esta questão com as quais estou inteiramente de acordo. A União Europeia tem de ser um actor imparcial. Sobre isso, o senhor deputado De Rossa é absolutamente coerente e tem toda a razão. Também tem razão no que respeita à necessidade de todos os actores adoptarem uma visão equilibrada da situação. Não tenho tanta certeza, porém, de que ele tenha razão quando sugere que a suspensão do Acordo de Associação seja um instrumento adequado. Neste momento essa suspensão não figura na nossa agenda. Para dar esse passo seria necessário que houvesse consenso na União. Os que defendem a adopção de tal medida terão de considerar as consequências indesejáveis que dela decorrem.
O artigo 2º do Acordo reforça obrigações em matéria de direitos humanos que os signatários já têm de cumprir. Talvez devêssemos enfatizar essa responsabilidade. As reuniões do Conselho de Associação com Israel proporcionam à União Europeia uma oportunidade de sublinhar as nossas preocupações - e as que o senhor deputado De Rossa tantas vezes refere - junto das autoridades israelitas. É melhor dispor de um canal para esse efeito.
Seria errado deixar terminar o debate sem fazer referência aos ataques bombistas suicidas e aos ataques terroristas contra Israel. Frequentemente, o ponto de vista de Israel é o de que nós não temos em conta as suas preocupações. Não é esse o caso. Os ataques suicidas e terroristas contra alvos civis merecem a nossa condenação. São abomináveis. Todos nós os condenamos. Os ataques bombistas suicidas não fazem avançar nenhuma agenda de negociações legítima e só podem prejudicar os interesses do povo palestiniano, para além de continuarem a causar o caos, prejuízos e sofrimento indescritíveis ao povo israelita, que já sofreu demasiado no passado.
Neste contexto temos de ser imparciais. Penso que neste contexto a Europa é imparcial. Concordo com o Senhor Comissário Patten quando afirma que se a Europa voltar a construir aquilo que foi criado para apoiar o povo palestiniano, o mínimo que podemos esperar é que as autoridades israelitas apoiem, respeitem e protejam essas infra-estruturas.
Presidente.
Está encerrado o debate.
Presidente.
Seguem-se na ordem do dia as declarações do Conselho e da Comissão sobre as relações transatlânticas.
Roche,
Senhor Presidente, as relações transatlânticas são também um dos elementos do programa da Presidência irlandesa, e estamos a trabalhar muito afincadamente para reafirmar a solidez, profundidade e importância dessas relações, o que não surpreenderá ninguém.
Nunca a União Europeia e os Estados Unidos foram tão interdependentes em termos políticos e económicos. Embora não possamos estar sempre de acordo – os amigos raramente estão, e a possibilidade de divergirem, mesmo em questões importantes, é testemunho de uma amizade madura –, é fundamental que eventuais diferenças sejam geridas de forma a evitar prejudicar as relações em geral.
Todos sabemos que as relações entre a União Europeia e os EUA atravessaram um período difícil, sobretudo no que toca às políticas relativas ao Iraque. Houve tensões e discordâncias de ambos os lados do Atlântico e, na verdade, dentro da própria Europa. De tempos a tempos, é conveniente recordar que ninguém detém o monopólio absoluto da sensatez.
Também se registaram diferenças de abordagem entre os Estados Unidos e a União Europeia no que respeita ao rumo a seguir no Médio Oriente. No entanto, estamos dispostos a continuar a trabalhar com base no Roteiro para a Paz, inclusivamente através do mecanismo do Quarteto. Já há muito que, em determinados círculos, assim como nos meios de comunicação social, se transmite uma imagem negativa das relações transatlânticas. Parece, frequentemente, existir uma lei de ferro na imprensa que dita que a discordância seja digna de maior destaque do que o acordo. Suponho que, de certa forma, seja fácil empreender que o desacordo faz a boa notícia – ou, seguramente, maiores tiragens.
Por conseguinte, é importante que nós, na qualidade de representantes eleitos, informemos os nossos cidadãos de que as relações transatlânticas são, em geral, extremamente produtivas, continuando a ser boas. Em Janeiro, o Primeiro-Ministro, Bertie Ahern, afirmou perante este Parlamento – e deveríamos recordar as suas palavras – que "o mundo é um lugar melhor e mais seguro quando a União Europeia e os Estados Unidos colaboram entre si, congregando a sua considerável energia e os seus consideráveis recursos para alcançarem os objectivos que partilhamos e que assentam nos valores que partilhamos."
A Presidência irlandesa empenha-se numa cooperação pragmática com os nossos parceiros americanos e entende dever ser o pragmatismo, e não a ideologia, a enformar a abordagem da UE. Tentamos trabalhar em estreita colaboração em diversas áreas da política externa, incluindo a luta contra o terrorismo, a não proliferação, o Afeganistão, o Médio Oriente e os Balcãs Ocidentais – para referir apenas alguns dos dossiês em que temos interesses comuns e algumas das matérias em que colaboramos de forma muito estreita. Não estaremos de acordo em todos estes domínios, mas, pelo menos, seguimos orientações semelhantes.
É importante, em especial no que respeita às questões económicas e comerciais, inserir quaisquer diferendos transatlânticos no seu contexto. A Irlanda, durante o mandato da sua Presidência, procura centrar-se na positiva agenda económica elaborada entre os Estados Unidos e a União Europeia, gerindo de forma eficaz o pequeno número de diferendos pendentes, que correspondem a pouco menos de 3% de todas as nossas políticas comerciais globais.
Gostaria de aproveitar esta oportunidade para abordar um aspecto específico, que suscita preocupações imediatas no contexto das nossas relações com os Estados Unidos. Acompanhei de muito perto o debate neste Parlamento sobre o acordo internacional com os Estados Unidos relativo à transferência de dados de passageiros. Estou ciente das preocupações aqui manifestadas, inclusivamente das que se prendem com a necessidade de proteger os direitos dos cidadãos à privacidade e a serem ressarcidos em caso de erro. Compreendo plenamente a preocupação expressa por alguns deputados de que importante que exista forma de tratar os erros em matéria de dados PNR (registos de identificação dos passageiros aéreos).
Estou igualmente ciente da necessidade de abordar as preocupações muito concretas que existem nos EUA relativamente a ameaças terroristas. Por esta altura na semana passada, estive em Nova Iorque e, pela primeira vez, desloquei-me ao cenário da tragédia do World Trade Center. Estive em Nova Iorque por quatro vezes desde o dia 11 de Setembro e sempre evitei deslocar-me ao local, porque, como todos nós, assisti a tudo pela televisão e não queria ter presenciar a dor. Compreendo, por isso, neste contexto, a razão que leva os Estados Unidos e certas facções da sua população a considerarem necessário adoptar atitudes e comportamentos muito estritos na sua resposta ao terrorismo e, em especial, a razão por que esta questão os preocupa.
Permitam-me que seja claro: considero que a Comissão trabalhou longa e arduamente para assegurar que no projecto de acordo se chegasse a um equilíbrio entre as preocupações legítimas de protecção da privacidade pessoal e a necessidade de aumentar a segurança aérea de todos os passageiros que atravessam o Atlântico. Aceito e respeito que nem todos os deputados desta Assembleia entendam que esse equilíbrio tenha efectivamente sido encontrado. No entanto, gostaria de lhes fazer ver que a Comissão deve ser felicitada pelo seu trabalho. O senhor deputado Watson referiu-se a um outro acordo, afirmando que o mesmo era o melhor dos males, mas que era a solução possível. O senhor deputado referia-se a Chipre. Estas suas palavras podem muito bem aplicar-se também ao acordo que esta Assembleia deverá votar daqui a pouco.
Considero que a Comissão fez o melhor que dela se poderia esperar e que o acordo que está em cima da mesa é o melhor que poderemos obter; certamente muito melhor do que aquele que obteríamos se nos deixássemos levar, nas próximas horas, para uma espécie de situação de paralisia ou de impasse com as autoridades dos EUA, pois, na verdade, estas tomarão as decisões que entenderem necessárias à sua segurança.
Não penso que tendo de aguardar numa fila 18 ou 19 horas, no calor do dia, por uma autorização, um cidadão europeu em férias na Florida nos agradeça se tomarmos uma decisão pouco informada. Isto não significa que não respeite as opiniões dos senhores deputados –respeito, evidentemente. Estive atento e li grande parte da correspondência trocada aqui durante as últimas 48 horas. Debati a questão e as minhas preocupações com os senhores deputados. Compreendo e entendo plenamente as suas preocupações. Evidentemente, pretende-se defender as liberdades civis, mas está igualmente em causa a realidade e a realidade é que muito poucos serão os que nos agradecerão, na Europa, daqui a um mês, se tomarmos a decisão errada. Posto isto, respeito qualquer decisão deste Parlamento.
O acordo que a Comissão conseguiu é um acordo necessário. Nas actuais circunstâncias, é um bom acordo. O é insustentável. Não apoiar o projecto de acordo equivale a abrir caminho à incerteza e, sobretudo, à incerteza para a indústria da aviação. Será prejudicial aos interesses e necessidades dos passageiros.
Este é um aspecto importante. Aceito as preocupações e a apreensão no que respeita à obtenção de garantias quanto à existência de salvaguardas e, certamente, à existência de uma finalidade para transferência da informação, mas é forçoso que tomemos decisões políticas viáveis. Somos políticos numa assembleia política e é novo dever tomar decisões. A consecução de um acordo equilibrado e a possibilidade de trabalharmos e aplicarmos um acordo equilibrado e positivo, o mais rapidamente possível, são merecedoras dos nossos esforços.
O Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros irlandês, Brian Cowen, liderou a Troika da União Europeia na reunião ministerial UE-EUA, que se realizou com êxito em Washington, a 1 de Março. A Toika reuniu-se com o Secretário de Estado americano, Colin Powell, e com a Conselheira de Segurança Nacional, Condoleeza Rice. As discussões foram abrangentes e francas e abarcaram um leque de questões internacionais de interesse comum. De facto, quem conheça o Senhor Ministro Cowen saberá que as discussões em que participa são normalmente francas, vigorosas e incisivas.
É neste mesmo espírito de parceria que o senhor Primeiro-Ministro espera poder acolher o Presidente Bush, na Irlanda, para a Cimeira UE-EUA, em Junho, uma cimeira que, estou convicto, trará valor acrescentado para estas relações. Trata-se de uma cimeira que tem sido criticada nalgumas esferas, mas o facto é que os Estados Unidos e a Europa existem, e seria uma perfeita loucura não continuar a debater e discutir as nossas relações.
Outro pilar vital das relações transatlânticas é, evidentemente, a relação estreita e produtiva entre a União Europeia e o Canadá. Na verdade, muito frequentemente, quando falamos das relações transatlânticas esquecemos esta realidade. A nossa história comum e os valores que partilhamos, desde o pluralismo político e a democracia ao Estado de direito, bem como aos direitos humanos, mostram à saciedade a nossa firme convicção nas Nações Unidas e no multilateralismo. A Europa e o Canadá têm muito em comum, e as relações entre ambos são estreitas. São relações produtivas e que, de tempos a tempos, carecem de reconhecimento de ambas as partes.
Foi neste contexto que na Cimeira UE-Canadá, em Otava, em 18 de Março, que se revelou um êxito, foram lançadas duas importantes iniciativas – a Agenda da Parceria UE-Canadá e o quadro para um novo acordo bilateral de melhoria do comércio e do investimento.
A Cimeira de Otava proporcionou também ao Presidente em exercício do Conselho e ao Primeiro-Ministro canadiano, Paul Martin, a oportunidade de liderarem as equipas da UE e do Canadá nos debates abrangentes sobre importantes questões internacionais, inclusivamente sobre a melhor forma de promover uma governança global eficaz através de instituições internacionais revitalizadas. A este respeito, devo dizer – e baseio-me na experiência que adquiri no breve período em que trabalhei com a CEDA no Canadá – que os canadianos trazem enormes dossiês à colação, e fazem-no com tranquilidade e sem procurar protagonismo, qualidades que são esquecidas com demasiada frequência.
Para terminar, gostaria de dizer que estou absolutamente ciente de que o diálogo transatlântico é uma construção que vai muito para além do que acontece a nível oficial e governamental. Por isso, ficámos extremamente felizes, há duas semanas, por poder acolher na Irlanda a 58ª reunião interparlamentar entre o Parlamento Europeu e o Congresso dos EUA, sob presidência conjunta do senhor deputado Nicholson e do congressista Henry Hyde. Na verdade, fui com imenso prazer o anfitrião de uma das reuniões, na qual se procedeu a uma extraordinária troca de impressões. Gostaria agradecer aos deputados deste Parlamento esta iniciativa particular.
É muito importante que este Parlamento continue a manter um diálogo aberto com o Congresso americano, pois a minha experiência diz-me que, muito frequentemente, a Europa é vista pelo Congresso como um espelho muito embaciado. É absolutamente louvável o tipo de relação, de um para um, que os deputados deste Parlamento estabeleceram com os seus homólogos no Congresso. Como disse, testemunhei em primeira-mão as trocas de impressões que tiveram lugar. Foram saudáveis, positivas e produtivas. Tive a oportunidade de me encontrar com os deputados ao parlamento Europeu que participaram nesta iniciativa. Abordaram-se, naqueles debates, questões extraordinariamente variadas e, dado que esta reunião interparlamentar teve lugar na Irlanda, grande parte decorreu no meu próprio círculo eleitoral. Foi ainda a ocasião para todos passarem bons momentos, e nada há de mal nisso! A Presidência está absolutamente ciente do forte empenho do Parlamento em fazer progredir as relações transatlânticas. Congratulamo-nos com este trabalho positivo, que agradecemos.
Tenho consciência de que algumas das minhas palavras não soarão bem aos ouvidos de alguns deputados desta Casa, mas digo-as partindo do pressuposto de que os amigos, por vezes, podem discordar, mesmo sobre questões importantes.
Patten,
Senhor Presidente, gostaria de começar por apoiar os elogios da Presidência à hospitalidade irlandesa. Tendo passado, eu próprio, o fim-de-semana em duas conferências na Irlanda, posso endossar calorosamente as palavras do Senhor Ministro a esse respeito, assim como a respeito de outros temas, sobretudo as suas afirmações sobre as nossas relações com o Canadá.
Quando existem relações sem problemas, isso significa frequentemente que não são devidamente debatidas, ou que o são com um entusiasmo insuficiente. Contudo, no ano passado, inscrevemos num documento da Comissão algumas propostas ponderadas sobre o reforço das nossas relações em matéria de comércio e investimento com o Canadá. Tratava-se de propostas razoáveis que foram bem acolhidas pelos nossos amigos canadianos. Do Médio Oriente aos pontos quentes de todo o mundo, existe, invariavelmente, acordo com os nossos amigos canadianos, os quais, penso, aceitam em grande medida a nossa noção de um verdadeiro multilateralismo. Congratulo-me, por isso, com o facto de o senhor Ministro se ter referido a estas importantes relações.
Estou obviamente grato pela oportunidade de, uma vez mais, felicitar a Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa pelo seu empenho – demonstrado nesta resolução – na evolução e reforço dos laços transatlânticos. Esta Assembleia soube manter, no clima emocional dos turbulentos 18 meses que passámos, uma abordagem positiva e objectiva, o que testemunha bem da sua maturidade e do seu bom-senso. Não deverão subsistir dúvidas de que estas relações se mantêm a pedra angular das relações externas da União Europeia. Debatemos frequentemente nesta Câmara não só os desafios envolvidos – o enorme fluxo de mercadorias, serviços e investimentos e os milhões de postos de trabalho que dele dependem -, mas também o carácter indispensável desta parceria para a promoção da democracia e da estabilidade regional e para se enfrentarem os desafios mundiais.
Cabe aqui recordar alguns dos extraordinários feitos realizados na esfera da cooperação económica. Os acordos de reconhecimento mútuo eliminaram barreiras técnicas em áreas que vão das telecomunicações ao equipamento marítimo. Estabelecemos acordos bilaterais sobre procedimentos alfandegários e equivalentes veterinários. Estamos a realizar progressos no diálogo sobre a regulamentação relativa aos mercados financeiros, eliminando obstáculos para os nossos operadores deste sector cada vez mais integrado. Estão bem avançadas as negociações com vista a um acordo de cooperação para o GALILEO e o GPS, assim como a um acordo de espaço aéreo aberto.
Apesar de todos estes êxitos, muito está ainda por fazer no sentido de promover a convergência em matéria regulamentar. Nem a parceria económica transatlântica, nem a referida agenda económica permitiram evoluir tanto quanto gostaríamos na eliminação de barreiras. Por conseguinte, estamos a ponderar proceder a uma revisão conjunta UE-EUA da economia transatlântica, a apresentar na Cimeira EU-EUA de 2005, com vista a identificar os entraves a uma maior integração económica e a conseguir os meios para os eliminar.
Falámos também da importância destas relações para além dos limites da comunidade transatlântica. Depois das tensões verificadas nas nossas relações, no ano passado, tornou-se agora claro para todos que enfrentamos desafios comuns, que ultrapassaremos de forma muito mais eficaz se existir uma combinação dos nossos esforços, e não uma competição entre estas. Isso implica, evidentemente, que, na União Europeia, tenhamos vontade política para unir as nossas posições, e que, para além disso, tenhamos capacidade para actuar.
A linguagem da cooperação transatlântica pode, por vezes, parecer desgastada e cheia de frases feitas. Não é razão para permitir que aquelas importantes verdades fiquem por dizer, ou sejam sufocadas pelas notas discordantes daqueles que, por qualquer razão, pretendem dividir a Europa e os Estados Unidos. Neste espírito, congratulo-me com as prioridades identificadas nesta resolução, muitas das quais me são familiares e vão ao encontro daquelas que são já alvo do nosso trabalho no espaço que medeia até à Cimeira UE-EUA a que o Senhor Ministro se referiu.
Gostaria de salientar, muito brevemente, três questões que estão mencionadas na resolução. Em primeiro lugar, o VIH/SIDA. A União Europeia e os Estados Unidos congratularam-se, ambos, com a decisão tomada nos últimos anos pela Organização Mundial do Comércio relativamente ao Acordo TRIPS e à saúde pública. Temos agora, sem demora, de dar execução a esta decisão de forma legislativa, com o apoio activo das nossas comunidades empresariais. É preciso assegurar que o Fundo Mundial para a Saúde possa desenvolver-se com base em fontes sustentáveis e fiáveis de recursos. Esperamos que, para abordar as causas que estão na origem das pandemias em África, os investidores da União Europeia e dos EUA possam criar uma parceria que permita promover a melhoria dos cuidados de saúde, onde quer que existam em África, e precisamos claramente de fazer mais, em conjunto, para erradicar a pobreza neste continente.
Em segundo lugar, uma breve palavra sobre a China e a Rússia. A proximidade da Rússia à Europa e a velocidade e escala do desenvolvimento económico na China sugerem que deveremos continuar a colaborar de forma estreita com ambos os países. A prossecução do nosso empenho político e a existência de um leque de instrumentos financeiros demonstram a nossa determinação em encorajar o desenvolvimento da Rússia como uma democracia estável e próspera. Continuaremos persuadir a China a desempenhar um papel mais significativo na esfera internacional, concomitantemente com a expansão da sua capacidade e interesses económicos. Espero que possamos encorajar os nossos amigos americanos a olharem a estabilidade e o desenvolvimento económico da China como um aspecto positivo para todos nós, em vez de a os verem como uma ameaça.
Discutimos, há pouco, o Médio Oriente, e não me deterei nos argumentos que, há cerca de uma hora, analisámos com alguma tristeza. Direi simplesmente que temos de encorajar uma modernização em toda a região, na linha das sugestões agora contidas nos relatórios do PNUD. É preciso que apoiemos as iniciativas árabes, bem como a apropriação, por parte dos países árabes, da modernização e da democratização, e que continuemos a desenvolver os planos que já temos em curso - por exemplo, através da parceria EUROMED -, em vez de acreditar na necessidade de introduzir novos acordos institucionais.
Gostaria, em especial, de salientar a importância que o Senhor Comissário Lamy e eu próprio atribuímos à conclusão, com êxito e o mais rapidamente possível, de um acordo de comércio livre entre a União Europeia e o Conselho de Cooperação do Golfo.
Repito que, de um modo geral, é mais provável que consigamos atingir a maioria dos objectivos que pretendemos no mundo se conseguirmos trabalhar com os Estados Unidos. É igualmente verdade - embora frequentemente não se admitida -, que é mais provável que os Estados Unidos consigam atingir o que pretendem se forem capazes de trabalhar connosco.
Concordamos que muito é o que ambos, União Europeia e EUA, podem fazer, quer em negociações bilaterais, quer em matéria de cooperação em todo o mundo. Saber até que ponto isso exige a criação de novas estruturas e métodos de trabalho é mais difícil de avaliar. No entanto, registo que, desde o lançamento da Nova Agenda Transatlântica (NAT), em 1995, os mecanismos da relação nos serviram perfeitamente. Os altos e baixos que experimentámos não decorreram das instituições da NAT, mas sim de verdadeiras discordâncias políticas. Não são produto de falhas processuais ou sistémicas.
Sempre que identificámos necessidades de mudança, demos bastantes provas de pragmatismo. Por exemplo, estamos prestes a lançar com os EUA um diálogo reforçado sobre segurança, que deverá reduzir o grau de confusão e confrontação numa série de assuntos relacionados com os transportes e com outras medidas de preservação da segurança. Embora concorde com os comentários extremamente ponderados do Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho acerca dos registos de identificação dos passageiros aéreos, não estou totalmente certo quanto ao tipo de diálogo que os Estados Unidos esperarão que prossigamos sobre esta questão - na resolução da qual empenhámos enormes esforços – caso nos vejamos agora na situação de ter de afundar as perspectivas de um acordo, ou de as deixar num impasse por tempo indeterminado. Pretendemos ser levados a sério a este respeito, ou não?
Com a proximidade de eleições, aqui e nos Estados Unidos, com a nomeação de uma nova Comissão no Outono e com um Tratado Constitucional no horizonte, penso que esta não será necessariamente a altura ideal para uma mudança absolutamente radical. No entanto, aceito plenamente que, tal como precisamos de analisar o funcionamento da economia transatlântica, também devamos rever a forma como funciona a Nova Agenda Transatlântica. Para o efeito, estou prestes a lançar um estudo independente sobre a Nova Agenda Transatlântica que, por seu turno, deverá constituir a base para uma revisão da política UE-EUA, em 2005. Entendo que é esse o momento oportuno. Respeito quem tem uma opinião diferente, mas espero que todos saibamos reconhecer que estamos a trabalhar para consecução dos mesmos objectivos.
Suominen (PPE-DE ).
– Senhor Presidente, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, Senhor Comissário Patten, o meu grupo, o Grupo do Partido Popular Europeu (Democratas-Cristãos) e dos Democratas Europeus, considera essencial que se encarem as excelentes e estreitas relações existentes sobretudo entre a UE e os EUA, e, num contexto mais vasto, entre a Europa e a América do Norte, tal como foi aqui reiterado, como um factor fundamental para a manutenção da paz global e do crescimento económico. Se os dois maiores protagonistas económicos e militares do mundo entrassem num conflito constante, por mais improvável que isso seja, seria uma catástrofe mundial. É por isso que o nosso grupo, nas desinteligências políticas ou económicas que surgem por vezes, tenta olhar em frente e encontrar soluções, em vez de fazer acusações.
Estamos, na verdade, preocupados com muitas coisas. O unilateralismo demonstrado pelos dirigentes americanos, de que é exemplo a guerra do Iraque e os acontecimentos subsequentes, bem como a política que a Administração do Presidente Bush tem seguido ultimamente e que, a nosso ver, apenas tem em conta os interesses de Israel, não podem contar com a nossa aprovação. Todavia, não podemos corrigir esta situação pondo termo ao acordo-quadro existente entre Israel e a UE ou culpando apenas os Estados Unidos. Devemos tentar encontrar um caminho de regresso à democracia, um caminho em que o multilateralismo global e o recurso às Nações Unidas, bem como o aumento do prestígio destas últimas, sirvam de base à resolução das crises. Já são visíveis alguns sinais positivos nesse sentido na atitude da América em relação à próxima administração iraquiana sob a supervisão das Nações Unidas. Em contrapartida, ainda quase só se vêem sinais negativos no conflito israelo-palestiniano, e é por isso que a UE deve assumir uma atitude ainda mais activa nessa área.
Também estamos em desacordo relativamente a muitas questões de política comercial e de direitos imateriais. Por exemplo, a abordagem unilateral da América à aplicação do conceito de não está de acordo com as práticas em matéria de comércio alimentar, e constitui proteccionismo.
Sob a liderança experiente do senhor comissário Pascal Lamy, a UE tem procurado eliminar os obstáculos que impedem que a ronda de negociações comerciais de Doha da Organização Mundial do Comércio decorra mais rapidamente. Os Estados Unidos são, por um lado, um bom parceiro nestas negociações, mas por outro lado entravam-nas com o seu sistema de auxílios rotativos à agricultura e à indústria. Não quero com isto dizer que a culpa é sempre dos outros e não nossa. Nós também temos de abrir os nossos mercados, neste aspecto, em maior medida do que antes. Mais uma vez, os problemas serão resolvidos através do diálogo e não de uma guerra comercial em constante intensificação.
Desejo salientar ainda que, como já aqui foi dito muitas vezes, os valores que partilhamos e com base nos quais os dois continentes, e aqui incluo o Canadá, construirão o seu futuro – a democracia, as liberdades e direitos individuais, os direitos do Homem, uma sociedade baseada no direito, a economia de mercado com o seu sistema de livre iniciativa – são uma base tão ampla para o desenvolvimento de relações naturais, duradouras e vantajosas entre nós, que os conflitos de interesses, seguramente, podem ser solucionados. Decerto que os oradores do nosso grupo irão seguir as minhas pisadas e abordar muitos dos elementos constitutivos das relações transatlânticas.
Wiersma (PSE ).
– Senhor Presidente, foram mais uma vez proferidas muitas nobres palavras sobre as relações entre a Europa e os Estados Unidos. Porém, continuo algo céptico quando olho para a realidade. As relações entre a Europa e os Estados Unidos já foram melhores. O Governo dos Estados Unidos presta frequentemente pouca atenção aos seus parceiros transatlânticos. A política dos Estados Unidos caracteriza-se pela unilateralidade e por coligações inconstantes. A questão do Iraque revelou-se um pomo de discórdia, e o momento em que as Nações Unidas poderão assumir um papel de relevo naquele país parece estar ainda distante. Esta manhã já falámos aqui do Médio Oriente. O apoio do Presidente Bush ao Primeiro-Ministro Sharon e à sua política unilateral foi aqui mal recebido, e com razão. A UE não é manifestamente um parceiro sério para os Estados Unidos nesta questão.
Ninguém está empenhado numa verdadeira ruptura entre os Estados Unidos e a União Europeia. Temos muitas coisas em comum e, em conjunto, poderíamos fazer mais um pelo outro a nível mundial. É provável que as coisas venham a melhorar sob um novo Governo dos Estados Unidos, mas, quanto a mim, as tendências calam mais fundo. Hoje falamos aqui de uma agenda para o diálogo transatlântico. Esse diálogo é mais do que nunca necessário, mas tem realmente de ser um diálogo aberto e não um diálogo em que só um dos lados fala e raramente ouve. Com efeito, é muito importante que não encapotemos as diferenças que existem entre nós e os Estados Unidos.
No campo da segurança internacional, podem vislumbrar-se algumas prioridades, como a questão do Iraque e aquilo que podemos aprender com ela. A primeira lição é, naturalmente, que uma situação assim jamais poderá repetir-se, e a segunda é que temos de voltar a um papel pleno por parte das Nações Unidas, que tem de assumir sem demora a liderança política da reconstrução daquele país. Além disso, temos de cooperar na resolução do conflito do Médio Oriente, cingindo-nos ao Roteiro. Se o Presidente Bush não assumir uma postura muito mais crítica face à política de factos consumados do Primeiro-Ministro Sharon – como o muro de segurança, a Faixa de Gaza e o assassinato de líderes do Hamas -, é improvável que cooperação com a UE venha a produzir muitos resultados. Queremos igualmente uma abordagem efectiva do terrorismo internacional, mas não só sob os termos fixados pelos Estados Unidos. O que queremos é que seja dada prioridade a uma abordagem multilateral dos problemas internacionais. Queremos um envolvimento preventivo - como Javier Solana lhe chama -, em vez de guerras preventivas. Queremos um reforço das Nações Unidas e, em especial, um reforço da ordem jurídica internacional. Por isso mesmo, temos de continuar plenamente empenhados no trabalho do Tribunal Penal Internacional e de manter o apoio que a União Europeia sempre lhe deu.
Queremos ainda uma abordagem séria das iniciativas de desarmamento. Temos de entabular o diálogo com os Estados Unidos sobre todas estas questões, mas temos igualmente de permanecer fiéis à nossa própria força. Temos de ser pragmáticos, perseguindo, contudo, os nossos próprios objectivos. Nas áreas em que os Estados Unidos colocam a tónica na supremacia militar, vemos um papel para União Europeia como, digamos, uma superpotência civil.
Andreasen (ELDR ).
– Senhor Presidente, espero não perturbar demasiado as conversas particulares que se estão a desenrolar. Contudo, gostaria de afirmar que a cooperação transatlântica deverá ser reforçada e alargada, em benefício dos EUA, da UE e de todo o mundo. A maior potência militar e económica do Mundo tem de mostrar, através da cooperação, a todo o mundo, o caminho para a segurança, para a paz, para a democracia, para a justiça e para a prosperidade.
Esta cooperação está actualmente a ser testada no combate ao terrorismo. Deve ser confirmado, aqui e agora, que existem mais aspectos a unir os EUA e a UE do que a separá-los. Consequentemente, este tema deverá estar no topo da ordem de trabalhos da Cimeira UE/EUA, na qual deverá ser estabelecido um quadro comum e um plano de acção a longo prazo para o combate ao terrorismo. A ONU deverá ter um papel de destaque nesta luta e devemos enfatizar que a luta deve ser conduzida com respeito pelos direitos humanos e pelo direito internacional. Neste contexto, gostaria, mais uma vez, de chamar a atenção para os prisioneiros detidos na Base Naval de Guantanamo, e que têm direito a um julgamento justo. Apelo, mais uma vez, ao Conselho, mesmo se não estiver a prestar atenção ao que estou a dizer, para que inclua esta questão na ordem de trabalhos da Cimeira.
Temos de reforçar e alargar a nossa cooperação mas, enquanto amigos dos EUA devemos igualmente poder falar abertamente quando não concordamos com o Governo dos EUA. Concretamente, é o que devemos fazer neste momento em relação à emissão das listas de passageiros, uma questão que a Presidência também abordou, e que também faz parte da luta contra o terrorismo. Devemos ainda manter-nos firmes na afirmação da necessidade do respeito pelos direitos fundamentais nesta matéria. A Comissão está, aparentemente, a meio do processo de transferência de uma parte da legislação dos EUA para a UE, passando por cima do Parlamento Europeu, dos parlamentos nacionais e, provavelmente, também do Congresso Americano.
No que diz respeito à posição relativa à situação no Médio Oriente, devemos igualmente manifestar-nos contra as mais recentes declarações do Presidente Bush. Quaisquer alterações às fronteiras anteriores a 1967 apenas deverão ser reconhecidas se resultarem da negociação entre as duas partes. Não é algo que o Sr. Sharon e o Presidente Bush possam decidir entre si. Pelo contrário, temos de apelar para o cumprimento do Roteiro existente, ao qual o Quarteto deu o seu apoio. Ontem, ouvimos falar de novo, na Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa, acerca da iniciativa de Genebra a favor da paz no Médio Oriente, uma iniciativa muito louvável que deverá ser trazida para o debate.
A próxima cimeira entre a UE e os EUA será a primeira após o alargamento da UE. A Europa irá apresentar-se mais forte e mais unida. A posição da UE no palco político internacional foi reforçada e devemos aproveitar esta situação para melhorar a nossa necessária e desejável cooperação com os EUA. Espero não ter interrompido demasiadas conversas.
Presidente.
Apresento as minhas desculpas ao nosso colega pelo nível de barulho antes da votação.
Blak (GUE/NGL ).
Senhor Presidente, gostaria de solicitar a sua intervenção, caso volte a acontecer uma situação como a que se verificou durante a intervenção do senhor deputado Andreasen. Este "circo", em que os deputados desenvolvem conversações privadas, de uma forma totalmente despreocupada, durante a intervenção de um outro deputado, é, em minha opinião, vergonhosa. Em minha opinião os deputados em causa tiveram uma conduta ultrajante, estúpida e pouco inteligente, ao não mostrarem qualquer respeito pelos deputados que estavam a apresentar as suas comunicações. Consequentemente, gostaria de solicitar que intervenha, futuramente, e que expulse do hemiciclo aqueles deputados que não entendem esta situação.
Presidente.
Caros Colegas, na quarta-feira, 31 de Março, proferi uma declaração nesta Assembleia sobre uma série de artigos publicados em jornais e reportagens televisivas sobre determinadas acusações feitas a deputados desta Assembleia, supostamente com base em entrevistas e comentários de um dos deputados a este Parlamento, o senhor deputado Hans-Peter Martin. Nessa ocasião, informei a Assembleia de que, quando são produzidas determinadas acusações, estas são investigadas pronta e exaustivamente pelos serviços competentes, após o que são desenvolvidas as acções adequadas. Nessa mesma ocasião, convidei o senhor deputado Hans-Peter Martin a trazer ao meu conhecimento informações relacionadas com hipotéticas infracções, desvios de fundos ou outras irregularidades, caso ele as tivesse ao seu dispor, para que pudessem ser devidamente investigadas. Era esse o seu dever como deputado desta Assembleia.
Depois disso, já na noite da passada segunda-feira, o senhor deputado Hans-Peter Martin enviou-me uma carta em que faz uma série de críticas pormenorizadas ao sistema de subsídios que vigora para os nossos deputados. Prossegue, formulando acusações específicas - duas delas relativas a reuniões de um grupo político realizadas fora dos locais de trabalho - e enumerando também 7 000 casos de deputados que reivindicaram subsídios em circunstâncias que classifica como sendo impróprias, por exemplo, casos em que os deputados assinaram o registo central de presenças, e não a lista de presenças das reuniões parlamentares.
No que toca aos pontos específicos, solicitei ao grupo político em causa que me desse mais informações sobre as duas reuniões aludidas. No que diz respeito à questão mais geral do registo central de presenças, parece-me claro que o senhor deputado Hans-Peter Martin dirige as suas críticas ao sistema e a uma norma específica. Não obstante, não há qualquer indicação de que os deputados tenham infringido o Regimento desta Assembleia
Sobre a questão no seu sentido mais lato, o senhor deputado Hans-Peter Martin não logrou reconhecer os importantes progressos que têm sido feitos pelo Parlamento quanto à reforma das suas normas e regulamentações, no sentido de garantir uma maior transparência e prestação de contas e de dar resposta pronta a todos e quaisquer pontos que sejam trazidos ao nosso conhecimento pelo Tribunal de Contas, nos seus relatórios anuais ou específicos, e que tenham evidenciado possíveis insuficiências nas normas que nos regem.
A Mesa e os Questores, sob as presidências dos senhores deputados Hänsch, Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado e Fontaine, e no decurso do meu próprio mandato, tomaram decisões sobre a realização de reformas específicas relacionadas com os subsídios de viagem, de secretariado e outro tipo de subvenções.
No início do meu mandato, procurei encetar uma reforma global com base em dois elementos fundamentais: primeiro, o tratamento equânime de todos os deputados desta Câmara, inspirado pelo princípio da igualdade, e segundo, a fundamentação da transparência em matéria de subsídios no princípio das despesas efectivamente realizadas. Até ao princípio do ano em curso, todos nós esperávamos que o Conselho concordasse com este pacote de medidas, uma vez que tínhamos feito os compromissos indispensáveis. No último momento, a reforma foi bloqueada por uma minoria de Estados-Membros. Isto não impediu que a Mesa e outros órgãos desta Assembleia examinassem a possibilidade de novas reformas numa base progressiva. No meu entender, teria sido mais útil e mais produtivo que o senhor deputado Hans-Peter Martin se tivesse associado a esta vontade de reforma, quer em comissão, quer em plenário,...
... em vez de desencadear uma campanha, cujo propósito fundamental parece ter sido o de tentar desacreditar a Instituição, pôr em causa a honra dos deputados desta Assembleia e causar o máximo de danos às pessoas, às suas carreiras e às suas famílias - e isto, sem apresentar provas.
Na época em que vivemos, é muito fácil manchar a reputação de figuras públicas. É, no entanto, extremamente difícil impedir a propagação de insultos e de informações de natureza parcial, a partir do momento em que estes são lançados por certos sectores da comunicação social.
As normas regimentais desta Assembleia são um trabalho sempre em curso. Historicamente, somos uma Assembleia relativamente jovem e estamos em evolução constante. A partir de Maio, teremos de encontrar sistemas que sejam justos para os representantes eleitos por 25 Estados-Membros.
Uma das áreas que não foi regulamentada diz respeito ao comportamento dos deputados. É minha firme convicção, porém, que a filmagem dissimulada de deputados desta Assembleia e a gravação secreta das suas conversas é inaceitável, quaisquer que sejam as circunstâncias, e mais inaceitável ainda quando feitas por um colega deputado.
Estes métodos trazem-nos à memória outros tempos e outros lugares.
Quando falamos de normas de comportamento nesta Assembleia, o modo como nos comportamos uns com os outros constitui um factor de importância transcendente. Este Parlamento sempre defendeu os direitos dos informadores, mas espera também que estes esgotem todos os procedimentos disponíveis e apropriados. Neste caso, parece-me que não foi feita qualquer tentativa para recorrer aos procedimentos usuais desta Assembleia, os quais foram contornados de forma grotesca no intuito de maximizar a publicidade pessoal.
Terei oportunidade de responder ao senhor deputado Hans-Peter Martin em pormenor. Os casos específicos que denuncia serão averiguados em estreita colaboração com os deputados e os grupos em causa. Mas permita-me que reitere que, com base no que me enviou, não existem quaisquer provas que corroborem as suas acusações de ilícitos ou infracções ao Regimento. Quero que fique registada a minha condenação veemente dos métodos utilizados pelo nosso estimado colega.
Martin, Hans-Peter (NI ).
- Senhor Presidente, obrigado por me dar a oportunidade de falar hoje. Fui muitas vezes mencionado aqui, no plenário, nestas últimas semanas, mas é a primeira vez que tenho a oportunidade de me dirigir aos meus colegas neste Parlamento.
Tem razão, Senhor Presidente: a seu pedido, escrito, apresentei-lhe um dossiê de informações. Diz que não contém qualquer indicação de que os deputados tenham infringido o Regimento deste Parlamento. Afirmei claramente em todas as minhas declarações - e este é um ponto muito importante - que possuía provas de que, em mais de 7 200 casos, colegas tinham reclamado indevidamente ajudas de custo. Cabe-lhe a si e a outros julgar em que medida isso constitui uma infracção do Regimento.
No entanto, Senhor Presidente, na carta que lhe dirigi, expus vários casos com grande pormenor - sendo um deles o de uma reunião do Grupo do Partido dos Socialistas Europeus que teve lugar em 10 de Maio de 2001 em Berlim, que V. Exa. mencionou - e pedi-lhe que indicasse ou clarificasse a regra que rege uma conduta desta natureza. Recordo-me das discussões pessoais que tivemos antes da sua entrada em funções e, nessa altura também, teve o meu apoio e o meu voto porque me parecia alguém muito voltado para a reforma. Apoiou-me em várias ocasiões - como o discutimos na altura - e reconheceu que eu tinha razão em inúmeros casos, como no caso da campanha relativa à reforma parlamentar à qual esteve associado e que muitas vezes trouxe a debate.
Refuto em absoluto a sua afirmação de que não há quaisquer provas das alegações que fiz. Refuto igualmente a sugestão de que estou a lançar uma campanha.
Espero que o público ouça esta reacção. Pedir-lhe-ia que tivesse esta reacção em consideração e que me conceda alguns segundos adicionais ao meu tempo de palavra. Refuto a sugestão de que estou a lançar uma campanha. Trata-se de uma iniciativa europeia a favor da transparência e dizer que não tenho quaisquer provas, ao mesmo tempo que critica os meus métodos, é uma contradição. Advogados, deputados europeus, cidadãos e eleitores disseram-me que deveria fornecer provas circunstanciadas. É por essa razão que filmei e o que fiz não foi mais do que imitar o Presidente da Cimeira da UE na Dinamarca em 2002, que adoptou a mesma abordagem a fim de revelar os trabalhos internos da Cimeira Europeia. Isso foi difundido e discutido. Creio que os reformadores e os críticos não devem ser silenciados. Iremos continuar o nosso trabalho.
Presidente.
Estou ciente de que muitos colegas gostariam de intervir a este respeito, mas não dispomos de tempo para um debate.
Senhor Deputado Hans-Peter Martin, continua a sustentar que existem pedidos injustificados de ajudas de custo. Nas provas que apresentou desses pedidos, inclui-se o meu nome. Rejeito a acusação e a calúnia contra o meu bom-nome.
Aqueles que pretendem promover a transparência deveriam parar de conspirar nos corredores e de gravar e filmar secretamente os seus colegas.
Barón Crespo (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, em primeiro lugar, quero dizer-lhe que tem o apoio e a gratidão do Grupo Socialista pela declaração que acaba de fazer.
Dito isto, queria fazer referência ao ponto de ordem que apresentei esta manhã às 9H00, no início da sessão, juntamente com outros presidentes de grupo, a respeito da reinscrição do relatório Boogerd-Quaak sobre a liberdade de expressão e de informação no período de votações de hoje. Levantei a questão esta manhã e deixo à Presidência a escolha do momento em que esta pode ser tratada em profundidade.
Presidente.
Senhor Deputado Barón Crespo, trataremos dessa questão mais tarde.
Presidente.
Segue-se na ordem do dia o período de votação.
Tannock (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, gostaria de protestar, uma vez mais este ano, pelo facto de a alteração apresentada pela minha delegação ao calendário de 2005, que procura terminar com esta charada das deslocações mensais a Estrasburgo a enormes expensas do contribuinte da União Europeia, ter sido declarada não admissível. Senhor Presidente, penso que deveria remeter o assunto para o Tribunal de Justiça Europeu.
Doyle (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, Estrasburgo é uma cidade histórica lindíssima, mas para aqueles de nós que vivem a grandes distâncias, é de acesso extremamente difícil.
Os colegas deverão estar cientes de que se votarem a favor da alteração 2, votarão a favor de que, no calendário das sessões de Estrasburgo para o próximo ano, se acrescentem sessões à sexta-feira.
Gostaria de recordar aos colegas que, na segunda-feira à tarde, informei esta Assembleia do conteúdo da carta que me foi enviada pelo Presidente da Comissão dos Assuntos Jurídicos e do Mercado Interno, o senhor deputado Gargani, relativamente ao acordo entre a Comunidade Europeia e os Estados Unidos da América sobre o processamento dos dados pessoais pelas transportadoras aéreas. Na segunda-feira, o Senhor Comissário Bolkestein teceu alguns comentários introdutórios sobre o assunto perante esta Assembleia. Ontem, o relatório da senhora deputada Boogerd-Quaak foi discutido no hemiciclo, tendo o Senhor Comissário Patten intervindo no debate.
Passaremos agora à votação do relatório Boogerd-Quaak sobre o tratamento e a transferência de dados PNR por parte das transportadoras aéreas; a votação decorrerá, tal como previsto, de acordo com a ordem de votação. Peço agora o parecer da Assembleia sobre a questão de saber se há lugar a remeter a questão ao Tribunal de Justiça Europeu. Muitos dos senhores deputados terão ouvido o Senhor Comissário Bolkestein, na segunda-feira, porém não terão ouvido um parecer da Comissão à luz do debate realizado. Não pretendo reabrir o debate, mas talvez o Senhor Comissário Patten pudesse dizer-nos algumas palavras no que respeita aos pormenores.
Patten,
Senhor Presidente, tanto quanto sei, nunca recusei a oportunidade de me dirigir a uma audiência tão numerosa - um número ligeiramente superior ao que normalmente consigo reunir!
Como V. Exa. afirmou, Senhor Presidente, intervim no debate e a minha intervenção foi, no entender do líder de um dos grupos políticos, anormalmente longa para a hora tardia a que nos reuníamos, quando os escassos presentes teriam preferido estar onde os outros, seguramente, já se encontravam: nas respectivas camas. Talvez pudesse ter formulado melhor esta ideia.
Talvez possa responder, referindo-me, muito brevemente, a três aspectos, tendo em conta que, no outro dia, me criticaram afirmando que a minha virtude era dizer o que penso e que o meu defeito era o que penso. Seja como for, direi muito sucintamente o que penso.
Antes de mais, como o afirmou há pouco, no debate sobre os Estados Unidos, o Senhor Ministro, se tivéssemos passado pelo que Nova Iorque passou em Setembro de 2001, teríamos desejado que o nosso Governo fizesse tudo o que estivesse ao seu alcance para assegurar a nossa liberdade, para nos proteger de tamanha atrocidade.
Em segundo lugar, não tenho a pretensão de que o acordo que negociámos de boa-fé é perfeito - infelizmente, nós não trabalhamos no mundo da perfeição -, porém considero tratar-se de uma proposta extremamente ponderada e que conduziu, penso, à apresentação de uma série de outras propostas, que o Parlamento promoveu e que conseguimos garantir. Não as passarei todas em revista.
Em terceiro lugar, sejamos claros sobre o que acontecerá se tivermos de atrasar esta questão durante meses, ou se não dispusermos de acordo: a confusão total nos próximos meses; o caos financeiro para as companhias aéreas; pessoas à espera em filas intermináveis, sem que tenhamos conseguido assegurar qualquer protecção. Não me parece que essas pessoas ou companhias aéreas venham cantar aos apoiantes de uma proposta que vise adiar qualquer decisão por vários meses.
Não fazia tenção de intervir neste momento, mas espero que as pessoas ponderem, com extrema seriedade, nas consequências desse acto e nas consequências que terá para a nossa credibilidade quando chegar a altura de negociar o espaço de segurança com os Estados Unidos.
Cohn-Bendit (Verts/ALE ).
Senhor Presidente, gosto muito de ouvir o Senhor Comissário Patten, mas este discurso, em particular, foi demais. Senhor Comissário, a questão pode estar clara para V. Exa., mas também o está para nós. Queremos que se consulte o Tribunal de Justiça, pois estamos preparados para lutar contra o terrorismo, mas não contra os direitos das pessoas à confidencialidade. Este direito faz parte da nossa identidade europeia. Não cederemos a nossa identidade europeia ao (ao estio de vida americano). Trata-se de uma votação pela Europa, que tem uma abordagem diferente da liberdade e da justiça: a abordagem correcta.
Watson (ELDR ).
Senhor Presidente, esta Assembleia debateu já em numerosas ocasiões a questão dos acordos com os Estados Unidos propostos pela Comissão. A Assembleia manifestou a sua disponibilidade para chegar a acordo com os Estados Unidos quanto ao intercâmbio de dados PNR por parte das transportadoras aéreas no âmbito de um acordo internacional adequado, a aprovar pelo Congresso e por este Parlamento, de molde a assegurar a consecução do equilíbrio entre a protecção dos dados e uma luta eficaz contra o terrorismo.
A Comissão está profundamente dividida a este respeito, sendo inclusivamente incapaz de exigir a constatação de um nível de protecção adequado, pois não conhece as circunstâncias em que os Americanos poderão transmitir dados a países terceiros. Entendemos dever obter o parecer do Tribunal de Justiça sobre a compatibilidade deste acordo com o direito da União e com os próprios Tratados. Aconselho a Assembleia a ponderar cuidadosamente e a remeter a questão para o Tribunal de Justiça.
Terrón i Cusí (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, não me parece razoável o que acaba de suceder; não me parece razoável que se dê a oportunidade de exprimir, perante todos os membros desta Assembleia, a opinião contrária do Comissário Patten a respeito do recurso ao Tribunal de Justiça, quando passámos meses a discutir isto aqui. Não tivemos a oportunidade que o Comissário Patten teve ontem de falar perante uma audiência mais vasta; tivemos a nossa oportunidade no trabalho de fundo realizado na Comissão das Liberdades e dos Direitos dos Cidadãos, da Justiça e dos Assuntos Internos e na Comissão dos Assuntos Jurídicos e do Mercado Interno.
Há um parecer favorável do plenário anterior para se apresentar um recurso perante o Tribunal de Justiça; há um parecer favorável da Comissão de Assuntos Jurídicos; já deveríamos ter apresentado o caso ao Tribunal. Paremos com isto, por favor. Não é aceitável. E passemos finalmente à votação, porque isso garantirá que não haverá mais possibilidades de alterar o que até hoje foi a posição maioritária desta Assembleia. Se aceitamos esta posição, adoptemo-la agora, por favor.
Lehne (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, o acordo vem melhorar a situação jurídica dos passageiros europeus e quero deixar aqui muito claro - e o Comissário Patten já anunciou o que vai suceder - que responsabilizaremos com toda a firmeza os responsáveis por este caos. Diremos claramente aos cidadãos europeus quem, exactamente, restringiu os seus direitos neste domínio. Obrigado!
Cappato (NI ).
– Senhor Presidente, desejo simplesmente dizer que a situação actual é ilegal e que não é credível uma proposta de reforma quando esta parte de alguém que, até à data, tem sido incapaz de respeitar a forma existente. Os Estados Unidos têm o direito de solicitar os dados que desejarem antes dos voos; mas isso deve ser feito através de procedimentos consentâneos com as nossas normas.
Os Estados Unidos, se o desejarem, podem inclusivamente reintroduzir a obrigatoriedade dos vistos: podem fazê-lo. O que não podem fazer é usar os dados recolhidos para fins comerciais e utilizá-los posteriormente para fins de segurança. Não se trata de os Estados Unidos serem maus. Nenhum Estado-Membro, nenhum governo europeu pode fazê-lo. Julgo, por conseguinte, que não podemos admitir que um Estado que não pertence à União Europeia possa fazer o que um Estado-Membro não pode.
Boogerd-Quaak (ELDR ),
Senhor Presidente, a questão não reside em saber se deve ou não ser concluído um acordo; o Parlamento sempre disse que devia ser concluído um acordo. Porém, aquilo que queremos é um acordo que seja concluído com a aprovação do Parlamento, tal como o Senhor Comissário Bolkestein nos prometeu em Setembro do ano passado.
Pedimos ao Tribunal de Justiça que se ocupe desta questão e que garanta que podemos exercer os nossos direitos a fim de podermos bloquear algumas partes do acordo – como a transferência de dados para países terceiros por parte dos Estados Unidos, para citar apenas uma -, caso entendamos que as mesmas não são possíveis neste momento. Por isso mesmo, espero que o Parlamento continue a seguir o rumo que foi traçado.
Presidente.
Pretendo exercer, a este respeito, o meu direito de voto e votarei a favor da primazia da política.
Farei o meu dever e remeterei a questão para o Tribunal de Justiça ainda hoje.
Watson (ELDR ).
Senhor Presidente, o envio ao Tribunal não teria sido a nossa opção. A Comissão prometeu consultar-nos nos termos do artigo 300º, com poder de assentimento. A Comissão não honrou essa promessa e, por conseguinte, tivemos de recorrer a um instrumento muito contundente para tentar preservar a democracia no seio da União.
Presidente.
Gostaria de, em nome deste Parlamento, desejar as boas-vindas à tribuna oficial a uma delegação Parlamento ruandês, encabeçada pelo seu Presidente, que ontem aqui participou numa cerimónia para assinalar as atrocidades cometidas nesse país há dez anos. Sejam muito bem-vindos ao Parlamento Europeu.
Presidente.
Passo agora ao relatório da senhora deputada Boogerd-Quaak sobre a liberdade de expressão, sobre o qual fui convidado a pronunciar-me o início do dia. Passo a salientar alguns aspectos que foram trazidos à minha atenção.
Existem 338 alterações. Remeti um pedido à Comissão das Liberdades e dos Direitos dos Cidadãos, da Justiça e dos Assuntos Internos no sentido de as alterações serem processadas ao abrigo do artigo 130º bis. Recebi um relatório dessa comissão. Todas as alterações apresentadas receberam votos favoráveis de pelo menos um décimo dos membros da comissão e, por isso, nos termos do Regimento, têm o direito de ser votadas.
Recebi uma carta do senhor deputado Podestà solicitando que o relatório fosse declarado não admissível. Respondi ao senhor deputado Podestà e enviei cópia da nossa correspondência à Comissão das Liberdades e dos Direitos dos Cidadãos, da Justiça e dos Assuntos Internos. Entendi que, nos termos do Regimento, determinadas partes do texto poderiam ser revistas, possivelmente mediante a publicação de uma corrigenda; mas que o relatório, enquanto tal, era admissível.
Antes do debate, ontem, recebi um pedido do senhor deputado Ribeiro e Castro, em nome do Grupo UEN, para que se aplicasse o artigo 143º sobre a não admissibilidade a esta questão. O Vice-Presidente que na altura assegurava a presidência da sessão, rejeitou este pedido por entender que não tinha sido feita qualquer notificação nas 24 horas anteriores e porque eu, na qualidade de Presidente, já tinha decidido que o relatório era admissível.
Desde então, recebi uma carta do senhor deputado Poettering, solicitando uma revisão da decisão de não envio do relatório à comissão. Na sua carta, o senhor deputado Poettering pede-me, uma vez mais, que pondere na possibilidade de novo envio à comissão, utilizando as prerrogativas e poderes da presidência da sessão. Na manutenção da minha decisão pesaram os comentários que recebi do Presidente da Comissão das Liberdades e dos Direitos dos Cidadãos, da Justiça e dos Assuntos Internos, o senhor deputado Hernández Mollar, que salientou que os grupos políticos partilhavam da minha análise da questão da admissibilidade no que respeita ao relatório na sua generalidade. Por conseguinte, entendo manter a minha opinião de que o relatório seja, efectivamente, considerado admissível, na íntegra, embora possam ser necessárias algumas correcções.
Estou disposto a aceitar uma votação sobre o novo envio antes do início da votação do relatório. Isso é consentâneo com o Regimento e não uma questão de preferência pessoal. A Assembleia pode fazê-lo a qualquer momento, e é preciso respeitá-lo.
Por isso, por que não votamos de imediato? Aqui iniciamos uma história algo lamentável. Ontem, os serviços receberam 51 páginas de pedidos de votação nominal, por partes e em separado, relativos ao relatório Boogerd-Quaak sobre a liberdade de expressão e informação. Isso equivaleria a um total de 1 200 votações individuais, para além das 338 alterações, o que poderia conduzir a que a votação se estendesse por quatro horas ou mais.
Em segundo lugar, nestas condições, foi fisicamente impossível para os serviços prepararem o trabalho durante a noite a tempo do período de votações de hoje. No final do debate, ontem à noite, o Vice-Presidente que assegurava a presidência da sessão anunciou, por isso, que o relatório seria votado na quinta-feira. Estive a estudar o assunto – não só porque foi levantado hoje, mas também devido à sua complexidade – com base nos poderes que me são conferidos, na qualidade de Presidente, pelo nosso Regimento, sobretudo na interpretação do número 1 do artigo 19º, que confere ao Presidente o poder "de pôr textos à votação por ordem diferente da estabelecida no próprio documento objecto da votação", e também na do artigo 130º relativo à ordem de votação das alterações.
Reconheço também plenamente os direitos dos grupos de apresentarem pedidos nos termos do Regimento. Desta forma, pretendo propor o seguinte pacote. Em primeiro lugar, a votação terá lugar amanhã ao meio-dia. Em segundo lugar, permitirei que se realize uma votação normal quanto à totalidade das alterações, porém, não permitirei nem votações por partes, nem votações nominais das mesmas. Permitirei igualmente os pedidos de votação por partes dos números originais da proposta de resolução e um único pedido de votação nominal por número, segundo as indicações dadas pelos grupos. Lamento informar que, ainda assim, isso implicará um total de 600 votações e um período de votações que poderá durar mais duas horas. No entanto, esta sugestão implicará a rejeição de 1000 votações por partes sobre alterações.
Ao apresentar esta proposta à Câmara, estou a tentar conseguir um equilíbrio entre os direitos dos diferentes grupos com assento na Assembleia e as preferências de um ou mais pela condução dos trabalhos de uma forma razoavelmente ordeira. Estou disposto a pôr à votação a minha proposta nos termos do artigo 19º. Se a Assembleia rejeitar a proposta, decidirei, nos termos do nº 3 do artigo 130º, pôr à votação, em primeiro lugar, o texto original do relatório, número a número, e votar apenas esse texto.
Esta é a minha proposta. Estou disposto a ouvir um orador de cada grupo, votar e depois decidir em conformidade.
Barón Crespo (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, em primeiro lugar devo dizer que fui eu quem propôs o conteúdo desse relatório, que teve um apoio maioritário na Conferência dos Presidentes, e que se ocupa da liberdade de expressão e de informação na União Europeia - em Itália em particular, mas na União Europeia em geral. O excelente relatório da senhora deputada Boogerd-Quaak faz referência à maioria dos países da União Europeia, incluindo o meu, e creio portanto que é um bom trabalho que honra o Parlamento.
Dito isto, gostaria em primeiro lugar de fazer uma crítica política, pois creio que é muito positivo que nesta última sessão plenária desta legislatura tenhamos um debate político de fundo, e este refere-se ao caso de obstrucionismo que se gerou em relação a este relatório. O Senhor Presidente mencionou uma série de incidentes ocorridos durante a tramitação do relatório. Posso acrescentar algumas informações mais: por exemplo, desapareceram documentos na comissão, algo que é absolutamente inexplicável. Estamos perante uma verdadeira pista de obstáculos. E dado que o senhor mesmo mencionou uma carta que lhe foi dirigida pelo Senhor Vice-Presidente Podestà, tive conhecimento de um artigo que o Vice-Presidente Podestà publicou hoje no conhecido jornal italiano , no qual faz uma série de acusações graves ao comportamento do Parlamento Europeu. Diz ele - e cito em italiano -: , [O Regimento foi desrespeitado, permitindo que o debate no Parlamento se arrastasse indefinidamente], dizendo mais adiante que "[na Comissão das Liberdades e dos Direitos dos Cidadãos, da Justiça e dos Assuntos Internos, dominada pelo centro-esquerda] Pois bem, não sabia que tínhamos este domínio no Parlamento e não sei se o senhor depurado Poettering concordará com isto.
Em seguida, referindo-se à carta que dirigiu a V. Exa., diz que o Presidente Cox, na sua resposta, [teve de admitir que, em grande medida, eu tinha razão].
Gostaria de dizer claramente que creio que, na chamada coligação de centro-esquerda, respeitámos escrupulosamente o Regimento; mantivemos uma paciência de Job face a manobras sistemáticas de bloqueio e obstrucionismo. No entanto, se considerarmos a questão em termos políticos, admito que há dois grupos na Assembleia - e estou quase a concluir, Senhor Presidente - que fomentam o obstrucionismo, pois foram eles que apresentaram todas as alterações à excepção de quatro, e compreendo que defendam o Sr. Berlusconi, que é actualmente o líder do Grupo do Partido Popular Europeu (Democratas-Cristãos) e dos Democratas Europeus. Também o admito, mas deviam dizê-lo claramente, pois ...
... pois recordar-lhes-ia um velho princípio do Direito Romano que dizia - e foi isso o que fez a grandeza de Roma - que não se pode legislar para benefício de uma só pessoa. Temos de legislar para todos os cidadãos, e é isso o que está em jogo aqui. E vou portanto concluir, Senhor Presidente, ...
... com uma proposta: a chamada coligação de centro-esquerda tem quatro alterações. V. Exas. têm 350. Aceitamos que sejam votadas em bloco e, se assim não for, aceitamos a proposta do Presidente para que se vote número a número.
Poettering (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, pese embora toda a simpatia que tenho pelo senhor deputado Barón Crespo, a sua conclusão não ficou clara para mim. O Senhor Presidente fez uma pergunta e o senhor deputado Barón Crespo deu uma explicação, mas não chegou a qualquer conclusão. Por isso, pedi a palavra para dizer que apoiarei de bom grado a sua proposta no sentido de realizar amanhã a votação. Com 338 alterações, que estão a multiplicar-se devido a questões processuais, estamos numa situação difícil.
Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, penso que é importante salientar este ponto e vou fazê-lo com toda a calma e objectividade. Já falámos sobre esta questão esta manhã, no início da sessão, às 9H00. O presidente de um dos grupos afirmou que as alterações provêm do Grupo do Partido Popular Europeu (Democratas-Cristãos) e dos Democratas Europeus. Queria chamar a atenção para o facto de que há 338 alterações, e que nem todas estas alterações foram apresentadas pelo meu grupo. Apresentámos 157, o que significa que 181 alterações foram apresentadas por outros. Peço que se tome nota deste facto.
Abster-me-ei de fazer qualquer comentário sobre a qualidade do relatório neste momento, pois não desejo agravar a situação, mas queria pedir a todos que, em conjunto, tentássemos chegar a uma solução para esta difícil questão. Senhor Presidente, sabendo que é um Presidente justo e objectivo desta Assembleia, se propõe que votemos este relatório amanhã às 12H00 em conformidade com o procedimento que sugere, tem o nosso apoio.
Watson (ELDR ).
Senhor Presidente, não entrarei na essência da questão, uma vez que todos sabem o que está em causa. O meu grupo não tem qualquer objecção em participar nas 600 votações de amanhã, mas temos uma clara preferência pela sua sugestão de que se vote simplesmente o relatório original, número a número. Está já previsto um longo período de votações, tiveram já oportunidade de se pronunciar colegas de ambos os lados e, por conseguinte, proponho que sigamos a sua sugestão de votar apenas o texto do relatório original, número a número.
Frassoni (Verts/ALE ).
– Senhor Deputado Poettering, é verdade que esta será uma votação complicada, mas dirijo-me a si enquanto presidente do maior grupo com assento nesta Casa e ao presidente do Grupo União para a Europa das Nações, porque, como é evidente, grupos desta dimensão não costumam recorrer a tácticas obstrucionistas e, além disso, o senhor afirmou não querer fazê-lo.
A primeira coisa que desejo fazer, pois, é lançar um apelo a estes grupos no sentido de olharem para as suas alterações e verem se algumas delas podem ser retiradas. Quando se apresentam mais de cem alterações, afigura-se-me lógico que algumas são mais importantes e outras, menos importantes. Peço-lhes que o façam e que facilitem o nosso trabalho quando se proceder à votação: ficaremos todos gratos. Julgo que assim se demonstrará a sensibilidade política que se espera de grupos da vossa importância.
Senhor Presidente, estamos de acordo com a segunda proposta de proceder em primeiro lugar à votação do texto original.
Presidente.
Há apenas uma proposta, mas consoante o resultado da votação da Assembleia, a decisão será num ou noutro sentido.
Di Lello Finuoli (GUE/NGL ).
– Senhor Presidente, desejo simplesmente dizer que o meu grupo está de acordo em que se vote o relatório original parágrafo a parágrafo. O relatório é bastante bom, quase perfeito no início; estas alterações foram apresentadas para a sessão plenária.
Gostaria unicamente de explicar à Câmara, a quem possa não ter prestado atenção, que é verdade que 200 alterações são do Grupo do Partido Popular Europeu (Democratas-Cristãos) e dos Democratas Europeus e outras 200 de outros grupos, mas, em conjunto, 350 alterações procedem da e da . É óbvio, pois, que todas elas são dos amigos do senhor Berlusconi. Estamos, por conseguinte, de acordo com a sua proposta, Senhor Presidente, e procederemos à votação de acordo com a mesma.
Muscardini (UEN ).
– Senhor Presidente, penso que a sua proposta pode, sem dúvida, ser tomada em consideração e, se pudesse suspender os nossos trabalhos a fim de a podermos avaliar, estaríamos em condições de lhe dar uma opinião mais objectiva. Por exemplo, sinto que poderíamos aceitar o convite da senhora deputada Frassoni no sentido de reexaminar algumas das alterações com o objectivo de ver se é possível agrupá-las ou eliminar algumas. Sou, sem dúvida, favorável a que se proceda à votação amanhã, se isso for mais conveniente para todos, mas, Senhor Presidente, sou totalmente contra qualquer possibilidade de se anularem todas as alterações e todos os pedidos de voto secreto, porque é impensável eliminar todos os votos secretos desta forma. Recordo que muitos colegas de outros grupos apresentaram 30 ou 40 propostas de voto secreto de documentos que eram do seu interesse sem causar qualquer protesto no Parlamento.
Em relação ao que alguns colegas afirmaram, recordo o senhor deputado Barón Crespo – que criticou um artigo do senhor deputado Podestà – que esta misteriosa, como ele lhe chama, coligação de centro-esquerda publicou já um panfleto dando como certa a aprovação deste relatório nesta Casa e fazendo uma série de considerações, muito embora o relatório ainda não tenha sido submetido sequer a votação. Publicar comentários mordazes ou mentiras não é, obviamente, um sinal de boa vontade num grupo político.
Dirigindo-me ao outro deputado que se referiu aos "amigos do Senhor Berlusconi", posso assegurar-lhe em nome do Grupo União para a Europa das Nações que as nossas alterações são em nome de todo o grupo; todo o grupo forma uma só unidade; nenhum de nós tem amizades ou inimizades particulares; mas reivindicamos o direito, na qualidade de deputados deste Parlamento, de exercer plenamente o nosso mandato, fazendo o que o Regimento prevê e não ficar simplesmente a ouvir as constantes provocações feitas inclusivamente em comissão.
Boogerd-Quaak (ELDR ),
Senhor Presidente, gostaria de felicitá-lo pela sua sensatez. Depois de ter ouvido toda discussão, concordo que é uma excelente ideia votarmos o meu relatório original. O relatório tem conteúdo suficiente para que possa passar na íntegra pelo Parlamento e, talvez, isso alivie um pouco o sofrimento. Submeter à votação o relatório original afigura-se-me, portanto, uma excelente ideia.
Hernández Mollar (PPE-DE ),
- Senhor Presidente, gostaria de intervir em nome da comissão a que presido. O senhor deputado Barón Crespo fez uma declaração, uma acusação que considero particularmente grave. Disse que desapareceram documentos na minha comissão. Queria dizer à Presidência que, a ser falsa essa acusação, isso é de uma extrema gravidade, porque afectaria gravemente o prestígio e a honra da comissão a que presido.
Em segundo lugar, Senhor Presidente, gostaria que fosse explicado de que forma obteve o senhor deputado Barón Crespo essa informação, visto que eu desconhecia até hoje que tal havia ocorrido, e isso também afectaria gravemente o prestígio dos serviços da minha comissão.
Creio, Senhor Presidente, que esta situação requer uma clarificação imediata e, de qualquer modo, peço o apoio da Presidência.
Presidente.
Ouvimos os porta-vozes dos grupos. Seguirei agora o vosso parecer.
O pacote que foi proposto tenta respeitar o Regimento e as diferentes sensibilidades e opiniões que foram trazidas à nossa atenção. A bem da clareza, repito que a votação terá lugar amanhã, ao meio-dia. Permitirei uma votação normal sobre a totalidade das alterações, mas não permitirei as votações por partes nem as votações nominais das mesmas. Aceitarei ainda todos os pedidos de votação por partes dos números originais da proposta de resolução e um único pedido de votação nominal por número, segundo as indicações dadas pelos grupos. Isso implicará um total de 600 votações sobre o relatório, um longo período de votação e a rejeição de cerca de 1000 votações por partes das alterações.
Penso que se tenta assim conseguir um equilíbrio razoável entre os direitos dos grupos e a exigência de que o Parlamento conduza os seus trabalhos de forma ordeira. Apresento-vos a proposta nos termos do artigo 19º do Regimento. Se a Assembleia rejeitar esta proposta, tomarei a minha decisão, com base no nº 3 do artigo 130º, pondo à votação, em primeiro lugar, o texto original do relatório, número a número.
A votação terá, assim, lugar amanhã e, de acordo com o disposto no nº 3 do artigo 130º, votaremos o texto original, número a número e apenas isso.
Swoboda (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, queria apenas pedir-lhe que analisasse a possibilidade de iniciar mais cedo as votações de amanhã, pois, a não ser assim, creio ser injusto que todas as outras votações não possam realizar-se. Deveríamos começar mais cedo a sessão e, consequentemente, as votações, ou em alternativa deveríamos transferir para a tarde alguns dos pontos da ordem do dia inscritos na parte da manhã. Seja como for, as votações deveriam ter início mais cedo, ou seja, às 11H00.
Presidente.
Como consequência da vossa decisão, a votação não deverá levar-nos tanto tempo amanhã.
Hernández Mollar (PPE-DE ),
- Estou surpreendido. Pedi explicações para uma série de acusações que foram feitas nesta Assembleia e não recebi qualquer resposta.
Solicito que alguém responda à minha pergunta.
Barón Crespo (PSE ).
- Tendo em conta que não sou o único a ter feito acusações e que o Vice-Presidente Podestà fez uma série de acusações por escrito na imprensa italiana ...
... aceito de bom grado o desafio do senhor deputado Hernández Mollar, mas solicito formalmente que seja elaborado um pacote com aquilo que eu disso e aquilo que disse por escrito o Vice-Presidente Podestà ...
Senhor Presidente, pediria à fera que anda por aqui à solta que se acalmasse.
Estou disposto a dar explicações à Mesa do Parlamento sobre todos estes assuntos, sobre as acusações do Vice-Presidente Podestà e sobre as minhas.
Presidente.
Peço tranquilidade a todos. Bem sei que com o aproximar das eleições todos nós sofremos de febre eleitoral e que a nossa temperatura sobe. Por favor, aclamem-se. Terão uma audição justa.
Senhor Deputado Barón Crespo, afirma existirem alguns problemas relacionados com o desaparecimento de documentação. Desconheço os pormenores. O Presidente da comissão parlamentar competente salientou considerar esta questão uma ofensa à sua comissão e ao respectivo secretariado. Convido-o, Senhor Deputado Barón Crespo, a tentar, no tempo que medeia até ao final do período de sessões, consubstanciar ou, caso contrário, retirar os seus comentários.
Entretanto, como não conheço as provas, não posso tecer novos comentários.
Hernández Mollar (PPE-DE ),
- Senhor Presidente, não falei aqui de qualquer desafio, nem tão-pouco estou a falar de pacotes, estou a falar de uma acusação grave feita pelo senhor deputado Barón Crespo, que afecta o prestígio desta Assembleia. De qualquer modo, Senhor Presidente, se isso for verdade - e solicito que se abra uma investigação imediata -, as votações realizadas na comissão são nulas e não podemos, por conseguinte, proceder amanhã à votação deste relatório.
Podestà (PPE-DE ).
– Senhor Presidente, em primeiro lugar pergunto-lhe se é correcto que haja funcionários sentados nos lugares do Conselho a rir e a gesticular. Peço a todos que mantenham uma atitude de respeito para com esta Casa. Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, penso que respeitei sempre as posições dos outros: por conseguinte, peço-lhes que ajam da mesma forma.
No que diz respeito ao senhor deputado Barón Crespo, antes de mais, eu já tinha solicitado o uso da palavra, meu caro colega, mas não me foi concedido. Devo dizer que subscrevo plenamente o que escrevi, dado que, efectivamente, basta olhar-se atentamente para os números para ver qual é a situação. De resto, no que diz respeito à carta de resposta do senhor Presidente Cox, também tive de lhe responder indicando os pontos na sua carta nos quais reconhecia que existiam graves lacunas e defeitos no próprio relatório. Respeito, por conseguinte, a decisão do Presidente, mas peço-lhe que não se esconda atrás de um problema que não existe e que, de todas as formas, não é seu, só porque não quer dar resposta a um pedido específico do senhor deputado Hernández Mollar.
Um último ponto, Senhor Presidente: mais uma vez, aceito o resultado da votação desta Câmara, a votação que o Senhor Presidente fez que tivesse lugar hoje. Todavia, se lermos o Regimento, não cumpre à Câmara decidir quando nem como uma dada votação deve ter lugar: trata-se da sua responsabilidade directa. No que me diz respeito, por conseguinte, o Senhor Presidente pediu conselho e depois tomou uma decisão de forma independente. Não é à Câmara que cumpre decidir sobre este tipo de questões. Peço a todos que leiam o Regimento e o estudem.
Senhor Deputado Barón Crespo, o Regimento não é um conjunto do qual se pode escolher apenas algumas partes; deixemos, pois, a pessoa que tem a palavra e que é democraticamente eleita e que representa aqui os cidadãos deste …
Senhor Presidente, penso que há sempre alguém entre nós que descobriu a democracia demasiado tarde e que, por isso, talvez não esteja familiarizado nem com as suas regras nem com o seu significado mais profundo.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ).
Senhor Presidente, decidido o procedimento de votação de amanhã, não ficou claro para mim se será possível ou não votar com base no artigo 144° do Regulamento o reenvio à Comissão. O que se está a passar e o que estamos a assistir é uma reacção inevitável, saudável, a graves irregularidades que estão contidas no relatório, o qual usurpa, a meu ver, competências de instituições constitucionais dos Estados-Membros. É isso que está a dar lugar a esta reacção inevitável, justa e legítima perante o abuso da maioria desta Câmara, que invoca os Tratados para os violar, que invoca a Constituição e a Carta dos Direitos Fundamentais para também violar algumas das suas normas. Portanto, considero indispensável que a Câmara reflicta de novo sobre esta questão e possa votar o reenvio à Comissão para que o relatório possa ser depurado das suas irregularidades. E, portanto, peço ao senhor presidente que essa moção, amanhã, possa ser considerada e posta à discussão e à votação.
Presidente.
Permitam-me que conclua, dizendo, em resposta ao senhor deputado Ribeiro e Castro, que nos termos do Regimento, têm o direito de tentar conseguir um novo envio. Seria uma decisão a tomar por maioria. Se não conseguir esse novo envio, então votamos da forma indicada há pouco. O senhor deputado Podestà tem razão ao afirmar que se trata de uma escolha minha, mas essa opção foi agora reforçada pela vossa sabedoria.
Lamento este longo atraso. Agora é preciso que justifiquem o vosso direito a almoçar! O senhor deputado Podestà prosseguirá a votação.
Jarzembowski (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, queria pedir apenas que, na carta ao Conselho, assinalasse que existe um erro na versão alemã da posição comum. Nas nossas negociações com o Conselho, conseguimos persuadi-lo a substituir o termo (estradas marítimas de grande velocidade) pelo termo (auto-estradas marítimas), pois também queremos promover barcos mais lentos e não apenas os barcos mais rápidos. Solicito, por conseguinte, que na comunicação ao Conselho seja feita referência ao erro linguístico presente na versão alemã relativamente ao termo . Creio que esta opinião é partilhada por toda a Assembleia.
Presidente.
– Senhor Deputado Jarzembowski, tomei nota da sua observação, que, de qualquer modo, já levada ao conhecimento dos serviços competentes.
Boogerd-Quaak (ELDR ),
Senhor Presidente, uma vez que o acordo está a ser apreciado pelo Tribunal de Justiça, parece-me melhor que este relatório não seja submetido à votação agora, e que aguarde primeiro a resposta do Tribunal. Espero que a Comissão e o Conselho concordem. A minha proposta é, portanto, a seguinte: em vez de votarmos agora o relatório, procedermos ao seu novo envio à comissão, enquanto se aguarda o parecer do Tribunal de Justiça.
Presidente.
Gostaria de convidar o presidente da comissão competente a manifestar o seu parecer.
Hernández Mollar (PPE-DE ),
- Senhor Presidente, creio que não há nenhuma razão ou justificação para não se votar o relatório e a proposta de resolução. O que foi votado esta manhã é perfeitamente compatível com o conteúdo da própria resolução, que solicita a suspensão do acordo. Temos, por conseguinte, de emitir a nossa opinião sobre isto.
Creio que tanto a proposta como a resolução devem ser submetidas a votação e peço que assim seja feito.
Watson (ELDR ).
Senhor Presidente, seguramente que se a própria relatora solicita que se envie de novo à comissão o seu relatório, e havendo divergências, a Assembleia terá, então, de votar a questão, não?
Presidente.
Se se trata de um pedido oficial de reenvio à comissão, vamos ouvir um deputado pronunciar-se a favor e um deputado pronunciar-se contra, e depois a Câmara decidirá.
Watson (ELDR ).
Senhor Presidente, decidimos remeter a questão para o Tribunal de Justiça. Se passarmos agora a votar o relatório que rejeita o acordo, estaremos, efectivamente, a mostrar desrespeito pelo Tribunal. Se a Assembleia votasse a favor do acordo, estaria, então, a antecipar a decisão do Tribunal. Parece-me absolutamente natural que, uma vez que aguardamos que o Tribunal se pronuncie, mantenhamos o relatório em sede de comissão, para posterior votação.
Hernández Mollar (PPE-DE ),
- Senhor Presidente, reitero o que disse antes: não há qualquer incompatibilidade no facto de, por um lado, termos votado como votámos em relação ao parecer preliminar do Tribunal de Justiça e, por outro lado, devermos emitir a nossa opinião sobre a proposta legislativa e a resolução. Volto a repetir: é a própria resolução que solicita que o acordo seja suspenso. Assiste-nos, pois, este legítimo direito nesta Assembleia e os grupos políticos ver-se-iam privados do mesmo, caso fôssemos impedidos de votar a proposta e a resolução.
Portanto, Senhor Presidente, volto a insistir em que este relatório não seja devolvido à comissão, mas seja votado conforme previsto, pelas razões que acabo de expor, que creio serem conclusivas.
Bourlanges (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, queria simplesmente manifestar o meu espanto pelo facto de o nº 24 da resolução van Hulten não ter sido considerado não admissível. Solicito que o mesmo seja declarado não admissível. O texto diz: "o relator entende que [...] é necessária ...". Esta Assembleia não tem qualquer competência para dizer o que o relator pensa ou não pensa. Esta Assembleia, porém, tem seguramente competência para dizer se está de acordo ou não com o relator. Não é esta a questão que se coloca. Solicito que o nº 24 seja declarado não admissível.
van Hulten (PSE ),
Senhor Presidente, há aqui um mal-entendido. O senhor deputado Bourlanges refere-se à exposição de motivos - e não a um número da resolução - e, como sabe, a exposição de motivos não está incluída no texto final adoptado em plenária.
Presidente.
Afigura-se-me, Senhor Deputado Bourlanges, que a resposta do senhor deputado van Hulten esclarece este ponto.
Blak (GUE/NGL ).
Senhor Presidente, em virtude da adopção da alteração 44, gostaria, em nome do Grupo Confederal da Esquerda Unitária Europeia/Esquerda Nórdica Verde, de retirar as alterações 29 e 32. Deixaram, pois, de ter qualquer relevância.
Kuhne (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, está correcto, e estou-lhe grato. Na interpretação ouvi apenas "e", "29 e 32". Todavia, em minha opinião, as alterações 30 e 31 são igualmente redundantes, pois tratam exactamente o mesmo tema. Talvez tenha sido um erro de interpretação. Penso que o senhor deputado Blak e eu podemos concordar quanto ao facto de as acções do seu grupo serem agora efectivamente caducas.
Ferber (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, se os meus olhos não me enganam, o senhor deputado Hans-Peter Martin não participou nesta votação, facto que eu lamentaria profundamente tendo em conta a ampla reforma que acabámos de realizar, e espero que ele nos dê devidamente o seu apoio nestas questões. Afinal de contas, não é senão justo que se participe em votações deste género, e eu teria igualmente ficado satisfeito se ele tivesse apresentado algumas alterações a fim de também pôr a votação o seu programa de reformas.
Martin, Hans-Peter (NI ).
- Senhor Presidente, quero apenas responder à observações que acabaram de ser feitas. Estou aqui; apenas tive de sair por breves instantes, pois foi publicada uma declaração em nome do Presidente na qual são feitas alegações a meu respeito que simplesmente não correspondem aos factos. Vi muitas vezes o senhor deputado Ferber sair do hemiciclo em circunstâncias semelhantes. Sempre tomei parte neste processo de reforma e, pela lamentável reacção de agora, pode ver-se até que ponto estão a isolar-se e em que medida as críticas feitas neste Parlamento - incluindo as minhas alterações nas comissões - são simplesmente ignoradas. Lamento-o pelos eleitores e contribuintes da Europa.
van Hulten (PSE ),
Senhor Presidente, não ganhámos a votação contra Estrasburgo, e admito a derrota nesta matéria, por enquanto. Quanto à segunda questão, votámos, por ampla maioria, a introdução, o mais rapidamente possível, do sistema de despesas adoptado pela Mesa no ano passado. Poderá solicitar ao Presidente do Parlamento que diga, o mais rapidamente possível à Assembleia, quando tenciona pedir à Mesa que aplique essas regras?
Balfe (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, poderá dar à Assembleia alguma indicação sobre se tenciona interromper os trabalhos para o almoço? Há ainda uma série de votações e algumas delegações oficiais, uma delas do Parlamento australiano, que aguardam que o nosso colega, o senhor deputado Sturdy, seja seu anfitrião durante o almoço. Devo dizer também que são já 14H10!
Presidente.
Deixo isso à decisão da Câmara.
Poos (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, seja qual for a votação sobre o adiamento dos pontos que se seguem, pedir-lhe-ia, contudo, que pusesse a votação a resolução sobre Chipre, pois é importante que a opinião do Parlamento Europeu seja conhecida com suficiente antecedência em relação ao referendo de sábado.
Wijkman (PPE-DE ),
Senhor Presidente, compreendo e simpatizo com a ideia subjacente à alteração apresentada, na qual se reconhece a necessidade de incentivos no mercado, a fim de encorajar a aquisição de produtos respeitadores do ambiente. No entanto, a sua redacção é demasiadamente específica. Sugiro uma alternativa: "Insiste que, a fim de promover o consumo de produtos respeitadores do ambiente, a Comissão encoraje os Estados-Membros a considerarem diversos incentivos, tais como incentivos fiscais, descontos, etc.". Segundo sei, os colegas que originalmente apresentaram esta alteração aceitam esta nova redacção.
Wijkman (PPE-DE ),
Senhor Presidente, apoio a primeira parte da alteração, mas não a segunda. No entanto, gostaria de sugerir que, caso a Assembleia apoie a primeira parte, então esta seja votada como adenda.
Jarzembowski (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, é na minha qualidade de presidente da comissão temporária sobre o relatório Sterckx, sobre o qual trabalhámos durante um semestre, que vos peço que o ponham a votação a fim de evitar que seja declarado caduco. Peço-vos que tenham a devida atenção pelo trabalho realizado por deputados ao longo de um semestre e ponham o relatório Sterckx a votação.
Antes da votação da alteração nº 2:
Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, pedimos aos serviços competentes que fizessem uma correcção linguística, porque a alteração 2 foi apresentada em inglês e há outras versões que contêm o termo "considerável", que não figura na versão inglesa, que faz fé. Solicito que esta correcção seja feita.
Presidente.
– Vamos verificar todas as versões linguísticas, Senhor Deputado Suanzes-Carpegna.
Berthu (NI ),
- Uma vez mais, o Parlamento Europeu acaba de votar a favor de um calendário de trabalho para 2005 em que não há sessões de Estrasburgo à sexta-feira. Evidentemente, votei contra.
O que esperamos agora concretamente da parte do Governo francês - mas já esperamos em vão há anos - é que apresente um recurso perante o Tribunal de Justiça para fazer respeitar o Tratado.
Queria recordar-lhes o que já disse milhares de vezes noutras declarações de voto: temos bons argumentos a invocar. Em primeiro lugar, o Parlamento Europeu não é uma Assembleia soberana e deve respeitar o Tratado, como o Tribunal de Justiça já o reconheceu. Em segundo lugar, o Tribunal já reconheceu também que, no protocolo que estabelece as sedes das Instituições, que menciona "os doze períodos de sessões plenárias mensais" do Parlamento Europeu, o artigo "os" designa as sessões tal como se realizavam na altura em que a decisão foi tomada. Isto incluía cinco dias de sessões mensais, incluindo a sexta-feira.
Consequentemente, devemos apresentar um recurso sobre esta questão, tanto mais que o Parlamento Europeu está agora tão sobrecarregado de trabalho.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. A simplificação e clarificação da legislação comunitária é absolutamente indispensável a fim de a tornar mais acessível ao cidadão comum e mais facilmente inteligível para todos. Tais objectivos dificilmente serão alcançados se se mantiver, sobre a mesma matéria, uma dispersão de disposições sobre as mesmas matérias, várias vezes alteradas de forma substancial.
O objectivo da presente proposta da Comissão - que, naturalmente, conta com o meu apoio - é realizar a codificação da primeira directiva do Conselho de 23 de Julho de 1962, relativa ao estabelecimento de regras comuns para certos transportes rodoviários de mercadorias, e dos demais actos que a vieram modificar, preservando integralmente o seu conteúdo e limitando-se a reuni-los com as alterações formais exigidas pelo próprio processo de codificação.
Este entendimento vai ao encontro da decisão de 1 de Abril de 1987 da Comissão que, a fim de garantir que as disposições comunitárias sejam claras e compreensíveis, decidiu solicitar aos seus serviços que procedessem à codificação de todos os actos legislativos após a ocorrência de, no máximo, dez alterações e também das conclusões da Presidência do Conselho Europeu de Edimburgo, de Dezembro de 1992, que confirmaram a importância da codificação.
Votei a favor deste relatório que recomenda a aprovação desta proposta.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. A simplificação e clarificação da legislação comunitária é absolutamente indispensável a fim de a tornar mais acessível ao cidadão comum e mais facilmente inteligível para todos. Tais objectivos dificilmente serão alcançados se se mantiver, sobre a mesma matéria, uma dispersão de disposições, várias vezes alteradas de forma substancial.
O objectivo da presente proposta da Comissão - que, naturalmente, conta com o meu apoio - é realizar a codificação da Directiva 78/659/CEE do Conselho, de 18 de Julho de 1978, relativa à qualidade das águas doces que necessitam de ser protegidas ou melhoradas a fim de estarem aptas para a vida dos peixes.
Este entendimento vai ao encontro da decisão de 1 de Abril de 1987 da Comissão que, a fim de garantir que as disposições comunitárias sejam claras e compreensíveis, decidiu solicitar aos seus serviços que procedessem à codificação de todos os actos legislativos após a ocorrência de, no máximo, dez alterações e também das conclusões da Presidência do Conselho Europeu de Edimburgo, de Dezembro de 1992, que confirmaram a importância da codificação.
Votei a favor deste relatório que recomenda a aprovação desta proposta.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. O colega Berenguer Fuster traz-nos um relatório que convida à aprovação da proposta de decisão do Conselho, respeitante a um projecto de regulamento da UNECE (Comissão Económica para a Europa das Nações Unidas).
O documento em causa é claro e faz parte de um conjunto de medidas que procuram evitar a criação de entraves técnicos às trocas comerciais de veículos a motor entre as partes contratantes.
Neste caso concreto, espera-se que um novo regulamento relativo às disposições técnicas harmonizadas aplicáveis ao comportamento ao fogo de materiais utilizados na construção do interior de determinadas categorias de veículo a motor seja aprovado.
A próxima reunião do Fórum Mundial para a Harmonização das regulamentações aplicáveis a Veículos da UNECE servirá também para que o representante da Comissão vote sobre esta matéria, em nome da CE.
Lembre-se que a Comunidade Europeia aderiu ao acordo revisto de 1958 da Comissão Económica para a Europa das Nações Unidas em 1997, entrando em vigor a respectiva Decisão do Conselho a 24 de Março 1998.
Esse projecto de regulamento, note-se ainda, não deixará de assegurar um nível elevado de segurança e de protecção ambiental.
Votei a favor do relatório, pois estou totalmente de acordo com o seu propósito.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. O colega Berenguer Fuster traz-nos mais um relatório que convida à aprovação da proposta de decisão do Conselho, respeitante a um projecto de regulamento da UNECE (Comissão Económica para a Europa das Nações Unidas).
O documento em causa é claro e faz parte de um conjunto de medidas que procuram evitar a criação de entraves técnicos às trocas comerciais de veículos a motor entre as partes contratantes.
Neste caso concreto, espera-se que um novo regulamento relativo às disposições técnicas harmonizadas aplicáveis à protecção dos veículos automóveis contra uma utilização não autorizada seja aprovado.
Voto a favor do relatório, na mesma linha dos demais pacotes, pois estou totalmente de acordo com o seu propósito.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. O colega Berenguer Fuster traz-nos um outro relatório que convida à aprovação da proposta de decisão do Conselho, respeitante a um projecto de regulamento da UNECE (Comissão Económica para a Europa das Nações Unidas).
O documento em causa é claro e faz parte de um conjunto de medidas que procuram evitar a criação de entraves técnicos às trocas comerciais de veículos a motor entre as partes contratantes.
Neste caso concreto, espera-se que um novo regulamento relativo às disposições harmonizadas aplicáveis à homologação de pneumáticos no que diz respeito ao ruído de rolamento seja aprovado.
Voto a favor do relatório, na mesma linha dos demais pacotes, pois estou totalmente de acordo com o seu propósito.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. Trata-se de propor algumas alterações no âmbito de três regulamentos que estabelecem medidas específicas para a aplicação da PAC nas regiões ultraperiféricas, destinadas a melhorar as condições de produção e comercialização dos seus produtos agrícolas e a minimizar os efeitos da sua situação geográfica excepcional e seus condicionalismos.
De forma a evitar desvios de tráfego para os produtos em causa, estes regulamentos proíbem, apenas com algumas excepções, a reexpedição e a reexportação de tais produtos a partir das regiões ultraperiféricas.
Ocorre que essa proibição e o carácter muito estrito das excepções, prejudicam o desenvolvimento da actividade económica de certos operadores, sugerindo-se através desta proposta que a expedição ou exportação dos produtos em causa seja autorizada mediante reembolso prévio da vantagem económica.
Outra medida diz respeito aos Açores e à Madeira. Actualmente, estabelece-se que a proibição de reexpedir e reexportar produtos abrangidos pelo regime específico de abastecimento não se aplica às trocas comerciais entre os Açores e a Madeira, não se distinguindo para esse efeito produtos transformados de não transformados.
Dado que o açúcar, abrangido pelo regime específico de abastecimento da Madeira e com destino aos Açores, cujo mercado regista dificuldades, foi objecto de especulação, propõe-se doravante que o comércio entre os Açores e a Madeira de produtos beneficiários do regime específico de abastecimento seja limitado aos produtos transformados.
Votei a favor.
Queiró (UEN ),
. Tendo em conta a importância do Observatório Europeu do Audiovisual e o trabalho meritório que tem desenvolvido, acompanho a proposta da relatora de aceitação da proposta da Comissão de prolongar por mais dois anos a participação da Comunidade no Observatório, mantendo o actual orçamento de funcionamento e introduzindo apenas duas novas alterações. Por um lado, a de reforçar oportunamente as suas capacidades e, por outro, a de propor ao Observatório Europeu do Audiovisual a recolha e a prestação de informações periciais e sistemáticas nos domínios do direito fiscal e do direito do trabalho, bem como da legislação em matéria de direitos de autor e de protecção dos consumidores.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. Como se sabe o Observatório Europeu do Audiovisual resulta de um Acordo Parcial Alargado do Conselho da Europa. Presentemente, o Observatório conta com a participação de 35 Estados, entre os quais todos os actuais e futuros Estados-Membros. Tem por objectivo melhorar as transferências de informações na indústria audiovisual, e promover uma melhor percepção do mercado e sua maior transparência.
A presente proposta visa prolongar por mais dois anos a participação da Comunidade no Observatório, até Dezembro de 2006 e, por outro, manter o orçamento anual ao nível do orçamento de 2004, ou seja, 235 000 euros. O que merece o meu apoio.
Apoiei, também, a proposta da relatora de, por um lado, reforçar oportunamente as capacidades do OEA e, por outro, propor a recolha e a prestação de informações periciais e sistemáticas nos domínios do direito fiscal e do direito do trabalho, bem como da legislação em matéria de direitos de autor e de protecção dos consumidores.
Realço, por último, a importância de fazer face à carência de dados estatísticos e comparativos acerca dos serviços destinados a ajudar os invisuais e as pessoas afectadas por deficiências visuais, bem como os surdos e os deficientes auditivos na UE, havendo vantagem na recolha e publicação desses dados por parte do Observatório.
Por tudo isto, votei a favor.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. Nos últimos anos, têm-se verificado avanços significativos na luta contra o tabaco.
De facto, o consumo tabágico assume riscos elevados para a saúde dos cidadãos e, como tal, cabe em especial à União Europeia e aos Estados-Membros apresentar medidas de modo a salvaguardar a saúde pública.
Exemplo recente, e conhecido por todos, é a obrigação de impressão de advertências que cubram, no mínimo, 30% da área da embalagem.
No entanto, é globalmente reconhecido que é preciso fazer mais e é nesse sentido que nos aparece esta Convenção-Quadro.
Embora condene o fundamentalismo e o ridículo de alguns exageros , concordo com a necessidade de protecção contra a exposição ao fumo do tabaco em alguns locais, com as medidas que visam não permitir a venda de tabaco a menores, e, como tal, com o aumento da cooperação do Estados-Membros, assim como são bem-vindas, sobretudo por não serem vinculativas, as recomendações feitas no que toca à publicidade.
Embora o relatório tenha obtido uma apreciação favorável nas comissões envolvidas e de a aprovação da Convenção-Quadro da OMS não ter consequências financeiras de maior e não afectar os actos jurídicos existentes, retenho as reservas expressas no decurso do processo parlamentar, essencialmente para assegurar o respeito pelo princípio da subsidiariedade. Assim, abstive-me.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. A Directiva 2001/113/CE harmonizou a rotulagem de doces e geleias de frutos, citrinadas e creme de castanha destinados à alimentação humana, definindo cada produto e os seus ingredientes.
A proposta visa alterar a versão alemã da directiva, uma vez que, em determinadas zonas da Áustria, existe a aplicação tradicional do termo "Marmelade" numa acepção que extravasa a forma como a directiva a vinha definindo, incluindo não só esta rectificação como a inclusão de outras designações sinónimas.
Julgo que esta proposta, não obstante o seu carácter correctivo e de pormenor, encerra dois valores que urgiria colocar na ordem do dia da agenda europeia: o respeito pelas tradições e costumes locais e o multilinguismo. Sem este objectivo, creio que a Europa tenderá a "afunilar", vítima da força centrípeta de um centro afastado das realidades locais.
A bem da clareza, votei a favor.
De Rossa (PSE ),
Gostaria de deixar registado o meu apoio a este relatório e, em especial, à quitação à Fundação Europeia para a Melhoria das Condições de Vida e de Trabalho pela execução do seu orçamento do exercício de 2002 (C5-0631/2003 – 2003/2241(DEC)).
A Fundação é um organismo tripartido da União Europeia, criado em 1975, para contribuir para o planeamento e criação de melhores condições de vida e de trabalho. Está sedeada em Dublin, e é com orgulho que aplaudo os excelentes projectos de investigação e desenvolvimento que leva a cabo para fornecer dados e análises que permitem conceber e formular a política da UE em matéria de melhoria das condições de vida e de trabalho.
A Fundação tem contribuído de forma significativa para o trabalho daqueles de entre nós que têm um particular interesse na consecução dos Objectivos de Lisboa de mais e melhor emprego. Tem apoiado a participação construtiva dos parceiros sociais no desenvolvimento de práticas laborais mais justas, que reconheçam o valor real dos trabalhadores como partes interessadas fundamentais.
Figueiredo (GUE/NGL ),
. Com o presente relatório, o Parlamento Europeu dá quitação à Comissão pela gestão da Comunidade Europeia do Carvão e do Aço (CECA) para o exercício encerrado em 23 de Julho de 2003, facto que não nos levanta objecções.
O fim do Tratado da CECA implicou o desaparecimento automático do regime jurídico e dos procedimentos da CECA e a dissolução do seu Comité Consultivo. Contudo, em 2002, a CECA continuou a financiar ajudas à readaptação dos trabalhadores (em 35 milhões de euros), ajudas à investigação (em 72 milhões de euros) e as medidas sociais do Programa RECHAR (em 21 milhões de euros).
Tendo em conta a crise no sector do aço e do carvão e os custos social e económicos das reestruturações que sofreu nas últimas décadas, a liquidação das actividades da CECA - independentemente da crítica que se possa fazer delas - criou um vazio que urge colmatar, também a nível comunitário, que o novo fundo de investigação do carvão e do aço não preenche. Não negligenciando o investimento na investigação nestes sectores e a sua importância, é necessário ponderar que medidas poderiam ser tomadas a nível comunitário para apoiar estes sectores, nomeadamente a continuação de algumas das medidas sociais do ex-Tratado da CECA por um período de tempo a definir.
Queiró (UEN ),
. O aspecto essencial deste relatório refere-se ao facto de a CECA ter pago, nos últimos quinze anos, para a investigação aplicada apenas no sector do aço, cerca de 800 milhões de euros a empresas e institutos, sem ter, regra geral, recebido a sua quota-parte contratual dos proveitos resultantes das patentes viabilizadas. A Comissão deve assim fazer valer o seu direito legal à sua quota-parte dos proveitos resultantes do financiamento da investigação através de um processo de registo das patentes e outras medidas adequadas.
É igualmente de saudar a conclusão bem sucedida das negociações com os países aderentes sobre as condições da respectiva participação no novo Fundo de Investigação do Carvão e do Aço, escalonando, em função da respectiva situação económica, o pagamento da sua contribuição, estabelecida de acordo com o volume dos seus recursos mineiros.
Acompanhámos assim o relator com o nosso voto favorável, recordando com ele, uma vez mais, o mérito de todos aqueles que fundaram e construíram a Comunidade Europeia do Carvão e do Aço, contribuindo assim, de forma significativa, para a unificação da Europa.
Dehousse (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, várias alterações mereciam consideração, mas qualquer alteração teria resultado num processo de conciliação que acarretaria seguramente o risco de uma reavaliação de fundo e significaria também atrasos não menos graves. É por esta razão que não pude dar o meu apoio a nenhuma alteração, mas tal não é o caso do projecto de ligação entre a Itália e a Sicília, que apoiei.
Musumeci (UEN ).
Senhor Presidente, na qualidade de deputado pela Sicília, gostaria de manifestar a minha satisfação e o meu reconhecimento e agradecer aos colegas que, tal como eu, votaram a favor da alteração esta manhã, o que mostrou como, afinal, o senso comum prevaleceu quando confrontado com a disponibilidade demonstrada pelo Conselho Europeu.
Não há dúvida de que a esmagadora maioria do Parlamento concluiu hoje o procedimento em segunda leitura ao aceitar a posição comum. É verdade que, mais uma vez, nos entristeceu a tentativa do Grupo dos Verdes/Aliança Livre Europeia, acompanhado nesta acção pelo Grupo Confederal da Esquerda Unitária Europeia/Esquerda Nórdica Verde e por alguns democratas de esquerda italianos – com uma alteração que, felizmente, apenas recebeu cerca de 50 votos –, de abortar a manutenção do projecto da ponte sobre o estreito de Messina da linha transeuropeia Berlim-Palermo.
Se a alteração tivesse sido aprovada, para além dos gravíssimos efeitos, salientados no final do procedimento, o Governo italiano – que já lançou o processo para iniciar a construção da ponte – não teria recebido a contribuição de 10% dos fundos da União, como previsto no Tratado. Mais importante do que os montantes envolvidos, é, obviamente, o significado político que tal voto teria.
A perspectiva contrária, adoptada por aqueles que são contra a ponte sobre o estreito, pareceu, porém – se me permitem que assim o expresse –, enganosa desde o início e contrária, em particular, aos legítimos interesses da Sicília e do italiano. Não podemos aspirar ao desenvolvimento destas regiões do Sul da Europa e depois negar-lhes o direito a ter infra-estruturas essenciais.
A construção da ponte não resolverá, bem entendido, todos os problemas associados à degradação socioeconómica da Sicília, mas permitirá finalmente completar a rede transeuropeia dos transportes rodoviários e ferroviários e possibilitará à ilha desempenhar um papel mais competitivo no domínio do comércio livre previsto para 2010.
Marques (PPE-DE ),
. Felicito o colega Philip Bradbourn pelo excelente relatório produzido sobre a proposta alterada de decisão do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho que altera a Decisão nº 1692/96/CE sobre as orientações comunitárias para o desenvolvimento da rede transeuropeia de transportes, ao qual dou o meu apoio, em particular quanto à estratégia de valorização da rede transeuropeia de transportes, principal chave no correcto funcionamento do mercado interno.
Apoio firmemente a solicitação do colega Philip Bradbourn no sentido de o Parlamento Europeu ser envolvido e acompanhar a evolução dos projectos inseridos no desenvolvimento da rede transeuropeia de transportes.
Apoio ainda a solicitação de que no nº 2 do artigo 3º da proposta revista da Comissão deverá ser feita uma referência particular aos aeroportos regionais, pois também eles desempenham um papel realmente importante no desenvolvimento da rede transeuropeia de transportes.
Meijer (GUE/NGL ),
Em primeira leitura, por ocasião do debate de 10 de Março, expressei a minha rejeição face a este plano. O que está a acontecer agora, em segunda leitura, é que, sem uma votação do conjunto, está a ser estabelecida uma lista demasiado extensa de auto-estradas, aeroportos, pontes e túneis como uma obrigação de investimento para a UE. Isto significa um ónus de co-financiamento a longo prazo, e provavelmente permitirá também contornar a obrigação de elaborar estudos de impacto ambiental. Este pacote denota igualmente o desejo de se continuar a negligenciar a boa rede ferroviária da Europa Oriental, mediante a construção de um grande número auto-estradas nessa região. Contesto a ideia, propagada pelo Governo italiano chefiado pelo Sr. Berlusconi, de que as receitas fiscais devem ser sobretudo afectadas às infra-estruturas e a outras obras públicas de grande envergadura, em vez de aos serviços públicos, à protecção do ambiente e à segurança social. Devido à falta de tempo, já não é possível realizar hoje um debate sério sobre esta matéria. O meu grupo procura fazer com que os planos para a ponte sobre o Estreito de Messina sejam suprimidos, uma vez que a mesma é inutilizável devido aos terramotos e às rajadas de vento, supérflua devido às deficiências da rede ferroviária aí ligada, e ainda porque a sua construção serve mormente os interesses da Máfia. Além disso, apoio todas as alterações apresentadas pelos Verdes. A rejeição de todas estas alterações iria sobrecarregar a Europa com um enorme fardo e com um atentado desnecessário ao ambiente durante largos anos.
Ribeiro (GUE/NGL ),
. Durante a última sessão parlamentar, representantes do Comité de Empresa do grupo , empresa especializada na construção de material circulante para o sector ferroviário, transmitiram aos deputados europeus o seu caso exemplar e as suas preocupações face ao encerramento anunciado de 6 unidades na UE, com a consequente perda de uma elevada qualidade, experiência e capacidade tecnológica reconhecidas na construção deste tipo de equipamento. Responsabilizamos a Comissão e os Estados-Membros por estarem a permitir o desmantelamento deste sector estratégico e o despedimento de milhares de trabalhadores, o que só em Portugal corresponde a 550 empregos directos e cerca de mil noutras empresas subcontratadas.
É que, se a futura prioridade na construção de RTT é a transferência do transporte rodoviário para, nomeadamente, os caminhos-de-ferro, uma situação que viremos a enfrentar será o consequente aumento nas necessidades de novos equipamentos e material circulante. Assim, cai por terra o argumento da Bombardier de falta de encomendas, para justificar as medidas anunciadas. E se alguns aspectos da proposta em discussão nos merecem críticas, não podemos deixar de estar de acordo com a aposta em meios de transporte alternativos, menos prejudiciais para o ambiente, como a ferrovia. Esta situação, a exemplo de outras, exigiria medidas especiais para a defesa deste sector de ponta da indústria europeia.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. Ao contrário dos Fundos, de um modo geral, grandes e estratégicos, o instrumento LIFE constitui uma fonte de financiamento orientada para acções de conservação do ambiente e da natureza que aliem a promoção, a inovação e a demonstração, contribuindo, por outro lado, para a execução da política e da legislação comunitárias no domínio do ambiente. Este instrumento contribuiu, nomeadamente, para a implementação das Directivas Comunitárias Aves (79/409/CEE) e (92/43/CEE) e, de um modo particular, para o desenvolvimento da Rede europeia NATURA 2000, visando neste âmbito a gestão e a conservação da fauna, flora e mais importantes na União Europeia – por exemplo, pela criação de "sítios" de protecção especial.
O instrumento LIFE expira a 31 de Dezembro de 2004. A presente proposta visa prorrogar a vigência do instrumento, assegurando a respectiva continuidade até à definição de uma nova abordagem que tenha em conta as novas perspectivas financeiras pós-2006.
Naturalmente votei a favor.
Espero, no entanto, que as conclusões do chamado "Grupo do Artigo 8º" (Directiva Habitats) venham a ser tidas em conta, nomeadamente no sentido de que o actual financiamento da Rede NATURA 2000 através do instrumento LIFE-Natureza (47% dos fundos totais do programa LIFE) é claramente insuficiente; que o processo de candidatura é demasiado burocrático; e que o programa LIFE-Natureza deve ser substancialmente reforçado e nele...
Thyssen (PPE-DE ),
Na tarde de hoje, esta Câmara concordou por uma larga maioria com a prorrogação por dois anos do programa LIFE. Esta prorrogação assegurará a continuidade da política até à definição de uma nova abordagem que tenha em conta as novas perspectivas financeiras.
Quando a prorrogação do programa LIFE foi pela primeira vez discutida, o Tribunal de Contas fez saber à Comissão do Meio Ambiente, da Saúde Pública e da Política do Consumidor que tinha sido realizada uma auditoria em oito Estados-Membros. Esta auditoria revelara aparentemente que, quando as entidades privadas adquirem terras para reservas naturais com a ajuda de fundos comunitários, não existem garantias suficientes de que estas terras continuem a ser devidamente administradas depois de período do subsídio ter expirado. O Tribunal de Contas não esteve porém em condições de nos dar exemplos específicos.
A sugestão do Tribunal de Contas de que as entidades privadas deixem doravante de ter acesso a subsídios comunitários para a aquisição de reservas naturais não pôde, pois, contar com o apoio desta Assembleia - o que eu acho muito bem. O Tribunal de Contas tem naturalmente o direito de nos fazer sugestões. Não podemos de maneira alguma tolerar abusos, mas isso não quer dizer que as entidades privadas idóneas tenham de ser atingidas.
Não podemos nem devemos excluir deliberadamente os milhares de voluntários na União Europeia que abnegadamente se dedicam à gestão das reservas naturais. Pelo contrário, temos de os encorajar e não de os desencorajar. Estou particularmente satisfeita pelo facto de ter podido dar o meu contributo para garantir que no futuro as organizações ambientais que funcionam bem possam continuar a receber ajuda comunitária para a aquisição de terras destinadas a reservas naturais.
Banotti (PPE-DE ),
Votei com relutância a favor deste relatório. Não é perfeito, existindo já provas de que estes dados foram cedidos inadvertidamente a terceiros.
Reconheço plenamente o direito de qualquer país a proteger e manter a sua segurança. Existe aqui um confronto de culturas, e a conveniência triunfou.
De Rossa (PSE ),
Votei, uma vez mais, a favor de que se evite a transmissão de um volume inaceitável de dados pessoais de passageiros às autoridades dos EUA, sem que seja oferecida uma protecção adequada por parte das autoridades dos EUA das liberdades civis dos passageiros europeus.
Embora respeite totalmente a necessidade de se conseguir o mais elevado nível de vigilância contra o terrorismo, entregaremos uma vitória aos terroristas se sacrificarmos as liberdades civis e os direitos humanos a pretexto da garantia de segurança.
Fico extremamente desapontado pelo facto de a Irlanda ter votado a favor do projecto de acordo, dando assim luz verde a intromissões, sem garantias, na privacidade dos passageiros irlandeses.
A Comissão deverá, muito simplesmente, assegurar que o texto do projecto de acordo seja modificado, para que os direitos dos cidadãos europeus à protecção dos dados sejam salvaguardados. Os passageiros irlandeses e europeus merecem a garantia de que as suas liberdades civis fundamentais não sejam sacrificadas na luta contra o terrorismo.
Figueiredo (GUE/NGL ),
. Na sequência de posições anteriores, o PE não aprova a conclusão do acordo com os EUA para a transferência de dados de passageiros aéreos no quadro da denominada "luta contra o terrorismo". Para já, a única coisa que aprovou foi o envio do processo para o Tribunal de Justiça Europeu para parecer.
A proposta da Comissão e a sequente proposta de decisão do Conselho permitiriam "o acesso das autoridades responsáveis pela aplicação da lei dos EUA a bases de dados dos PNR (registos de identificação dos passageiros aéreos) situadas em território da Comunidade", o que "equivale a um exercício de soberania dos EUA" nos países da UE.
Este acordo declararia "aplicável na União Europeia e aos cidadãos europeus a legislação dos Estados Unidos neste domínio" e transferiria "para o nível europeu o poder discricionário dos Estados-Membros de autorizarem(...) a utilização, para fins de segurança, de dados originalmente coligidos para fins comerciais e de criarem(...) a obrigação legal de as companhias de aviação europeias darem acesso a estes dados".
Quanto à salvaguarda de direitos, garantias e liberdades dos cidadãos, "o projecto de acordo não define o alcance e os limites destes direitos, limitando-se a referir uma decisão unilateral da Comissão, que refere, ela própria, alguns compromissos unilaterais do governo dos EUA, os quais remetem, finalmente, para a regulamentação actual e futura dos EUA".
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. Esta questão estava em conexão com o Relatório Boogerd-Quaak sobre o Acordo CE/EUA sobre transferência de dados PNR pelas transportadoras aéreas para serviços do Departamento de Segurança Interna dos EUA(A5-0271/2004), relatório que, em virtude da aprovação desta consulta, já não veio a ser votado.
A celebração de acordos desta natureza é hoje mais do que justificada pela crescente ameaça terrorista. Deveria constituir uma medida elementar de cooperação entre Estados. O seu bloqueio apenas contribui para prolongar a ausência de uma resposta firme à ameaça terrorista por parte da União Europeia. Ao contrário do que sustentava a relatora, creio que a assinatura deste acordo é compatível com Tratado da Comunidade Europeia e não viola a legislação europeia em matéria de protecção de dados. Identifico-me inteiramente com os argumentos apresentados pelo comissário Patten.
Ao invés de obstar à concretização de medidas como esta, o Parlamento deveria estar a trabalhar para também ele exigir às transportadoras aéreas que voam para o território da UE o cumprimento de obrigações deste tipo, para segurança de todos nós.
Estando totalmente em desacordo, quer política, quer tecnicamente, com qualquer indicação ao Conselho para não concluir com os EUA este acordo, votei contra a consulta ao Tribunal de Justiça, que encaro como lamentável expediente dilatório e novo tropeço de um acordo necessário à nossa segurança e liberdade.
Coelho (PPE-DE ),
. É fundamental que a União Europeia adopte medidas coerentes no domínio da segurança nas fronteiras, sem ferir as competências próprias dos Estados-Membros, mas contribuindo para o aumento da eficácia dessa protecção.
Apoio esta proposta de regulamento que pretende garantir uma aplicação uniforme nos Estados-Membros da obrigação de se carimbar os documentos de viagem dos nacionais de países terceiros ao atravessarem as fronteiras externas da União. Procura-se, assim, dar resposta à necessidade de poder verificar-se a data na qual determinado nacional de um país terceiro atravessou a fronteira externa, de modo a poder averiguar-se a duração da estadia e se tem ou não uma situação de estadia irregular.
Com esta proposta pretende-se eliminar as disparidades, entre os vários Estados-Membros, que actualmente existem. Bem como eventuais ambiguidades existentes ao nível das provisões do Manual Comum relativo às fronteiras externas, enquanto se aguarda a sua reformulação, que revestirá enorme complexidade técnica e por essa razão poderá levar um considerável período de tempo para ser adoptada.
Dá-se, assim, um passo no sentido do reforço do controlo das fronteiras externas, e também do reforçar da confiança mútua entre os Estados-Membros nesse controlo de fronteiras que, sendo comuns, implica que a fraqueza no controlo num Estado terá efeitos inevitáveis de arrastamento na segurança de todos os demais Estados-Membros da União Europeia.
Queiró (UEN ),
. O acervo de Schengen prevê que, no caso de estadas de curta duração, os nacionais de países terceiros que entrem legalmente no território dos Estados-Membros e que reunam as condições necessárias para tal fim têm o direito de permanecer no interior do território Schengen por uma duração máxima de três meses durante um período de seis meses, a contar da data da primeira entrada. Deste facto deriva a necessidade de controlar as datas em que um nacional de um país terceiro atravessou as fronteiras externas, para se calcular a duração total da estada e para se verificar se a sua situação é regular.
O Manual Comum de Fronteiras Externas prevê essa aposição de carimbos, mas prevê também a simplificação dos controlos nas fronteiras terrestres em casos especiais devidos, essencialmente, ao tráfego intenso. A ambiguidade desta disposição conduziu à adopção de procedimentos divergentes entre os Estados-Membros, que urge impedir.
Por este motivo, e tendo em conta o alargamento, acompanhámos a posição da nossa colega Roberta Angelilli no sentido de futuramente proceder a uma harmonização dos procedimentos, nomeadamente dos que concernem a aposição de carimbos nos documentos de viagem dos nacionais de países terceiros à saída do "espaço Schengen".
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. O acervo de Schengen prevê que, no caso de estadas de curta duração, os nacionais de países terceiros que entrem legalmente no território dos Estados-Membros e que reunam as condições necessárias para tal fim, têm o direito de permanecer no interior do território Schengen por uma duração máxima de três meses durante um período de seis meses, a contar da data da primeira entrada. A ambiguidade das disposições que regulamentam este domínio conduziu à adopção de procedimentos divergentes entre os Estados-Membros, tendo-se verificado muitos casos de nacionais de países terceiros que entram legalmente no "espaço Schengen" sem que, nos seus documentos de viagem, tenha sido aposto qualquer carimbo de entrada, o que dificulta, naturalmente o controlo que é cada vez mais premente face aos novos desafios provocados pelo terrorismo internacional. Por este motivo, o último Conselho JAI da Presidência italiana adoptou conclusões em que são solicitadas propostas que visem a aposição sistemática de carimbos nos documentos de viagem dos cidadãos de países terceiros, tendo em conta o alargamento da União. A este propósito se dirige a presente proposta.
O Manual Comum de Fronteiras Externas prevê não só a aposição de carimbos, como também a simplificação dos controlos nas fronteiras terrestres em casos especiais devidos, essencialmente, ao tráfego intenso.
Saúdo a qualidade do trabalho a que, aliás, já nos habitou a...
(Declaração de voto encurtada nos termos do n° 1 do artigo 137° do Regimento)
Coelho (PPE-DE ),
. O Observatório Europeu da Droga e da Toxicodependência tem vindo a levar a cabo um trabalho meritório para melhorar o conhecimento do fenómeno da droga e da toxicodependência, proporcionando dados e informações comparáveis e sobretudo monitarização, identificação e proposta de proibição de substâncias perigosas colocadas subrepticiamente no mercado.
É compreensível que, por razões de clareza e transparência, se pretenda reformular o Regulamento que institui o OEDT, sobretudo para adaptar-se ao alargamento da UE, e alargar o seu mandato de modo a poder englobar o policonsumo, nomeadamente de substâncias lícitas e ilícitas.
Porém, não posso aceitar que se pretenda atribuir ao OEDT tarefas em matéria de avaliação. Pretende-se que o Observatório não recolha apenas esses dados, mas também que possa avaliar as políticas e estratégias nacionais e avaliar quais são as tendências em matéria de consumo de droga. Isto será atribuir competências a uma agência que se inserem no âmbito das competências dos Estados-Membros.
Deverá ser confiada ao Observatório uma missão de informação global, ou seja, de recolha, análise e difusão de dados sobre todos os aspectos do fenómeno da droga e da toxicodependência e suas consequências, que permitirá aos Estados-Membros e à Comunidade ter uma visão global, mas que não poderá de modo algum afectar a repartição das competências entre a Comunidade e os seus Estados-Membros.
Lang (NI ),
- Como de costume, não nos escutaram e, como de costume, tínhamos razão. Aquando da criação deste Observatório Europeu da Droga e da Toxicodependência em 1995, os membros da Frente Nacional denunciaram aqui mesmo, perante esta Assembleia, a inutilidade deste organismo e predisseram o seu fracasso. Quase dez anos depois, os resultados são de facto deploráveis: falhas no conselho de administração, na rede de recolha e análise de informações e na difusão de dados, além de ausência de avaliação das várias políticas em matéria de droga. Os relatórios anuais e os dados estatísticos acumulam-se, mas os problemas agravaram-se.
França é agora o país da Europa onde os adolescentes de 16 anos fumam mais . Uma verdadeira epidemia, o consumo de droga afecta hoje todas as classes sociais e todas as idades.
O relator propõe, por conseguinte, uma reformulação do funcionamento e das missões deste observatório. Mas a solução não está na proliferação de comités Théodule, nem no estabelecimento de uma abordagem comunitária das políticas de luta antidroga. Já é tempo de perceber que o consumo de droga aumenta de forma exponencial com a tolerância e que somente políticas nacionais baseadas numa tolerância zero em relação à droga poderão devolver aos jovens o seu futuro.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. A luta contra a Droga e a Toxicodependência sempre foi uma prioridade para a União Europeia, reflectindo-se nas demais políticas , principalmente, na última década.
É nessa linha que o Conselho, através da sua proposta de regulamento, pretende dar mais desenvolvimentos a essa luta.
Não obstante, verificou-se que as muitas alterações feitas, e que estão bem espelhadas neste relatório, desvirtuam esse objectivo principal.
Se, por um lado, posso concordar que um alargamento das competências do Observatório é, à partida, uma medida positiva, por outro lado, já não merecem o meu acolhimento as alterações que visam uma representação do PE, constituída por dois membros, no Conselho de Administração e, também, o aumento das ferramentas de avaliação.
Parece-me que as acções propostas no relatório, em especial as que provêm da comissão parlamentar do Meio Ambiente, da Saúde Pública e da Política do Consumidor, não correspondem ao melhor caminho a seguir.
O relatório não conta com o meu voto favorável.
Sugiro antes que a União Europeia, o Observatório Europeu, e também os Estados-Membros, em cooperação ou individualmente, reunam esforços, não em tarefas que resultarão num desperdício de recursos, mas sim em medidas claramente de prevenção. Necessitamos de medidas que combatam efectivamente o tráfego de drogas e a toxicodependência.
Berthu (NI ),
- Recusei votar a favor da quitação pela execução do orçamento da Comissão para 2002 devido à persistente falta de clareza sobre questões como a do Eurostat. Já em Janeiro último, o Parlamento Europeu lamentou ter concedido a quitação referente ao exercício de 2001 sem estar na posse de todas as informações pertinentes. Não queria cair na mesma armadilha em relação a 2002.
Além disso, a resolução que acompanha a decisão de quitação inclui muitos pontos questionáveis. Por exemplo, afirma no nº 4 que os Estados-Membros estão numa posição subordinada no que se refere à gestão dos fundos comunitários, o que é inexacto, na medida em que eles têm os cordões da bolsa e são os contribuintes nacionais que de facto pagam. Penso, pelo contrário, que os Estados-Membros deveriam insistir em poder exercer, eles próprios, um melhor controlo.
Outro exemplo: nos nºs 115 e seguintes, o Parlamento Europeu deseja a criação de um imposto europeu, afirmando que o objectivo principal é "assegurar a independência financeira da UE relativamente às contribuições nacionais sujeitas à decisão dos parlamentos nacionais". Não se pode admitir mais claramente que o imposto europeu permitiria à União evitar os controlos nacionais e financiar as suas despesas como bem entender.
Figueiredo (GUE/NGL ),
. O processo de quitação para 2002 fica marcado pelo caso Eurostat e pela reforma da Comissão em curso. Nas duas, temos fortes reservas.
Apesar dos recentes escândalos, e tendo em conta os casos que levaram à queda da Comissão em 1999, as reformas administrativas anunciadas têm um cariz quase decorativo. A dita "cultura administrativa" continua por alterar, como mostra o caso Eurostat. São necessárias medidas de salvaguarda contra a ocultação de informação crítica. Progressos precisam de ser feitos no sentido da internalização dos serviços na alteração do regulamento financeiro, nomeadamente na obrigação sistemática de solicitação de uma declaração de propriedade completa a uma empresa candidata à adjudicação de um contrato da Comissão, e ao nível da gestão financeira.
O caso Eurostat realça também a necessidade de rever a cadeia de responsabilidades na Comissão e as relações existentes entre os diversos protagonistas e os Comissários. Confirma igualmente o erro de concentrar a competência orçamental, a responsabilidade pela contabilidade e o combate à fraude num único membro da Comissão.
Gostaria, a nível sectorial, de mostrar o meu desacordo quanto ao ponto 115 que aponta para um futuro imposto europeu para substituir as contribuição nacionais dos Estados-Membros para o orçamento comunitário, assim como ao ponto 182 que apoia a regra N+2 no domínio dos Fundos Estruturais.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. Os bons resultados obtidos pelos sexto, sétimo e oitavo Fundos Europeus de Desenvolvimento – FED – são motivadores para a prossecução desta importantíssima dimensão da acção da União Europeia: a de uma solidariedade efectiva às regiões mais desfavorecidas do mundo, através do apoio a reformas macro-económicas ou sectoriais.
Considero pertinente a sugestão de que os Estados ACP, nomeadamente, aceitem lançar programas plurianuais para a criação e/ou reforço de instituições superiores de auditoria antes de poder ser concedido apoio orçamental. A credibilidade e eficácia do FED depende em larga medida da transparência e verificação, a montante e a jusante, da adequada utilização desses apoios. Por outro lado, permitirá uma comparação mais fiável com as próprias perspectivas financeiras da União Europeia.
Comungo, por último, da apreciação da comissão do Controlo Orçamental quando salienta que, para além do seu significado político, a integração do FED no orçamento geral da União Europeia permitirá obter consideráveis vantagens em matéria de gestão orçamental, nomeadamente uma execução mais eficiente devido à possibilidade de harmonizar os processos existentes, um maior grau de flexibilidade na execução, um maior grau de transparência relativamente ao conjunto da ajuda comunitária e a supressão da actual complexidade das medidas de transição entre FEDs.
Votei a favor.
Dehousse (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, embora eleito pelos habitantes das regiões belgas da Valónia e de Bruxelas, dei como sempre o meu apoio à manutenção das actividades do Parlamento Europeu em Estrasburgo. O meu apoio assenta na minha convicção de que a presença do Parlamento Europeu em Estrasburgo, apesar da passagem dos anos e a despeito dos alargamentos presentes ou futuros, mantém um valor simbólico considerável.
Crê-se com demasiada facilidade que as feridas antigas foram saradas pelo facto de já não serem mencionadas. Pelo contrário, a história deveria tornar-nos cautelosos face à capacidade do passado de voltar a emergir, por vezes subitamente, quando menos se espera. É por isso que todos na Europa, em especial os jovens, precisam que seja mantida a presença da democracia europeia na capital da Alsácia.
Berthu (NI ),
- Votei a favor do relatório van Hulten sobre a concessão de quitação pela execução do orçamento do Parlamento Europeu para 2002, pois ele fornece orientações claras relativas, nomeadamente, à transparência dos subsídios dos deputados, do tipo das que sempre defendemos.
De passagem, registe-se aqui a derrota da estratégia do Parlamento Europeu, que durante anos ligou a reforma do regime de subsídios à adopção pelo Conselho de um estatuto extremamente federalista para os deputados europeus. Com a aproximação das eleições, porém, o Conselho bloqueou a reforma do estatuto, e o Parlamento Europeu viu-se obrigado a aceitar que a reforma dos subsídios pode muito bem ser efectuada separadamente.
Além disso, o relatório inicial continha passagens muito lamentáveis que acabavam por colocar em dúvida a localização de Estrasburgo como sede oficial do Parlamento Europeu. Felizmente, foram suprimidas em resultado da votação. Estrasburgo é, de facto, o símbolo da reconciliação franco-alemã e, amanhã, deverá tornar-se o símbolo da reconciliação de toda a Europa. Além do mais, seria nocivo concentrar todas as Instituições em Bruxelas, que seria então demasiado tentada a apresentar-se como um distrito federal europeu.
Flesch (ELDR ),
- Que o nosso colega, o senhor deputado van Hulten tenha aproveitado a ocasião da quitação pela execução do orçamento de 2002 para argumentar a favor de um local de trabalho único para o Parlamento Europeu, i.e. Bruxelas, não constitui para mim uma surpresa. Que, para esse efeito, recorra à hipocrisia e faça afirmações factualmente inexactas é indigno da sua inteligência.
O nº 69 da sua proposta de resolução induz em erro. Dá a impressão de que os montantes citados de 185 e 203 milhões de euros são custos adicionais decorrentes da manutenção de três locais de trabalho, quando se trata de facto dos custos totais. Ora, mesmo uma sede única envolve um custo.
O nº 70 deriva da confusão e inclui falsidades. Deixo aos nossos colegas franceses o cuidado de responder aos ataques contra Estrasburgo. Protesto veementemente contra as insinuações segundo as quais haveria no Luxemburgo problemas de acesso, problemas de saúde ou problemas de segurança. Isto é má fé.
Consequentemente, votei a favor das alterações 16 a 20, que visam suprimir os nºs 69 a 73, apresentadas pelo Grupo do Partido Popular Europeu (Democratas-Cristãos) e dos Democratas Europeus.
Goebbels e Poos (PSE ),
- Ser a favor da quitação e, no entanto, votar contra a resolução apresentada pelo senhor deputado van Hulten é uma atitude que requer explicações.
Mesmo na sua forma alterada, a resolução continua a ser inaceitável: em vez de se limitar à execução do orçamento de 2002, o relator converteu-a numa miscelânea das suas ideias pessoais.
Nem as reflexões incoerentes sobre o estatuto dos deputados nem a proposta relativa às sedes do Parlamento têm ali lugar.
Esta última proposta não só constitui uma violação do artigo 284º do Tratado, como traduz também uma visão tacanha do custo financeiro da descentralização. Se é verdade que a descentralização tem um preço, a concentração de todas as Instituições europeias em Bruxelas tem também um custo financeiro e, sobretudo, político. Numa perspectiva puramente financeira, ou mesmo calvinista, os elementos políticos são insignificantes. Não o são, contudo, para os eleitores.
Lulling (PPE-DE ),
- Não aderi à campanha para a reforma do PE que pretendia torná-lo mais eficaz, transparente, responsável. Esta campanha, lançada pelo deputado socialista van Hulten, tinha por objectivo abolir Estrasburgo como sede e o Luxemburgo como local de implantação.
Hipocritamente, é pedido aos deputados europeus e aos candidatos às eleições europeias que "se empenhem em fazer aumentar a eficácia, procurando pôr fim à dispersão das instalações do Parlamento Europeu (...) e instituindo uma sede única em Bruxelas".
Acabei por votar a favor do relatório, depois de as alterações apresentadas pelo meu grupo terem sido aceites. De outra forma, não teria podido fazê-lo, visto que o senhor deputado van Hulten usou abusivamente o seu relatório para adoptar uma posição a respeito da sede do PE, o que não é da nossa competência.
Uma sondagem realizada junto dos funcionários em Estrasburgo e no Luxemburgo revelou que 95% se pronunciam contra uma mudança para Bruxelas. O senhor deputado van Hulten ignora totalmente as dificuldades que este projecto causaria às famílias afectadas, já para não falar do custo desta , tanto em termos de dinheiro como de produtividade.
Não me deixarei intimidar por estas manobras e por esta chantagem sob pretexto de restaurar a credibilidade do Parlamento Europeu.
Meijer (GUE/NGL ),
Ontem, fui um dos signatários do apelo lançado aos candidatos ao PE para o período de 2004-2009 para que ponham termo às despesas excessivas e ao desperdício de dinheiro que resultam do facto de o Parlamento reunir em duas cidades diferentes. Hoje, é possível calcular o grau de apoio com que esse apelo pode contar na legislatura 1999-2004 do Parlamento, que irá em breve terminar. Uma proposta do Grupo do Partido Popular Europeu (Democratas-Cristãos) e dos Democratas Europeus recolheu uma maioria de 31 votos contra a transferência de todas as sessões para Bruxelas. Os custos desta recusa ascendem a 185 milhões de euros por ano, e irão aumentar para 203 milhões após ao alargamento. A proposta de reembolsar apenas as despesas de viagem efectivamente incorridas não foi incluída da votação, visto que primeiro foi adoptada uma proposta muito mais vaga relativa a um estudo sobre as despesas de viagem. O meu grupo apresentou duas propostas tendentes a limitar o período em que o registo de presenças pode ser assinado. A proposta de limitar esse período aos tempos de sessão fixos foi rejeitada por 99 votos contra 355, e a proposta de abolição da possibilidade de o assinar em dias em que não há sessões foi rejeitada por 151 votos contra 320. Só a possibilidade recentemente introduzida de reembolso de despesas de táxi foi abandonada, com 351 votos a favor e 146 contra. Este é ainda um resultado extremamente magro na luta pela redução das despesas desnecessárias deste Parlamento. Sobretudo nestas circunstâncias, é bom que o Conselho não tenha autorizado o recente aumento de vencimentos.
Paulsen e Olle Schmidt (ELDR ),
O relatório do senhor deputado van Hulten é um relatório importante. Lamentamos, todavia, que o apelo à cessação das actividades parlamentares em Estrasburgo não tenha sido aceite.
Consideramos que todas as actividades do Parlamento Europeu deveriam ser transferidas para Bruxelas. Por isso nos abstivemos na votação final.
Queiró (UEN ),
. A razão da minha votação contra neste relatório está espelhada nas votações nominais assumidas, no que toca ao Estatuto dos Deputados e à manutenção de Estrasburgo como sede.
No primeiro caso, se bem que concorde com muitas das propostas apresentadas, a meu ver elas só fazem sentido se integradas num futuro Estatuto dos Deputados, como o relator acaba, em certo sentido, por reconhecer na sua exposição de motivos. Ora este Estatuto não está garantido, como foi meu desejo manifestado expressamente em anteriores votações, tendo até sido, bem ao contrário, recentemente rejeitado pelo Conselho.
Quanto à manutenção da sede do PE em Estrasburgo, bem sei que qualquer alteração à actual situação depende de correspondente modificação nos Tratados. No entanto, nada me impede de manifestar a minha posição relativamente a esta matéria, que não tem a ver com um sentimento de menos apreço para com a França ou os franceses. Revela sim uma oposição de princípio quanto a uma indesejável duplicação de custos, sem nenhuma vantagem visível, quer para a qualidade de funcionamento do Parlamento quer para as condições de trabalho dos seus membros e funcionários.
Raschhofer (NI ),
. Em nome dos deputados que pertencem ao Partido Austríaco da Liberdade, desejo explicar a nossa votação relativa ao relatório van Hulten. Votámos a favor da alteração 40, porque defendemos a tomada de uma nova decisão da Mesa que se destine a eliminar qualquer escapatória que permita acrescentar subsídios de viagem por quilómetro e pagamentos de horas suplementares. Defendemos, por conseguinte, que a decisão da Mesa de 8 de Maio de 2003 seja revista a fim de permitir o reembolso dos custos efectivamente incorridos. Votámos contra a alteração 1, apresentada pelo Grupo para a Europa das Democracias e das Diferenças, pois acreditamos que poderia ser interpretada de forma a facilitar a manutenção da decisão de 28 de Maio de 2003 sobre os custos, com os seus subsídios fixos.
Na votação final, porém, votámos contra o relatório, pois este não aborda questões como a exigência de um único local de reunião para o Parlamento Europeu ou a abolição dos subsídios de sexta-feira em Estrasburgo. Tendo considerado todos os argumentos, quero sublinhar que apoiámos vivamente a decisão de reembolsar unicamente as despesas de viagem efectivamente incorridas, embora lamente, ao mesmo tempo, que numerosas alterações não tenham podido ser tomadas em consideração.
Ribeiro (GUE/NGL ),
. Aproveito este relatório para, no que respeita ao Estatuto dos Deputados, assunto que acompanhei com particular interesse, como deputado e na tarefa de questor que desempenhei em 1994-99, declarar que a consensualidade sobre o tema não existe, como poderá estar implícito.
Para mim, é uma questão política e defendo, sem ambiguidades, que os regimes de subsídios e despesas dos deputados devem ter por referência a situação económica e social de cada um dos Estados-Membros onde são eleitos os deputados pois, a partir dessa eleição, estão neste Parlamento - pelo menos também - em representação dos seus povos.
Sacrédeus (PPE-DE ),
Votei a favor das alterações que visavam o seguinte: 1) que o Parlamento Europeu possa decidir ele próprio a respeito da sua sede (aprovada por 275 votos contra 223, com 16 abstenções); 2) que o Parlamento Europeu tenha um único local de trabalho em vez de três, Bruxelas, Estrasburgo e Luxemburgo, como agora acontece (aprovada por 271 votos contra 223, com 21 abstenções), porque esta divisão do seu trabalho origina custos suplementares de 185 milhões de euros por ano (aproximadamente 1 750 milhões de coroas suecas) e, após o alargamento, de 203 milhões de euros (aproximadamente 1 850 milhões de coroas suecas); 3) que o reembolso das despesas seja revisto (aprovada por 380 votos contra 119); 4) que o reembolso das despesas se baseie no princípio do reembolso dos custos efectivos suportados (parcialmente tido em conta na alteração 40 e aprovada por 336 votos contra 138, com 28 abstenções); e 5) que as despesas de táxi não sejam reembolsadas separadamente, mas sim incluídas no reembolso geral dos custos (aprovada por 351 votos contra 146, com 18 abstenções).
Santos (PSE ),
. Votei contra o relatório van Hulten porque considero que o relator aproveitou esta oportunidade de verificação da execução das contas do Parlamento para apresentar, fora do contexto, opiniões políticas próprias sobre o regime de pagamentos aos membros do Parlamento e relativas à localização das respectivas sedes.
Estas matérias que provocam uma profunda divisão no seio do Parlamento não devem, por isso, ser analisadas num contexto lateral (como é o caso) e, muito menos, no fim de uma legislatura e, ao que parece, em consequência de um singular interesse pessoal e inapropriadas pressões da comunicação social que mais não visam do que enfraquecer a legitimidade do próximo acto eleitoral.
O relator não prestou, desta vez, um bom serviço à causa europeia não devendo por isso merecer a aprovação do Parlamento Europeu.
Andersson, Färm, Hedkvist Petersen, Karlsson, Sandberg-Fries e Theorin (PSE ),
Não queremos que a Comissão apresente uma proposta destinada a alterar os sistemas de acções nacionais. Decidimos votar contra a expressão que insta a Comissão a aplicar o princípio "uma acção, um voto", porque isso não está de acordo com o princípio de subsidiariedade. Uma tal proposta afectaria muito os padrões de propriedade em bastantes Estados-Membros.
Os diferentes sistemas nacionais de direito das sociedades devem ser respeitados. Também não podemos apoiar a expressão que visa facilitar a mobilidade dos trabalhadores, porque não tem em conta os aspectos sindicais e não está acompanhada de exigências de que as empresas aceitem a responsabilidade social. Uma maior mobilidade no mercado de trabalho europeu é positiva, mas não podemos aceitar que a flexibilidade se faça à custa dos trabalhadores.
Andreasen, Busk, Jensen, Riis-Jørgensen e Sørensen (ELDR ),
Se for adoptado o princípio de "uma acção – um voto" ao nível de toda a legislação, existe o risco da legislação ter efeitos retroactivos, com a consequente alteração da actual situação de propriedade, podendo nesse caso haver lugar a expropriação.
Pensamos, em vez disso, que deve ser o próprio mercado a definir as formas de propriedade que pretende recompensar. Por esse motivo não pudemos apoiar a introdução, por via da legislação, do princípio "uma acção – um voto", como um princípio geral.
Arvidsson, Cederschiöld, Grönfeldt Bergman, Stenmarck e Wachtmeister (PPE-DE ),
Votámos hoje contra o relatório, com a seguinte justificação.
Ainda recentemente foi estabelecido um acordo sobre as ofertas públicas de aquisição (relativas às aquisições de empresas). As instituições da UE devem ater-se ao que foi acordado nestas negociações. O presente relatório propõe alguns desvios em relação ao acordo. Um tal comportamento poderá dificultar a conclusão de acordos, no futuro, se as instituições não os cumprirem. Consideramos, portanto, que os aspectos relativos à ponderação dos direitos de voto e aos vários tipos de medidas defensivas não deviam ter sido incluídos no relatório.
Quando os aspectos do direito das sociedades que beneficiam com a harmonização forem alterados através da legislação europeia, o princípio de subsidiariedade deve ser respeitado, e o governo centralizado das sociedades, tanto quanto possível, evitado. A liberdade de estabelecer acordos nunca deve ser infringida como se propõe.
Saudamos, em especial, as iniciativas comerciais e industriais em prol de uma maior transparência e o escrutínio da administração e da apresentação de informações, esperando que estes princípios influenciem a futura evolução europeia neste domínio.
Beysen (NI ),
Hoje abstive-me na votação da proposta de directiva relativa às práticas comerciais desleais. Não porque eu seja por princípio contra uma legislação desse cariz, mas por se tratar aqui do enésimo compromisso relacionado com o mercado interno que foi apresentado. Quatro anos após a Cimeira de Lisboa, verifico que poucos progressos foram realizados. Todos os dias este Parlamento advoga a observância da Estratégia de Lisboa, mas quando tem realmente oportunidade de optar pela realização do mercado interno, através do reconhecimento mútuo e, eventualmente, da harmonização máxima, encolhe-se. Sempre que falamos do consumidor, as emoções exaltam-se. Há diversas alterações que proporcionam realmente protecção ao consumidor, o que em si é positivo, mas, por outro lado, não têm em conta os custos para os produtores que isso implica. Em minha opinião, o presente projecto legislativo não estabelece ainda o equilíbrio correcto.
De Rossa (PSE ),
Apraz-me poder apoiar este relatório, que melhora de forma significativa a proposta da Comissão com vista à harmonização da protecção dos consumidores contra práticas comerciais injustas
Embora seja favorável às propostas da Comissão relativas ao governo das sociedades, os seus objectivos políticos fundamentais deverão incluir uma referência à promoção do desenvolvimento sustentável, à justiça ambiental e ao comércio justo. Deveriam também atribuir maior importância ao envolvimento de outras partes interessadas, tais como os trabalhadores, os consumidores e os representantes das comunidades.
O governo das sociedades e o direito das sociedades na União Europeia deverão incluir estruturas e práticas idóneas de informação e consulta dos trabalhadores, e todas as directivas europeias respeitantes ao direito das sociedades deverão conter obrigações de informação e consulta dos representantes dos trabalhadores, sempre que estejam em causa decisões importantes relativas à continuidade das empresas e dos postos de trabalho.
Por conseguinte, o Fórum Europeu do Governo das Sociedades que a Comissão propõe criar deveria ser representativo da totalidade dos interesses, devendo participar no mesmo também os sindicatos e a sociedade civil.
Figueiredo (GUE/NGL ),
. Após os grandes escândalos financeiros que varreram o mundo - o caso da Enron ou da Parmalat - e a sua dimensão sistémica, a Comissão pretende mostrar trabalho com vista a melhorar a transparência das empresas, o seu "governo" (a forma como se governam!) e a sua "responsabilidade social".
Poder-se-ia dizer que, depois de roubado, trancas à porta. Mas, de facto, por detrás de algumas declarações de intenções e apelos à consciência do empresariado, fica, apenas, a propaganda, pois os objectivos são outros: restabelecer a confiança do público - nomeadamente nos mercados financeiros; flexibilizar a regulamentação para facilitar as reestruturações transfronteiras das empresa na União Europeia; aumentar a competitividade das empresas e melhorar a protecção dos accionistas e credores.
Por isso, lamentamos que a Comissão, ao invés de se centrar na problemática das relações entre accionistas e gestores - entre propriedade e controlo -, não atribua maior importância à protecção eficaz dos trabalhadores e à sua participação e das suas organizações representativas no processo de decisão sobre a vida das empresas. A verdade é que estes têm menos direitos que os credores e deviam ter não apenas direitos mínimos de informação e consulta, mas participação activa, com direito de veto, em decisões importantes para a continuidade da empresa e dos postos de trabalho.
Queiró (UEN ),
. A minha votação favorável acompanha as razões pelas quais a regulamentação europeia relativa ao direito das sociedades e ao governo das sociedades deve ser modernizada. Estão em causa os principais objectivos políticos (reforçar os direitos dos accionistas e a protecção de terceiros, fomentar a eficácia e a competitividade das empresas etc.) que devem guiar todas as acções necessárias nesta matéria a um nível europeu, incluindo igualmente um plano de acção que classifique por ordem de prioridade as diferentes medidas que se consideram necessárias a curto, a médio e a longo prazo. Na elaboração do presente plano de acção, é necessário contudo atribuir particular atenção à necessidade de respeitar uma série de critérios de orientação, designadamente os princípios da subsidiariedade e da proporcionalidade e uma certa flexibilidade de utilização. Ademais, o plano de acção é um elemento importante para a criação, na Europa alargada, de um mercado de capitais transparente e são, nomeadamente face aos recentes acontecimentos ocorridos no Japão, e posteriormente, nos Estados Unidos e na Europa, em particular no caso Parmalat, que impõe medidas úteis e adicionais de boa gestão financeira, por forma a evitar semelhantes escândalos e as suas consequências económicas e sociais.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. Votei a favor deste relatório em que a Comissão postula uma modernização do quadro regulamentar europeu relativo ao Direito das sociedades e ao governo das mesmas, através da proposição de medidas que permitem: o aumento da competitividade das empresas – factor essencial para o crescimento económico e a criação de emprego -; a melhor protecção dos accionistas e credores; e o reforço da transparência no funcionamento das empresas.
No entanto, muito embora apoie o relatório e a relatora seja socialista, votei contra as alterações posteriormente apresentadas pelo grupo socialista.
Não pude também aceitar o parágrafo 21 do texto original que, com o "falso" argumento da salvaguarda da igualdade de tratamento entre todos os accionistas, solicita à Comissão a consagração do princípio "uma acção, um voto".
Ao contrário do que se postula neste parágrafo, os termos da igualdade de tratamento entre accionistas nada têm que ver com o princípio "uma acção, um voto".
As regras que relacionam a participação social dos accionistas com o voto, para além de competirem aos órgãos sociais, são regras de proporcionalidade onde a igualdade é plenamente respeitada.
Berthu (NI ).
- Senhor Presidente, o projecto de plano de reunificação de Chipre apoiado pela Comissão, e que acaba de ser aprovado pelo Parlamento Europeu, simplesmente não pode ser sancionado por nós.
A fim de garantir a todo o custo este acordo, foram feitas à Turquia concessões que é difícil aceitar. Não obstante ocupar ilegalmente o norte da ilha e de ter sido criticada por todos a nível internacional - há que recordá-lo, antes que seja completamente esquecido -, foi-lhe dado o direito de manter um regime controlado pelo seu exército, com 100 000 colonos instalados no norte de Chipre e todos os tipos de restrições à liberdade de circulação entre as duas partes, para não falar dos persistentes entraves à liberdade religiosa.
Nestas circunstâncias, este plano parece ter um único objectivo: fazer desaparecer, mesmo à custa das piores concessões, mesmo em prejuízo dos cipriotas gregos, um problema que ameaçava ser um obstáculo à entrada da Turquia na União Europeia. Aqueles que votaram hoje a favor da resolução que apoia este plano agiram, portanto, como apoiantes da adesão da Turquia.
Alyssandrakis (GUE/NGL ),
.–Numa altura em que o Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas se recusa a tomar uma posição, a UE e o Parlamento Europeu estão a usar de toda a sua influência a favor do plano Annan, coagindo o povo e as forças políticas de Chipre.
A resolução aprovada constitui um insulto de primeira grandeza ao povo cipriota, quando apela "aos cidadãos de Chipre para que dêem provas de responsabilidade, coerência e apego ao seu estatuto de cidadãos da União Europeia". A resolução exalta o plano Annan como um exemplo luminoso para a resolução de questões internacionais igualmente difíceis e afirma que este institucionaliza um sistema de governo federal funcional. Como é óbvio, não contém uma única palavra sobre a invasão e ocupação turcas, as bases britânicas e as potências garantes. Não manifesta qualquer incómodo relativamente à presença de tropas turcas em território da UE.
Tão repulsivas como o conteúdo da resolução foram as posições adoptadas por numerosos "amigos" de Chipre, incluindo o Presidente Pat Cox, os Comissários Verheugen e Patten e os eurodeputados gregos. O Presidente acusou de exclusão os meios de comunicação cipriotas numa altura em que ele próprio, numa entrevista a um jornal cipriota, falou com todo o à-vontade sobre a falta de coragem e imaginação dos líderes cipriotas. Os Comissários falaram em termos inaceitáveis, extremamente depreciativos e insultuosos, como soberanos aos seus súbditos.
O Partido Comunista da Grécia apoia o povo cipriota, tanto os cipriotas gregos como os cipriotas turcos, e condena categoricamente toda e qualquer forma de pressão, ameaça ou coacção.
Chountis (GUE/NGL ),
.– Surpresa e raiva foram os sentimentos causados pela posição adoptada pelo Senhor Comissário Verheugen, que deu o tom para a lista ilimitada de perigos e pressões que hoje se ouviram no plenário. O Comissário excedeu o mandato que lhe é conferido pelo seu cargo institucional e pela necessidade de respeitar os direitos democráticos dos quais a Comissão é supostamente a guardiã. Posições semelhantes não deveriam ser tomadas, quando a base comum de todos os partidos gregos é que o povo cipriota deve decidir sem pressões e avaliar sem presas as possibilidades e os perigos que cada resultado possível do referendo acarreta.
Para além da viabilidade e exequibilidade da solução proposta, são necessárias garantias de segurança e garantias de que serão aplicadas as disposições acordadas. Uma atitude deste tipo da parte do Parlamento ajudaria à criação das condições políticas necessárias, ou seja, à obtenção do apoio da maioria esmagadora de cipriotas gregos e cipriotas turcos à solução proposta, contribuindo para o avanço do processo de unificação da ilha e para a reconciliação das duas comunidades no âmbito de uma federação bicomunitária, bizonal.
A resolução, em vez de adoptar uma linha de pressão, devia ter deixado bem claro que será respeitada qualquer opção que os cipriotas vierem a fazer e devia ter aceite as alterações construtivas propostas pelo GUE/NGL e pelo eurodeputado da coligação, senhor deputado Papayannakis, sobre a necessidade de assegurar compromissos e garantias claros. Dado que as alterações positivas foram rejeitadas, eu não podia aprovar este texto e por isso abstive-me da votação final.
Figueiredo (GUE/NGL ),
. Reafirmamos a nossa permanente solidariedade para com o povo cipriota na sua luta contra a ocupação militar pela Turquia e pela defesa da reunificação do seu país.
Consideramos que é princípio e condição fundamental assegurar o respeito da decisão soberana do povo cipriota quanto ao seu presente e futuro - o que só a este compete -, sem qualquer inaceitável ingerência, chantagem ou pressão, nomeadamente em torno do plano apresentado pelo Secretário-Geral das Nações Unidas, a 31 de Março, e que será objecto de referendo a 24 de Abril próximo. Neste sentido, rejeitamos firmemente qualquer intenção ou tentativa no sentido de renegociar o Tratado de adesão da República de Chipre à União Europeia, de encarar a adesão da Turquia à União Europeia sem sequer serem cumpridos os denominados "critérios de Copenhaga", ou de "legitimar" a ocupação por parte da Turquia de parte de Chipre.
Daí o nosso voto contra a resolução, que nem sequer teve em conta as propostas que o nosso Grupo apresentou.
Korakas (GUE/NGL ),
.–O plano Annan está em desacordo total com as resoluções das Nações Unidas. Anula o crime de invasão e ocupação, absolve o conquistador, recompensa-o e proclama-o garante. Cria um Estado sem similar nos anais do direito internacional e sem viabilidade. Basicamente, são dois Estados com economias, comércio, indústria, política agrícola e política de emprego distintos.
Deixa enormes problemas no que se refere ao retorno dos refugiados, à compensação de propriedades e à presença de colonos. Cria uma situação de tensão permanente entre as duas comunidades, deixando a porta aberta a novas intervenções, incluindo as militares.
O povo cipriota está a ser colocado sob uma enorme pressão e está a ser sujeito a todo o tipo de coacção. Consideramos inaceitáveis as declarações hoje proferidas pelo Senhor Comissário Verheugen e por outros oradores, bem como as ameaças de "fim do mundo" se o plano Annan não for aceite.
Condenamos em especial o aviso vergonhoso, lamentável que o Senhor Comissário Verheugen enviou aos cipriotas e segundo o qual, se eles não votarem no sim, o número de tropas ocupantes e de colonos irá duplicar. E foi aplaudido por isso! É uma vergonha! Esta é a UE "da paz" como afirmava hoje o Senhor Comissário Verheugen. Consideramos inaceitável que os EUA e a UE continuem a lembrar aos cipriotas que esta é uma oportunidade única (exactamente para quem?).
O Partido Comunista da Grécia manifesta uma vez mais o seu apoio incondicional ao povo cipriota. A única solução aceitável passa pela aplicação das resoluções da ONU existentes e pelos acordos de cimeiras sobre um Chipre unido e independente, sem bases nem tropas estrangeiras, uma pátria comum federal, bicomunitária e bizonal para cipriotas turcos e cipriotas gregos, sem garantes nem protectores estrangeiros.
Meijer (GUE/NGL ),
Durante quarenta anos, os cipriotas gregos insistiram na reunificação da sua ilha. Para a minoria cipriota turca, no Norte, isso era inaceitável, uma vez que receava tornar-se uma minoria desfavorecida dentro seu próprio país. Entretanto, a maioria dos cipriotas de língua turca são provavelmente a favor da reunificação e da reconciliação com base no plano do Secretário-Geral da ONU. Esse plano propõe um modelo de Estado belga, uma federação de dois Estados federais monolingues. Uma maioria da população de língua grega parece agora ter intenção de votar contra no próximo dia 24 de Abril, porque quer mais direitos para si e menos direitos para a população de língua turca. Essa maioria quer impor de forma unilateral que o Chipre se torne um Estado unificado de língua grega, onde os cidadãos turcos individuais podem viver. Desse modo, jamais será alcançado um acordo entre as duas nações e a fronteira de arame farpado permanecerá para sempre. É com razão que o Comissário Verheugen e a maioria dos grupos se sentem agora enganados. Já a 5 de Dezembro de 2001, por ocasião do debate do relatório Poos sobre a adesão de Chipre à UE, eu tinha alertado para isso. Se inicialmente só uma parte da ilha fosse admitida na UE, os turcos poderiam ser obrigados a optar entre a pobreza fora da UE e a submissão dentro da República de Chipre enquanto Estado-Membro da UE. Após o referendo malogrado, teremos de procurar outra forma de admitir a parte turca na UE, se esta assim o desejar.
Patakis (GUE/NGL ),
.–Imediatamente a seguir à Cimeira de Helsínquia, o Partido Comunista da Grécia afirmou que o processo com vista à integração de Chipre na UE estava a ser utilizado como uma alavanca para provocar a divisão definitiva de Chipre. Menciono isto para salientar que o curso dos acontecimentos foi fixado a partir do momento em que a resolução do problema cipriota passou a ser da conveniência e do interesse da UE, em vez de ser no interesse do povo cipriota.
Efectivamente, como seria possível inverter os resultados da invasão e ocupação turcas de 1974, se a UE nunca encarou o problema de Chipre nessa perspectiva, nunca fez da retirada das forças de ocupação de Chipre uma condição prévia para a integração da Turquia? Como seria possível alcançar uma solução justa com o envolvimento da UE e dos EUA, se aquilo que aconteceu em 1974 é hoje em dia a prática quotidiana das potências imperialistas na Jugoslávia, Afeganistão, Iraque e Palestina? Como poderia o Secretário-Geral da ONU exprimir uma opinião diferente da coligação de forças internacional, ou seja, da nova ordem imperialista?
Logo, não é de espantar se o plano Annan ignora resoluções anteriores da ONU e acordo bicomunitários, institucionalizando uma dita confederação peculiar de apenas um Estado, uma confederação sem similar nos anais do direito internacional e dividida sob um protectorado estrangeiro.
O Partido Comunista da Grécia manifesta a sua solidariedade incondicional para com toda a nação cipriota. Exortamos os colegas a fazerem o mesmo e a porem termo a esta coacção flagrante.
Sacrédeus (PPE-DE ),
Votei contra a resolução (aprovada por 422 votos contra 30, com 47 abstenções) antes dos referendos de Chipre, em 24 de Abril, porque o Parlamento Europeu estaria, desse modo, a contribuir para a ocupação turca da parte norte da ilha.
A resolução apoia claramente o plano Annan. Anteriormente, o Parlamento Europeu sempre remeteu para as resoluções das Nações Unidas sobre Chipre, exigindo que a ocupação cesse e se ponha fim à divisão do país.
As forças de ocupação estão a ser reduzidas em número, mas deverão permanecer por um período indeterminado. Continua a dar-se à Turquia o direito de intervir unilateralmente, e a sua ocupação continua, apesar de estar a ser reduzida de 37% para 28,5% da ilha.
Vários refugiados cipriotas gregos estão a ser autorizados a regressar às suas casas ocupadas. A outros está a ser oferecida uma compensação financeira sob a forma de obrigações do tesouro que poderão ser resgatadas, por um valor desconhecido, dentro de 20 ou 25 anos.
Chipre não está autorizado a contribuir para a política de segurança e defesa comum da UE no seu território, nem a apoiar esta política, sem a aprovação do Governo turco. Na prática, Chipre não será um Estado-Membro efectivo da União Europeia.
Estão a ser concedidos aos cidadãos turcos os mesmos direitos de visita e permanência em Chipre que aos cidadãos gregos. Chipre não pode participar no acordo de Schengen porque toda a população turca passaria a poder entrar livremente na zona de Schengen.
Os presidentes de Chipre estão a ser instigados a pedir que o Tribunal Europeu dos Direitos do Homem anule todos os acórdãos que dão aos refugiados cipriotas gregos o direito de recuperarem as suas propriedades situadas na parte norte da ilha.
Souchet (NI ),
- Votámos contra a resolução que apoia o plano Annan, cuja parcialidade e iniquidade são flagrantes e que não pode, portanto, constituir uma base sólida e duradoura para a resolução da questão de Chipre. Esta resolução inscreve-se directamente na linha das pressões e chantagens exercidas pela Comissão sobre os cipriotas gregos, das quais tivemos esta manhã outro exemplo com a intervenção no plenário do Comissário Verheugen. Estas pressões tomam a forma tanto de uma inadmissível culpabilização daqueles que ousassem votar contra o plano que outros lhes querem impor, como de promessas de ajudas financeiras miríficas no caso de a votação ser favorável.
Na realidade, a Comissão tem apenas um único objectivo: inocentar a Turquia, fazendo esquecer o facto de que invadiu a parte norte de Chipre, que continua a ocupar militarmente. Que importa que isso seja feito à custa de um acordo que espezinha os direitos dos cipriotas gregos! O principal é que a Turquia, cujo governo islamita apoia naturalmente o plano Annan, apareça como um candidato respeitável e digno de entrar na União Europeia. Aqueles que apoiaram a resolução do Parlamento Europeu são, por conseguinte, claramente a favor da adesão da Turquia à União Europeia.
Figueiredo (GUE/NGL ),
. Este relatório pretende acelerar a criação de um espaço único de pagamentos em euros, antes de 2010, dando assim mais um contributo para a conclusão do mercado interno. Em nome da concorrência, privilegia-se os interesses dos operadores económicos em detrimento da protecção dos consumidores.
É interessante verificar que a preocupação central é com a eficiência do sector de pagamentos, que se afirma ser "insatisfatória". Mas nada se diz sobre os encargos dos consumidores, sobre os aumentos das taxas e comissões relativas às operações de serviço de pagamentos, como a transferência de dinheiro, que ocorreram nomeadamente no sector bancário após a entrada em circulação do Euro, que penalizaram fortemente os consumidores e para os quais ainda não existe um estudo sério nem legislação adequada.
Mas apressa-se a rejeitar a ideia de responsabilizar o operador de serviços de pagamento, em caso de litígio entre comerciante e cliente, a introduzir limites máximos para os custos de encerramento de contas bancárias e a limitar a participação do cliente em situações de transacções não autorizadas, assim como considera as obrigações de informação dos operadores aos seus clientes como exageradas. Por isso, votámos contra.
Temos também reservas sobre a abrangência do futuro enquadramento jurídico aos pagamentos nacionais, sendo claro que o consumidor não se poderá confrontar com condições menos favoráveis do que as existentes.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. A necessidade de aprofundar e completar o mercado interno implica uma acrescida eficácia dos serviços de pagamento. A introdução, no início de 2002, das moedas e notas de Euro contribuiu para um aumento da eficácia dos pagamentos em numerário. A introdução de novos sistemas – v.g. TARGET - pelo sector bancário, veio, por seu lado, agilizar as transferências transfronteiriças de grandes montantes, com vantagens visíveis para os consumidores, havendo que velar de modo articulado pela segurança das transacções e pela eficácia e rapidez do sistema.
As lacunas verificadas no sector dos pagamentos transfronteiras de pequenos montantes reside aparentemente na insuficiência do enquadramento jurídico a nível europeu que a Comissão se propõe apresentar; no entanto, a sua estrutura (forma e número dos instrumentos jurídicos) ainda não é conhecida. Concordo, por princípio, com a intenção anunciada pela Comissão, associando-me, todavia, a algumas considerações do colega relator, nomeadamente quando alerta para que importa prover a iniciativas regulamentares de enquadramento geral e nalguns domínios específicos, deixando a necessária margem de manobra para a auto-regulamentação pelos próprios operadores económicos.
De Rossa (PSE ),
É com satisfação que apoio este relatório e a Comunicação sobre a Política Integrada de Produtos (PIP), que visam apoiar o desenvolvimento sustentável, mediante a redução da utilização dos recursos e do impacto negativo da eliminação de resíduos, assim como através da redução do impacto ambiental dos produtos ao longo do respectivo ciclo de vida.
A Comissão coloca enorme ênfase na "relação com o mercado". Esta abordagem possui méritos evidentes, mas apenas terá êxito num ambiente em que os "produtos verdes" tenham preços mais favoráveis relativamente a outros produtos. A aplicação do Princípio do Poluidor-Pagador seria um passo fundamental nessa direcção.
Espero que a Comissão responda a este relatório e tome medidas urgentes com vista à apresentação de uma directiva-quadro para a PIP, assente em princípios e objectivos claramente definidos, incluindo os requisitos específicos constantes deste relatório.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. A Comissão define na presente Comunicação (no seguimento da consulta das partes interessadas, organizada após a aprovação do Livro Verde sobre a PIP – "Política Integrada de Produtos" -, em Fevereiro de 2001) as medidas que tomará, por forma a avançar com a política integrada de produtos a nível europeu, visando limitar o impacto ambiental dos produtos ao longo do respectivo ciclo de vida.
Avançar no sentido do desenvolvimento sustentável, é a abordagem PIP (Política Integrada de Produtos) da Comissão: incluir de forma pragmática todas as partes interessadas (os projectistas, os sectores da indústria, os vendedores e os consumidores), criar um quadro económico e jurídico apropriado (aquisições mais ecológicas por parte das empresas e promoção de rótulos ecológicos) e promover a investigação (elaboração de projectos-piloto centrados em produtos específicos).
Como em muitas outras ocasiões defendi, é necessária uma crescente sensibilização das indústrias e produtores europeus, para uma verdadeira sustentabilidade do crescimento económico e dos sistemas produtivos – que passa pela reciclagem, tratamento de resíduos, protecção das águas, etc. – decorrente, aliás, da própria maior sensibilidade dos cidadãos europeus. Esse é um desígnio cada vez mais presente na política da União. A presente Comunicação é um passo nessa direcção. Votei, pois, a favor.
Pex (PPE-DE ).
– Senhor Presidente, como já tive ocasião de dizer durante o debate de ontem, votei a favor do relatório Sterckx por se tratar de um bom relatório. O relatório suscita, contudo, um sentimento de segurança descabido à população europeia. Ontem, descobri que o plano de acção da Agência Europeia de Segurança Marítima não poder ser implementado por razões orçamentais. Isto significa que, tanto em termos de qualidade como de quantidade, não há capacidade suficiente para garantir a segurança dos cidadãos ao longo das costas europeias.
Quer isso dizer que todo o trabalho que fizemos desembocou num final decepcionante, sobretudo porque sabemos que os Estados-Membros se recusam a tomar parte na introdução de sanções penais. Consequentemente, aquilo que aqui propusemos tem pouco conteúdo, o que é profundamente lamentável, mas não me impediu de votar a favor do relatório. Considero, todavia, que é necessário definir claramente responsabilidades, pelo que isto deverá ficar registado na acta desta Assembleia.
Andersen, Bonde e Sandbæk (EDD ),
O Movimento de Junho decidiu votar hoje a favor do relatório relativo à melhoria da segurança marítima, uma vez que apoiamos, naturalmente, todos os comentários sensatos relativos às considerações ambientais e ao combate à poluição por hidrocarbonetos.
Deverá, porém, ser salientado que o Movimento de Junho não apoiará as ideias relativas à criação de uma guarda costeira europeia. Compete a cada Estado-Membro determinar o controlo a efectuar nas suas próprias águas e costas. Não existe qualquer motivo para envolver a UE nesta questão.
Para além disso, o Movimento de Junho decidiu não votar nem a favor nem contra a alteração 5, visto não podermos apoiar o desejo de uma maior harmonização. Ao mesmo tempo, contudo, consideramos necessário pôr termo à exploração cruel a que são sujeitos os tripulantes de muitos navios.
Figueiredo (GUE/NGL ),
. Congratulamo-nos com a aprovação de duas importantes propostas que reapresentámos em plenário:
- O reconhecimento de que, para efeitos de segurança marítima, é indispensável que os tripulantes sejam qualificados, disponham de condições e de um horário de trabalho decentes, assim como de uma remuneração valorizadora, e que se ponha termo à sobre-exploração existente em inúmeras embarcações. Daí que se solicite à Comissão que, por meios legislativos, providencie uma harmonização e revalorização desta profissão à escala europeia e que se empenhe neste propósito no âmbito da OMI.
- A defesa da intervenção da União Europeia no sentido de banir os pavilhões de conveniência das águas territoriais europeias.
Daí o nosso voto favorável.
Hedkvist Petersen e Theorin (PSE ),
Apresentamos a presente declaração de voto em relação aos números seguintes.
Nº 13: Somos favoráveis a uma maior cooperação europeia entre as guardas costeiras nacionais em matéria de operações conjuntas, planeamento e desenvolvimento de competências. Não consideramos, portanto, que seja necessário desenvolver uma organização nova, paralela, sob a forma de uma guarda costeira europeia.
Nº 17: Temos dúvidas a respeito do financiamento europeu dos locais de abrigo. Consideramos que os países que assumiram a sua responsabilidade e financiaram locais de abrigo ao longo das suas costas não devem ser obrigados pela negligência dos outros Estados a criar locais de abrigo.
Korakas (GUE/NGL ),
. – O relatório da comissão temporária é mais uma tentativa para esconder a política antilaboral levada a cabo no sector da navegação e acalmar as reacções populares e do movimento laboral face aos crimes praticados no mar, que todos os anos matam dezenas de marinheiros e que têm consequências gravosas para o ambiente.
A alegação feita no relatório de que 80% dos acidentes são devidos a erro humano é errónea, desprovida de bases científicas e suspeita, na medida em que procura encobrir a responsabilidade das companhias de navegação e das autoridades governamentais, escondendo a deterioração da formação náutica e encobrindo as consequências de uma frota obsoleta, controlos deficientes, composições de tripulações inadequadas e intensificação do trabalho dos marinheiros.
Os acidentes estão directamente ligados à irresponsabilidade reinante, especialmente nos segundos registos dos Estados-Membros da UE e nos navios que arvoram pavilhões de conveniência. Ficou provado que os registos navais funcionam como mecanismos para encobrir infracções à legislação e perpetuar a irresponsabilidade dos armadores, emitindo certificados que, na maioria dos casos, não reflectem o verdadeiro estado do navio.
As propostas da Comissão e do Parlamento escondem as responsabilidades e promovem o comportamento dos grandes monopólios náuticos e terrestres e, a pretexto do combate ao terrorismo, promovem medidas que ofendem direitos democráticos fundamentais dos marítimos.
Exigimos a libertação imediata do comandante do petroleiro e o seu regresso à Grécia.
Krivine (GUE/NGL ),
- Dezoito pessoas pereceram em Janeiro de 2004 no naufrágio do cargueiro ao largo da costa da Noruega perante a indiferença geral. O transporte marítimo continua sujeito às leis dos "vigaristas dos mares" e a União Europeia nada faz! Três anos depois da adopção dos pacotes legislativos , sete Estados-Membros (Itália, Grécia, Finlândia, Bélgica, Luxemburgo, Áustria e Países-Baixos) ainda não incorporaram na sua legislação nacional as decisões comunitárias.
É urgente pôr fim ao sistema dos pavilhões de conveniência no transporte marítimo. Temos de abolir os pavilhões de conveniência, a começar pelos da UE. Temos de garantir um alto nível de formação e de remuneração do pessoal do mar. Temos de nos dotar dos meios necessários para fazer aplicar as legislações, reforçando o corpo de inspectores ou criando uma força europeia de guardas costeiros. Finalmente, temos de fazer luz sobre as responsabilidades envolvidas no naufrágio do , nomeadamente as do Governo Aznar.
Com a adesão de Chipre e de Malta, a UE tornar-se-á a primeira potência marítima mundial. Terá a capacidade de alterar as regras da OMI num sector afectado pela globalização capitalista. Sem este empenhamento, permaneceremos impotentes para travar a destruição humana, social e ambiental. O relatório Sterckx é bastante inadequado deste ponto de vista.
Marques (PPE-DE ),
. Felicito o colega Sterckx pelo relatório produzido sobre o reforço da segurança marítima, ao qual dou o meio apoio.
Partilho das preocupações com a segurança marítima expressas pela Comissão Temporária para o Reforço da Segurança Marítima e pelo próprio relator, apelando a todos os intervenientes no sentido de que a segurança marítima continue a merecer uma atenção política forte e duradoura. Desta dependem directamente a qualidade e a segurança dos navios que navegam em águas europeias e dos navios europeus no mundo e a protecção das costas e dos cidadãos europeus.
Apoio firmemente as medidas tomadas neste âmbito, nomeadamente para banir das águas europeias os petroleiros de casco simples que transportam óleos pesados e para atribuir competências complementares à Agência Europeia de Segurança Marítima.
Termino reafirmando algo que tenho referido várias vezes ao longo do meu mandato: a segurança é da responsabilidade de todos e exige um empenhamento de todos!
Meijer (GUE/NGL ),
O Governo espanhol, que foi responsável pela catástrofe ocorrida com o petroleiro e pelo fuelóleo que poluiu as costas de Espanha, França e Portugal, foi entretanto afastado pelos eleitores. A fim de evitar a possível poluição por petróleo num único porto espanhol, o comandante deste navio recebeu instruções para se afastar da costa e afundar-se, finalmente, no mar alto, o que aumentou consideravelmente a magnitude da catástrofe. Das 77 000 toneladas de crude então transportadas no navio, 43 000 toneladas foram resgatadas, estimando-se que ainda estejam a bordo 14 mil toneladas. Significa isto que 20 000 toneladas desapareceram no mar e que a costa da Galiza permanecerá poluída durante muito tempo. É com razão que o relatório critica os Países Baixos e a Bélgica pelo facto de, aparentemente, não considerarem como uma questão urgente a aplicação da inspecção pelo Estado do porto e de sociedades de classificação. Foram formuladas propostas com vista à designação de portos de abrigo, à imposição de um seguro obrigatório aos navios a fim de se poder pedir indemnização aos seus proprietários pelos danos e despesas causados, ao rastreio, por meio de , de contentores perdidos e a uma observância mais estrita das regras ambientais e de segurança existentes; estas propostas contam com o meu apoio. É lamentável que o serviço de guarda costeira europeia, cuja criação está aparentemente planeada, não se destine apenas a garantir a protecção conjunta do ambiente marinho, a segurança e a observância das restrições à pesca, mas seja também imediatamente associado à caça aos imigrantes e a possíveis terroristas e à consolidação de um super-Estado europeu.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ),
. Na sequência de uma resolução do PE de Setembro de 2003, motivada pelos desastres dos petroleiros e , foi criada uma comissão temporária para, de forma específica, se ocupar das questões relacionadas com a segurança marítima.
Esta comissão realizou várias audições com peritos e responsáveis de países da União que permitiram aprofundar a questão. A sua actividade culmina agora com a aprovação, em sessão plenária, de uma resolução que visa sintetizar os cerca de seis meses da sua duração.
Infelizmente, a existência de contributos contraditórios não permitiram à referida comissão temporária esclarecer totalmente as causas e as circunstâncias do naufrágio , reflectindo também o relatório Sterckx essa indefinição.
Acompanho as preocupações do relator, designadamente quando se debruça sobre a forma como melhorar a segurança marítima e insiste nalguns pontos que me parecem importantes, tais como: a necessidade do envolvimento da UE em favor dos países afectados por catástrofes marítimas; a publicação da lista negra dos navios cujo acesso deve ser vedado aos portos europeus; e o desenvolvimento de um sistema de detecção marítima de navios que transportam mercadorias perigosas.
Se a comissão temporária serviu para, até aqui, manter vivo o interesse das Instituições, Estados-Membros e de outras organizações com peso na matéria, a partir daqui cabe a cada um desses agentes ter presente esta preocupação e, sobretudo, ter consciência...
(Declaração de voto encurtada nos termos do n° 1do artigo 137° do Regimento)
Souchet (NI ),
- Estava fora de questão votarmos a favor do relatório Sterckx, tendo em conta as críticas nele incluídas às medidas de Málaga acordadas conjuntamente pela França e por Espanha, para um maior benefício da segurança marítima europeia, mas com o defeito inerente, aos olhos da maioria deste Parlamento, de ser um produto da cooperação entre Estados-Membros e não um procedimento supranacional. Surpreende-me, aliás, que deputados franceses tenham podido associar-se à condenação categórica de uma iniciativa, tomada pelos Srs. Chirac e Aznar, que melhora consideravelmente a segurança das nossas costas, das nossas populações marítimas, dos nossos pescadores.
Se acabámos por nos abster relativamente ao relatório Sterckx, tal deve-se à adopção de um certo número de alterações positivas que melhoram o texto, e que se referem nomeadamente à necessidade de banir os pavilhões de conveniência nas águas europeias e de providenciar, em caso de maré negra, uma reparação integral dos danos causados por todos os intervenientes, no quadro de uma OMI completamente reestruturada.
Presidente.
Estão encerradas as votações.
(1)
Presidente.
Colegas, é meu prazer dar, esta tarde, as boas-vindas, em nome do Parlamento Europeu, a dois eminentes representantes da Iniciativa de Genebra para a paz no Médio Oriente: o antigo presidente do Knesset, Avraham Burg, e o antigo Ministro da Informação da Autoridade Palestiniana, Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Espero que tenham sido frutíferas as reuniões que aqui realizaram, ontem e esta manhã, com a Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa, as delegações para as relações com Israel e com o Conselho Legislativo Palestiniano e os representantes dos grupos políticos. O vivo interesse demonstrado pelos senhores deputados nestas reuniões é testemunho do apoio entusiástico do Parlamento Europeu à Iniciativa de Genebra.
Sejam muito bem-vindos. Peço que compreendam que, esta tarde, o número dos presentes nesta Assembleia é mais diminuto, porque acabámos as votações há apenas oito minutos. Suponho que os senhores deputados estejam a almoçar.
Obrigado por terem vindo.
Presidente.
Segue-se na ordem do dia a continuação do debate sobre as declarações do Conselho e da Comissão sobre as relações transatlânticas.
Boudjenah (GUE/NGL ).
- Senhor Presidente, agradeço-lhe, embora lamente que o Senhor Comissário Patten não tenha, talvez, tido tempo de regressar ao plenário. Em várias ocasiões, e tal como outras pessoas, preocupei-me vivamente com o unilateralismo dos Estados Unidos. A lista é longa, abrangendo questões como a segurança colectiva, os direitos do Homem, o desenvolvimento ou a protecção do ambiente. Que tipo de proposta é oportuno fazer em matéria de relações transatlânticas a poucas semanas da Cimeira de Dublim? O melhor "serviço" que a União poderia prestar a esta parceria não seria fazer prova de espírito crítico relativamente aos pontos de vista americanos em vários domínios e, sobretudo, tomar a iniciativa em diferentes direcções?
Estou a pensar, acima de tudo, na situação dolorosa que se vive no Médio Oriente. O Senhor Presidente Prodi qualificou de "acto ilegal e irresponsável" o assassinato do líder do Hamas. Ouvi igualmente - e tomei devida nota - o que o Conselho disse no debate desta manhã. No entanto, apenas poucos dias passados desde a luz verde dada por Bush à prossecução da política de ocupação e de divisão do território palestiniano, quando é que a Europa se vai decidir a tomar as iniciativas corajosas que se impõem e para as quais dispõe dos meios necessários: suspender o acordo UE-Israel, exigir o envio de uma força de protecção internacional e convocar uma conferência internacional que poderia integrar, nomeadamente, os protagonistas do acordo de Genebra?
No Iraque, a atitude obstinada da Administração Bush, que provoca tragédias humanas quotidianas, deveria levar, naquela região também, a um envolvimento muito maior da União Europeia para que uma verdadeira transferência de soberania garantida pela ONU possa ter lugar o mais rapidamente possível. O espírito crítico impõe-se também em relação aos planos americanos para todo o Médio Oriente, que tentam impor, de fora, uma espécie de "kit democrático", que garantiria sobretudo os interesses económicos e estratégicos americanos tal como Bush os define. Finalmente, os imperativos da luta contra o terrorismo não podem servir para justificar um desvio no sentido de uma segurança discriminatória. Preocupam-me igualmente as declarações feitas hoje pelo Conselho e pela Comissão, que voltam ao tema da rejeição, pelo Parlamento, da transferência de dados pessoais dos passageiros aéreos.
À parte as medidas de segurança claramente indispensáveis, dentro do respeito pelo Estado de Direito, a resposta ao terrorismo não deve ignorar as suas causas. Tomar a iniciativa no seio do FMI ou da OMC tendo por objectivo reduzir as desigualdades no mundo poderia, também, ser um contributo europeu útil.
Lagendijk (Verts/ALE ).
- Senhor Presidente, é evidente que a Europa e os Estados Unidos têm muitas coisas em comum, e a necessidade de um diálogo entre ambos é óbvia, posto que nenhum deles tem capacidade para resolver por si só os problemas mundiais. Não podem, porém, existir mal-entendidos quanto ao facto de este diálogo dever ser travado entre parceiros que têm opiniões fundamentalmente diferentes sobre um conjunto de questões essenciais, algumas das quais gostaria de referir.
O fulcro da estratégia de segurança da Europa reside na prevenção de conflitos e no envolvimento preventivo. O núcleo da estratégia de Bush reside em ataques preventivos armados. O objectivo da União Europeia é o de reforçar as Nações Unidas; o dos Estados Unidos é o multilateralismo , com as Nações Unidas, se possível e quando convém a Washington, e sem Nações Unidas quando não lhe convém. A ambição da UE é pôr termo à distribuição de armas de destruição em massa. Oficialmente, essa é também a linha adoptada pelos Estados Unidos, mas, ao mesmo tempo, os regimes amigos, incluindo o de Israel na Palestina, são protegidos, enquanto os próprios Estados Unidos continuam a desenvolver as chamadas . A União Europeia apoia o Tribunal Penal Internacional no sentido de reforçar o Direito internacional. Os Estados Unidos envidam todos os esforços para tornar a actividade do Tribunal Penal tão difícil quanto possível.
A União Europeia é uma superpotência civil, ou melhor, poderia sê-lo, se se concentrasse mais no aperfeiçoamento das actividades em que é boa, ou em que poderia ser boa. São elas a prevenção de conflitos, o reforço das organizações multilaterais, o comércio – o comércio equitativo, pela parte que toca ao meu grupo – e a acção militar, sob a bandeira das Nações Unidas, apenas no caso de tal se revelar inevitável.
No Iraque, os Estados Unidos aprenderam à sua própria custa que não podem resolver os problemas dos regimes ditatoriais e do terrorismo sem a ajuda das Nações Unidas e da Europa. Não haja contudo mal-entendidos: o mesmo se aplica à Europa. Por conseguinte, o melhor que a Europa tem a fazer é adoptar uma política de cooperação com o Estados-Membros, se isso for de todo possível, mas não pode hesitar em recusar essa cooperação, se tal for necessário. Não porque os políticos idealistas assim o entendem, mas porque os nossos cidadãos esperam da Europa que ela fale a uma só voz e, se necessário, aja com determinação para refrear os Estados Unidos.
Belder (EDD ).
– Senhor Presidente, os graves problemas no Iraque subsistem. Foi mais uma vez esta a mensagem que me foi transmitida através de um chamada telefónica de Bagdade que recebi na noite de segunda-feira. O meu informador iraquiano está directamente envolvido – por via do Ministério da Educação, nem mais nem menos – na reconstrução do seu país natal, a multiplamente destruída Mesopotâmia que é o Iraque. Ele foi particularmente duro nas suas críticas aos Estados Unidos e à União Europeia. Se os parceiros transatlânticos não conjugarem finalmente esforços em termos militares e económicos em prol de um futuro melhor para o Iraque, isso poderá, a dada altura, sair-lhes caro. O que significa este apelo urgente de Bagdade em termos concretos?
Significa que a OTAN tem de pacificar a Mesopotâmia, de preferência sob um mandato das Nações Unidas, e que é necessário implementar um plano Marshall generoso para neutralizar a sedução dos grupos radicais. Pessoalmente, gostaria de secundar calorosamente este apelo no seio da Comissão e do Conselho. Essa é a única forma de a União Europeia demonstrar que é realmente um parceiro sólido dos Estados Unidos. Só assim as Instituições europeias poderão provar que querem assumir a responsabilidade política por um mundo que parece estar preparado para repelir o ataque das forças do mal supremo de terroristas para quem a vida humana não conta, quer se trate da dos seus compatriotas iraquianos, da dos seus correligionários ou da dos espanhóis. Segundo a Bíblia, uma casa dividida não permanecerá de pé. Isso aplica-se ainda mais à própria União Europeia.
Beysen (NI ).
– Senhores Presidente, desde a guerra no Iraque, as relações transatlânticas azedaram. Isso deu origem a grandes tensões dentro da actual União Europeia. Tudo leva a crer que estas tensões irão permanecer depois do alargamento, decerto inicialmente. Essa é uma constatação muito triste, pois estou convencido de que a Europa está enganada no seu inimigo. Afinal de contas, o debate não é sobre a forma como a Europa pode oferecer um contrapeso ao poder dos Estados Unidos, mas sobre a questão de saber qual é a melhor forma de combatermos o terrorismo internacional. Do meu ponto de vista, o terrorismo só pode ser combatido por meio da solidariedade transatlântica e de uma acção colectiva. É por isso que os líderes políticos europeus têm um papel de relevo a desempenhar. Mais concretamente, este Parlamento deveria frisar de forma mais clara o quanto a Europa tem a perder com uma tensão permanente e o quanto tem ganhar com uma verdadeira cooperação com os Estados Unidos. É com esta mensagem que me despeço do Parlamento Europeu.
Elles (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, gostaria de começar por agradecer à Presidência a hospitalidade demonstrada na Irlanda. Foi, na verdade, uma ocasião memorável, embora desconhecesse que nos encontrávamos no círculo eleitoral do Senhor Ministro Roche. Evidentemente, formos muito bem recebidos e a hospitalidade foi soberba. Muito obrigado, Senhor Ministro Roche.
O espírito dos seus comentários e dos do Senhor Comissário Patten mostra que, apesar das enormes dificuldades por que passaram as relações transatlânticas nos últimos meses, muito se poderá conseguir na Cimeira UE-EUA se houver coragem suficiente para isso. Os comentários proferidos dão-me algum alento quanto às perspectivas de progressos concretos.
O primeiro aspecto que gostaria de referir prende-se com o estudo conjunto – que o Senhor Comissário mencionou – sobre os aspectos económicos. Congratulo-me com o mesmo, porque, se pudermos analisar os entraves que subsistem ao comércio, poderemos vir a construir um mercado transatlântico livre de barreiras. Talvez V. Exa. possa ter a coragem de afirmar que isso deverá ser feito no prazo de dez anos. Isso galvanizaria verdadeiramente as comunidades de ambas as partes com vista à eliminação dos derradeiros obstáculos.
O segundo aspecto, talvez tão importante, prende-se com o facto de termos de olhar para o quadro mais geral das relações transatlânticas. Como disse, Senhor Comissário, muitos são os temas desta agenda: o ambiente, a política externa, as políticas industrial e social e, como vimos, também a questão dos dados PNR. É agora preciso um novo enquadramento para ter em conta estes temas e, em particular, para integrar o diálogo parlamentar no quadro mais amplo destas relações.
Por conseguinte, congratulo-me com o facto de pretender realizar um estudo independente. Espero que este desejo seja partilhado também pelos nossos amigos americanos, de molde a que a Cimeira UE-EUA do próximo ano, já com novas administrações, possa abrir caminho a um acordo mais abrangente, possivelmente um acordo de parceria, entre a UE e os EUA, quem sabe, até 2007.
Muito obrigado pelos seus comentários. Desejo-lhe o melhor, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, e espero que, quando for a Dublin, possamos ouvir uma declaração, delineando o futuro destas relações, que ambos, Europeus e Americanos, possam aceitar.
Swoboda (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, Senhor Comissário Patten, se passarmos em revista o último debate e fizermos uma comparação com a situação que temos hoje, não podemos deixar de concluir, lamentavelmente, que o fosso existente nas relações entre os Estados Unidos e a Europa nem ao menos diminuiu. Todos nós tínhamos expectativas e esperanças de que, com o tempo, se verificasse um desenvolvimento positivo nesta matéria. Olhando para o nosso relatório, a nossa declaração, a nossa proposta de resolução, vejo três grandes temas políticos: o reforço das Nações Unidas, a situação no Médio Oriente e a luta contra o terrorismo. Em todos estes três domínios - se considerados realisticamente e não apenas numa perspectiva optimista - existem grandes diferenças.
No que se refere ao reforço das Nações Unidas, não vejo qualquer mudança significativa de tónica na política dos EUA. Se, de facto, vai haver agora um maior envolvimento das Nações Unidas no Iraque, isso terá de ser feito com o maior cuidado, pois terão de ser as Nações Unidas efectivamente e não as Nações Unidas agindo como uma espécie de extensão das forças ocupantes naquele país. Se assim não for, serão engolidas no mesmo turbilhão de violência e retaliação que tem envolvido os Americanos.
O facto é que, na própria região, já nada resta da iniciativa para um novo Médio Oriente, tão estrepitosamente anunciada. Gostaria que pudéssemos juntar-nos aos Americanos para ir ao fundo do problema, das suas causas, e delinear uma estratégia global para o Médio Oriente, que não pode, seguramente, centrar-se unicamente em Israel e na Palestina.
Penso igualmente que continuam a existir diferenças profundas no que se refere à luta contra o terrorismo. Ouvi hoje o Senhor Comissário Patten - com prazer, como sempre - e concordo com muitos dos seus argumentos. Não tem razão quanto à forma como votei, mas tem razão quanto a muitas outras coisas. Temos de ser muito cuidadosos nesta matéria e teremos talvez, por vezes, de ir até ao limite do que é legalmente exequível, a fim de termos uma verdadeira defesa contra o terrorismo, mas o que é essencial é combatermos as suas causas e, nessa matéria, continuam a existir grandes diferenças no modo como a Europa e os Estados Unidos da América encaram a forma de o fazer.
Jonckheer (Verts/ALE ).
- Senhor Presidente, ao ouvir o Comissário Patten esta manhã, fiquei impressionado com o facto de ter declarado que, no termo dos cinco anos do seu mandato como Comissário, considerava que a situação internacional é mais perigosa do que era há cinco anos atrás. Partilho esta opinião. Talvez se devesse dar mais ênfase nesta resolução ao facto de um dos aspectos desta perigosidade ser a política de unilateralismo e, sobretudo, a nova doutrina americana em matéria de unilateralismo. Creio que este aspecto está largamente ausente na proposta de resolução. É por essa razão que apoiamos a maioria das alterações propostas.
Vou referir três exemplos extremamente concretos de expectativas em relação à UE. Ouvimos ontem, na Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa, o Sr. Avraham Burg e o Sr. Yasser Abed-Rabbo. Foi feito um pedido muito explícito para que a União Europeia e os Ministros dos Negócios Estrangeiros apoiem, mais fortemente do que têm feito até agora, a iniciativa de Genebra. Foi feito também um pedido no sentido de que a União Europeia seja proactiva no apoio a organizações independentes, sob o controlo internacional, na Palestina. Estes pontos deveriam ser claramente mencionados no nosso projecto de resolução.
Finalmente, gostaria também que a União Europeia tomasse mais em consideração os estudos internacionais. Foram citados alguns. Este Verão, foi publicado um relatório sob a égide da Organização Internacional do Trabalho, que apresentava propostas concretas relativas à boa governação económica e às regras no domínio da globalização.
Se não compreendermos, como tantas vezes foi dito nesta Assembleia e como o Comissário Patten também o tem repetido com frequência, que a luta contra a pobreza é um dos elementos fundamentais da luta contra o terrorismo, e se não seguirmos as recomendações dos relatórios internacionais para os quais nós próprios contribuímos, perderemos toda a credibilidade. É este tipo de mensagem que é igualmente necessário fazer chegar à Administração Bush.
Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, os Estados Unidos, com apenas 3% da população mundial, são capazes de produzir aproximadamente 30 % dos bens e serviços do mundo. A China, com uma população seis vezes superior e com uma superfície muito maior, produz apenas 3%. A Rússia, actualmente, situa-se abaixo da Suíça em termos de produto interno bruto. O que quero dizer com isto é que os Estados Unidos gozam, claramente, de uma posição de hegemonia política e militar sem precedentes.
Também é justo dizer, no entanto, que os EUA o conseguiram pelos seus próprios méritos. Creio que temos de concluir que, se a Europa quer desenvolver todas as suas potencialidades, tem de o fazer num quadro de cooperação leal com os Estados Unidos. Esta cooperação leal não significa que a Europa tenha de passar um cheque em branco; a Europa tem as suas próprias posições no que se refere à pena de morte, ao Tribunal Penal Internacional, ao Protocolo de Quioto, às leis extraterritoriais e à política comercial.
Devemos igualmente ter em consideração que as relações entre a União Europeia e os Estados Unidos assentam em valores comuns, numa história partilhada, e creio que é importante não esquecer que o vínculo transatlântico está no código genético da União Europeia e numa paixão comum pela liberdade.
Além disso, considero importante não esquecer que existe um extraordinário grau de interdependência nos domínios económico e comercial. Quatro quintos dos novos investimentos realizados actualmente na Europa provêm dos Estados Unidos e não esqueçamos, tão-pouco, que os actuais 15 Estados-Membros da UE investem mais no Texas, o Estado natal do Presidente Bush, do que o Japão investe em todos os 50 Estados da União.
Gostaria pois de manifestar a minha concordância, Senhor Presidente, com uma frase feliz do Comissário Patten, que emprego com frequência nos meus discursos, e que diz que poderemos conseguir muito mais facilmente tudo aquilo que queremos alcançar como Europeus se cooperarmos com os Estados Unidos e tenho a certeza de que os Estados Unidos poderão conseguir aquilo que pretendem se cooperarem connosco.
Lucas (Verts/ALE ).
Senhor Presidente, gostaria de levantar duas questões no minuto de que disponho. Antes de mais, a proposta de lançar um mercado transatlântico é o estratagema da Rede da Política Transatlântica, composta por empresas multinacionais, grupos neo-liberais e políticos desta Assembleia. Nunca foi objecto de um debate público adequado, embora se trate do maior projecto de liberalização de sempre. Consideramos que não é do interesse dos cidadãos comuns.
Em segundo lugar, gostaria de exortar o Conselho a levantar junto dos seus homólogos nos EUA a questão do Iraque e, em especial, a do recente massacre em Falujah – e não uso a palavra massacre de forma leviana. As imagens dos militares americanos a responder aos tumultos em Falujah chocaram o mundo. Mais de 600 iraquianos foram mortos ou feridos nas últimas duas semanas nos bombardeamentos e operações terrestres dos EUA, e, no entanto, os Estados-Membros da UE ainda não condenaram as acções militares dos EUA. Talvez aceitem as garantias do comandante dos americanos, quando este afirma que os seus homens são “treinados para atingirem os seus alvos com precisão”. No entanto, mais de 350 dos mortos em Falujah eram mulheres e crianças. À luz da utilização injustificada e desproporcionada da força por parte dos militares americanos, e tendo em conta o elevado número de mortos neste cerco, insto o Conselho a manifestar preocupações quanto ao respeito pelos direitos humanos neste diálogo transatlântico e a exigir a instituição de uma comissão de inquérito às acções militares dos EUA na região de Falujah.
Collins (UEN ).
Senhor Presidente, antes de mais, gostaria de felicitar o Senhor Ministro Roche e o Senhor Comissário Patten pelas excelentes contribuições que aqui nos deram hoje, contribuições que deverão ser cuidadosamente lidas pelos deputados deste Parlamento, que muito beneficiarão com esse facto.
É preciso agora que o Governo americano comece a capacitar-se de que, pura e simplesmente, o unilateralismo não é o caminho correcto a seguir se quisermos enfrentar os graves problemas com que se depara a comunidade internacional. Está agora mais claro do que nunca que o Governo americano tinha um plano para livrar o Iraque da ditadura hedionda de Saddam Hussein, mas não dispunha, nem dispõe, de uma estratégia de saída do Iraque.
Este é o cerne do problema político que agora enfrentamos. Os sistemas multilaterais têm mais êxito e possuem maior legitimidade em matéria de defesa do respeito pelo primado do direito nas relações entre os Estados. O verdadeiro multilateralismo implica o compromisso de se trabalhar em conjunto com os outros na eliminação das causas dos conflitos, na promoção do respeito pelos direitos humanos e na criação da maquinaria necessária à resolução dos diferendos por meios pacíficos. Uma ordem internacional assente em regras e em instituições internacionais sólidas, tais como as Nações Unidas, é de importância fundamental, se quisermos enfrentar os problemas internacionais.
A cooperação multilateral é do interesse de todos nós e serve, muito especialmente, os interesses dos pequenos Estados, que, sem poder militar, se vêem obrigados a depender da existência de apoio à criação de um sistema assente em regras sólidas. Acreditamos no regime multilateral de desarmamento e nos tratados e acordos de não proliferação.
A guerra no Iraque prejudicou certamente as relações entre muitos dos países da União Europeia e com o Governo americano. A verdadeira questão que agora se coloca é saber qual a melhor forma de restaurar as relações entre a União Europeia e os Estados Unidos da América. Cabe recordar, no que se refere às relações Europa-América, que são muito mais os elementos que nos unem do que os que nos dividem, embora isso não signifique que não existam diferenças. Divergimos no que respeita ao Protocolo de Quioto, divergimos quanto a uma série de questões comerciais, mas se a União Europeia e o Governo americano conseguirem trabalhar em conjunto, em vez de em direcções opostas, estaremos em forte posição para promover o Estado de direito e a democracia.
Morillon (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, a perspectiva da Cimeira Estados Unidos-União Europeia, prevista para Dublim daqui a dois meses, justifica o debate de hoje que, por uma vez, é realizado com a necessária antecedência relativamente ao evento. Sempre que possível, esta deveria ser a regra nesta Assembleia.
Regozijo-me pelo facto de, nesta ocasião, o projecto de resolução elaborado pelo presidente da Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa, o senhor deputado Brok, conferir uma grande importância às questões de segurança e de defesa que justificariam, se necessário, um estreitamento dos laços transatlânticos, distendidos até ao extremo por ocasião da crise iraquiana.
Nas vésperas da nossa próxima sessão plenária, que testemunhará a concretização do alargamento hoje aprovado, seria apropriado repetir o que já declarámos em Abril passado no contexto do relatório de iniciativa sobre a política de defesa europeia, cujas conclusões foram retomadas pelos nossos parceiros na Convenção e que darão lugar, espero, a decisões positivas quando a Conferência Intergovernamental chegar ao termo das suas deliberações.
Que dissemos nós então, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, Senhor Comissário Patten? Dissemos que era bom, muito simplesmente, reiterar que a NATO continua a ser, hoje, uma garantia fundamental da estabilidade e da segurança transatlântica e que, por essa razão, faz sentido reforçar as capacidades tanto da NATO como da União Europeia.
Temos de estar conscientes, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, que nós, os Europeus, somos em parte responsáveis pelo unilateralismo que tanto censuramos aos Americanos, muito simplesmente porque nos temos recusado, há anos, a partilhar com eles o fardo da defesa dos nossos valores comuns. Por isso, regozijo-me com o empenho neste sentido, recentemente reafirmado pelo nosso Parlamento e pela Convenção.
Van Orden (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, muitos de nós, especialmente deste lado do hemiciclo, desejam ver reforçadas as relações com os Estados Unidos. Nestes tempos perigosos que atravessamos é de vital importância que as democracias se aproximem e que quaisquer divergências possam ser minimizadas. Sinto-me encorajado pela linguagem, em grande medida, positiva e construtiva da resolução que temos em mãos e congratulo-me, em especial, com o facto de a Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa ter adoptado a minha alteração, na qual solicito a criação de um mercado único transatlântico até 2015. Temos agora de trabalhar para transformar essa aspiração numa realidade.
É, pois, lamentável que uma resolução positiva seja manchada por alguns golpes velados contra os Estados Unidos ou por um texto subliminar que pouco tem a ver com as relações transatlânticas e mais com um movimento obsessivo a favor de uma espécie de Estado europeu.
Os integracionistas visualizam claramente apenas dois interlocutores nas relações transatlânticas: os EUA e a UE. A ambição é também a de que a UE fale pelos países europeus na NATO e na ONU. Na verdade, o questionável Projecto de Constituição Europeia inclui como requisito que o novo Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros Europeu apresente a posição da UE no Conselho de Segurança da ONU em determinadas circunstâncias.
Como representante do Reino Unido, não posso aceitar que a União Europeia nos represente nas negociações com os Estados Unidos em matéria de defesa e de segurança. Há mais de cinquenta anos, a NATO proporciona-nos um fórum para que as nações da Europa e da América do Norte discutam as grandes questões da segurança do nosso tempo e cheguem a acordo quanto às acções necessárias. Surgem dificuldades sempre que outras instituições entram neste quadro. É enganoso para os nossos cidadãos e os nossos aliados sugerir que o desenvolvimento de capacidades militares autónomas da UE constitui, de alguma forma, um reforço da NATO ou é motivado pelo desejo de se trabalhar no quadro de uma parceria mais estreita com os Estados Unidos.
Não vejo qualquer disponibilidade da parte de muitos dos Estados-Membros da UE para contribuírem com mais recursos militares para a defesa das democracias, existindo falta de vontade política para se enfrentar, de forma determinada, as ameaças que a nossa segurança enfrenta. Não desejamos, de modo algum, ver a UE, enquanto tal, envolvida na política de defesa. Apoiamos a realização de progressos rápidos na criação de um mercado único transatlântico.
Roche,
Senhor Presidente, gostaria, uma vez mais, de agradecer aos senhores deputados as suas contribuições, a que não conseguirei dar resposta na íntegra. O Parlamento está plenamente ciente da importância vital das relações transatlânticas. Na verdade, subscrevo quase na totalidade a intervenção do senhor deputado Van Orden, quando afirma que devermos pôr fim aos golpes que referiu contra os EUA, mas, infelizmente, devo afastar-me do retrato que traça do novo Tratado de Constituição. Esse é um debate para outra atura. O senhor deputado tem razão ao afirmar que é demasiado fácil cair na armadilha da crítica às relações transatlânticas, e aos americanos em especial.
Todos conhecemos a história comum da Europa e da América no Norte, todos sabemos de que modo essa história foi moldada e moldou os valores que partilhamos – o senhor deputado Collins referiu-o. Com demasiada frequência, no entanto, são as entre os Estados Unidos e a Europa que fazem as parangonas. É tempo de promovermos os elementos positivos das nossas relações e de olharmos para o que poderemos conseguir em conjunto, em vez de nos centrarmos continuamente naquelas questões que são motivo de divergência entre nós. Deveremos reflectir na forma como poderemos transformar as ideias que partilhamos em realidades. É esse o desafio que enfrenta a liderança política na Europa e nos Estados Unidos. Como em todas as parcerias estreitas, nem sempre estamos de acordo. Mesmo os casamentos mais felizes têm, ocasionalmente, momentos de divergência. No entanto, temos de trabalhar para manter o nosso diálogo e para cooperarmos em áreas de interesse comum.
O senhor deputado Suominen tem razão ao afirmar que esgrimir acusações não é bonito nem produtivo. Concordo, certamente, com isso. Quando o senhor deputado Collins salientou os benefícios de uma abordagem verdadeiramente multilateral, tal como é vista da perspectiva Europeia, fê-lo sem a necessidade que alguns sentem de atacar a perspectiva americana. Apenas apresentou o facto de existirem duas perspectivas diferentes, propondo que trabalhássemos para produzir uma síntese, em vez de gerarmos a discordância.
A verdade é que estamos a trabalhar, com êxito, com os nossos parceiros dos Estados Unidos num amplo leque de questões de política externa e de questões comerciais e económicas, num espírito de parceria. Existem evidentemente – e continuarão a existir – áreas de discórdia. Mas o facto de ser positivo muito do que conseguimos fazer nesta parceria não deve ser obscurecido por discordâncias pontuais.
O senhor deputado Belder referiu-se ao Plano Marshall. Foi muito interessante e oportuno que o tivesse feito, pois jamais deveremos esquecer o seguinte: se não fosse a extraordinária generosidade dos Estados Unidos e o Plano Marshall, onde estaria a Europa, onde estaria esta União?
A próxima Cimeira UE-EUA, em Junho, é crucial. É extremamente importante para as nossas relações, e é fundamental que partilhemos os nossos pontos de vista, discutamos as diferenças e identifiquemos, mais claramente, os domínios de cooperação. A Presidência irlandesa está a trabalhar arduamente para assegurar o êxito desta Cimeira. Isso não equivale a sugerir que nos vergaremos, ou que não decidamos, ocasionalmente, discordar relativamente a determinadas questões – fá-lo-emos, evidentemente. No entanto, nós, na Presidência, tudo faremos para que as nossas relações possam regressar a um trilho mais positivo e produtivo.
Gostara apenas de referir, porque uma série de deputados levantaram a questão, que aquilo que afirmamos na Europa é amplificado nos EUA, e que o que afirmamos aqui é, muito frequentemente, veiculado de forma errónea nos EUA. Fico muitas vezes chocado, quando estou nos Estados Unidos, pela frequência com que a Europa é mal compreendida e, por vezes, erroneamente retratada. No entanto, não duvido que os visitantes dos Estados Unidos que ouvem os nossos debates fiquem, de vez em quando, confusos face à forma como os Estados Unidos são vistos, mal compreendidos e erroneamente retratados aqui na Europa. Como políticos, temos a responsabilidade de informar os nossos cidadãos sobre os aspectos positivos das nossas relações, independentemente de, por vezes, existirem algumas interferências. No passado, estas relações foram extremamente positivas e, penso, continuará a ser esse o caso.
Um dos oradores afirmou que este debate era positivo e oportuno. Concordo.
Agradeço aos senhores deputados as suas intervenções, em toda a sua diversidade. Embora não seja possível seguir todos os conselhos que aqui foram oferecidos, penso ser importante afirmar que a Presidência ouviu com toda a atenção o que esta Assembleia disse a este respeito.
Brok (PPE-DE ),
. - Senhor Presidente, ficaria extremamente grato se me permitisse dizer mais uma coisa a propósito das relações transatlânticas. Queria exortar a Assembleia a apoiar esta resolução, pois, como o debate o demonstrou, temos de reforçar as relações transatlânticas de modo a que estas deixem de assentar unicamente na NATO e na política de segurança, para passarem a ser por nós mais amplamente alargadas e aprofundadas. Isto terá o apoio da Presidência do Conselho e também, seguramente, da Comissão. A ideia do mercado transatlântico é sem dúvida uma questão de enorme importância, pelo que faria sentido que na Cimeira UE-EUA fosse já criado um grupo de peritos com o objectivo de realizar, nos próximos meses, os estudos necessários que nos permitam um maior envolvimento neste projecto. A sua importância não é meramente económica; terá um efeito directo no aprofundamento das relações transatlânticas.
Ao mesmo tempo, porém, diga-se que a minha comissão - contrariamente à comissão competente - é de opinião que deveríamos saudar os resultados das negociações da Comissão na questão dos transportes aéreos, a fim de impedir que as coisas se tornem mais difíceis actualmente para as pessoas que viajam, e que, também neste domínio, deveríamos procurar uma abordagem prática que permita reforçar as relações, mesmo na era do terrorismo.
Presidente.
Comunico que recebi uma proposta de resolução(1) apresentada nos termos do nº 2 do artigo 37º do Regimento.
Está encerrado o debate.
A votação terá lugar amanhã, às 11H00.
Presidente.
Segue-se na ordem do dia a discussão conjunta:
- das declarações do Conselho e da Comissão sobre a situação no Paquistão
e
- do Relatório (A5-0275/2004) do deputado Brok, em nome da Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa, sobre a proposta de decisão do Conselho (8108/1999 - COM(1998) 357 - C5-0659/2001 - 1998/0199(CNS)) relativa à assinatura do Acordo de Cooperação entre a Comunidade Europeia e a República Islâmica do Paquistão.
Roche,
Senhor Presidente, vem-me à memória uma ocasião em que um eminente político irlandês foi descrito, de forma muito pouco elogiosa, por se erguer e baixar tão frequentemente para fazer uso da palavra. Não tentarei fazer-lhe sombra; estarei à disposição para consultas em privado sobre esta questão mais logo!
Gostaria de agradecer a esta Assembleia a oportunidade de abordar a situação no Paquistão. Estou ciente de que se trata de uma questão relativamente à qual há opiniões diversas e divergentes. O Conselho entende ser de vital importância que a União Europeia continue a reforçar as suas relações com o Paquistão. Esta é também a opinião do próprio Paquistão.
Uma relação reforçada entre a União Europeia e o Paquistão não é importante apenas a título bilateral. É igualmente essencial tendo em conta o papel que este país desempenha no contexto regional do Sul da Ásia. Apraz-me, assim, verificar que a Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa do Parlamento – e vejo que o senhor deputado Brok está presente para apresentar os seus pontos de vista – aprovou, na semana passada, a conclusão do acordo de terceira geração com o Paquistão, e que, consequentemente, está em debate no Parlamento uma resolução nesse sentido, que mais logo será votada.
O Parlamento está ciente de que o Conselho considera este acordo um elemento relevante para a construção de uma relação reforçada com o Paquistão. Numa relação deste tipo, o Paquistão terá a possibilidade de demonstrar o seu empenhamento no respeito, protecção e promoção dos direitos humanos e dos princípios democráticos, tal como estabelecidos na Declaração Universal dos Direitos do Homem e reflectidos no artigo 1º do acordo.
Todos sabemos que subsistem motivos de profunda preocupação no que toca ao respeito pelos direitos humanos e os princípios democráticos no Paquistão. Na verdade, essas preocupações são referidas na resolução e reconhecidas nos trabalhos da comissão parlamentar. Compreendo perfeitamente que esta precisasse de tempo para ponderar cuidadosamente os prós e contras da questão e quero manifestar o meu apreço aos membros da comissão e, em especial, ao seu Presidente, o senhor deputado Brok, bem como ao relator, o senhor deputado Cushnahan, pelo trabalho que realizaram neste domínio. Posso garantir ao Parlamento que o Conselho está absolutamente ciente das preocupações levantadas na comissão, levando-as muito a sério.
No final de Fevereiro último, aquando da visita da Troika ministerial da UE a Islamabad, o Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros irlandês, Brian Cowen, na qualidade de Presidente em exercício do Conselho de Ministros, transmitiu essas preocupações ao Presidente Musharraf e ao Ministros dos Negócios Estrangeiros paquistanês. As bem fundamentadas revelações relativas ao Dr. Abdul Khan e à proliferação de tecnologia nuclear foram também abordadas. A Troika ministerial da UE manifestou a sua profunda preocupação face a estas revelações. Pela sua parte, o Paquistão assegurou à União Europeia que as mesmas continuarão a ser criteriosamente investigadas. A Presidência espera que esta investigação seja exaustiva e credível. A União Europeia continuará a acompanhar de perto estas questões.
Outros temas são também motivo de preocupação. A situação no Parlamento, no qual ainda não está em pleno funcionamento um sistema de comissões parlamentares, está longe de ser a ideal. Para além disso, a 13 de Abril, o Presidente da Aliança para a Restauração da Democracia, o Senhor Javed Hashmi, foi condenado a um total de 23 anos de prisão por aquilo que as autoridades paquistanesas apelidam de “incitamento ao motim militar”. A União Europeia levantou, e continuará a levantar, junto das autoridades paquistanesas estas preocupações, alertando para as implicações que poderão ter nas futuras relações UE-Paquistão.
Coloca-se também a questão das minorias religiosas e dos jornalistas, sujeitos a restrições à liberdade de expressão, a detenções arbitrárias, ou pior ainda. Todas estas questões nos preocupam. No entanto, no que respeita aos elementos positivos, o acordo de terceira geração reforçará a plataforma a partir da qual a União Europeia poderá transmitir às autoridades paquistanesas, ao mais alto nível, a importância que atribui às relações com o Paquistão e, como parte destas relações, as suas preocupações relativamente aos direitos humanos, à democratização, à não proliferação e a outras questões de importância vital.
Gostaria ainda de referir que a conclusão do acordo de terceira geração abre caminho à imediata conclusão das negociações de carácter técnico já em curso entre a Comissão e o Paquistão relativamente a um acordo de readmissão. É importante notar que se registou uma série de progressos significativos. Durante a visita da Troika ministerial a Islamabad, a UE congratulou-se com o acordo, extremamente importante, que acabava de ser selado entre o Paquistão e a Índia sobre as modalidades de um diálogo multifacetado entre os dois vizinhos e, inclusivamente, sobre a questão de Jammu e Caxemira. É do interesse da região, da União Europeia e do conjunto da comunidade internacional que estes progressos sejam encorajados e apoiados.
De louvar é igualmente o compromisso do Presidente Musharraf para com o combate ao terrorismo. Põe em evidência o papel crucial que cabe ao Paquistão, com influência na situação no Afeganistão e no seu incipiente processo de democratização.
Gostaria também de salientar, uma vez mais como nota positiva, que, desde a nossa última reunião, se realizaram progressos significativos no que respeita à questão do . Na sequência de atitudes extremamente positivas da parte das autoridades paquistanesas, em resposta a reiterados apelos europeus, as oitos pessoas foram libertadas e regressaram já a suas casas. Estou certo de que os senhores deputados se congratularão com este passo, com o qual a Presidência se regozija também. Estou igualmente certo de que ficaram, de alguma forma, satisfeitos por, nesta matéria, terem sido úteis a vigilância e a atenção deste Parlamento.
Em suma, embora subsistam no Paquistão motivos para preocupações, o Conselho entende que a União Europeia deverá manter relações com este país, procurando abordar estas questões, em vez de votar o país ao isolamento. O Conselho continuará a trabalhar, a fim de permitir dissipar as preocupações que persistem – partilhadas pelo Parlamento – no interesse do Paquistão, da região e da União e, mais importante, no interesse da paz na comunidade internacional.
Patten,
Senhor Presidente, congratulo-me com o resultado da votação na Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa, na sua reunião de 14 de Abril, recomendando a aprovação do acordo de terceira geração com o Paquistão. Estou perfeitamente ciente de que essa decisão foi tomada por uma maioria bastante escassa e que para muitos dos membros da comissão não foi uma decisão tomada com ligeireza. Respeito em absoluto a posição de princípio tomada pelo relator durante as deliberações no Parlamento Europeu. Aprendi a respeitar o meu estimado amigo como um defensor da democracia e dos direitos humanos na Ásia e reconheço o extraordinário trabalho que tem desenvolvido como chefe da missão de observadores eleitorais da União Europeia no Paquistão e no Sri Lanka.
Embora simpatize com muitas das opiniões do relator, não me é possível apoiá-lo na sua recomendação de que se mantenha o acordo pendente. Isto porque, fazendo o balanço da situação, considero este acordo uma oportunidade para nos relacionarmos de forma positiva com o Paquistão como importante parceiro numa região instável. Por isso, espero que o Parlamento, ao votar, possa endossar a recomendação da Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa no sentido de que se conclua o acordo.
Talvez possa recapitular as razões por que a Comissão Europeia continua a apoiar a entrada em vigor deste acordo de cooperação da terceira geração. Antes de mais, graças ao seu artigo 1º, proporciona-nos uma oportunidade para uma relação mais estreita com o Paquistão sobre questões cruciais em matéria de direitos humanos e democracia. Em segundo lugar, o acordo fornece-nos uma base para enfrentarmos os desafios em diversas áreas fundamentais, incluindo a educação primária, o comércio e as relações institucionais. Por último, mas não menos importante, o acordo abre a possibilidade de nos relacionarmos com o Paquistão em novos domínios que não estavam anteriormente abrangidos, tais como a cooperação regional, o branqueamento de capitais e a energia.
Consideramos que os progressos recentes reforçam a nossa defesa da entrada em vigor deste acordo, em especial, os esforços encorajadores de reconciliação com a Índia, assim como a evolução da política interna no Paquistão. Como resultado destas iniciativas, tem vindo a registar-se uma suavização notória nas relações internacionais do Paquistão. Por exemplo, existem agora indicações de que o Paquistão poderá vir, a seu tempo, a ser readmitido como membro de pleno direito da .
Apraz-me também verificar que os marítimos do , incluindo o comandante, foram agora libertados, tendo regressado à Grécia e às Filipinas. Sei que muitos dos deputados desta Assembleia manifestaram forte interesse pessoal nesta questão. Eu próprio levantei reiteradamente esta questão junto do Senhor Ministro Kasuri, aquando do nosso encontro em Berlim, a 31 de Março, tendo também levantado a questão em muitas outras ocasiões. A libertação destes homens é, na verdade, um passo extremamente bem-vindo. Finalmente podemos pôr uma pedra sobre este infeliz incidente, deixando que as questões remanescentes sejam resolvidas entre os queixosos e as seguradoras.
No entanto, seria o último a afirmar que a democracia no Paquistão está em perfeitas condições. As discussões sobre este acordo trouxeram para a luz do dia, com toda a utilidade, as muitas áreas das nossas relações em que existem motivos de preocupação – preocupações que estão correctamente reflectivas na proposta de resolução actualmente em debate no Parlamento sobre a situação em matéria de direitos humanos e democracia no Paquistão. A este respeito, a Comissão agradece todas as orientações que o Parlamento possa oferecer-lhe, em especial, no que respeita às áreas cruciais da democratização e dos direitos humanos.
Estou, obviamente, ciente das notícias de que o General Musharraf poderá estar ainda indeciso quanto a renunciar ao seu uniforme militar até ao final do ano. A este respeito, foi útil que o Ministro da Informação tenha confirmado, em nome do Presidente, que este honrará o seu anterior compromisso. Qualquer outro resultado dificilmente fomentaria a confiança no processo constitucional no Paquistão. O Paquistão precisa de ultrapassar a percepção de que o poder real reside no Presidente, em vez de residir no Parlamento eleito e no governo civil. No entanto, durante as minhas visitas ao Paquistão, senti-me sempre encorajado pela resistência da sociedade civil neste país, e permaneço convicto de que esta é uma força que o país poderá vir a desenvolver no futuro. Gostaria de me associar ao que o Senhor Ministro disse sobre a recente condenação de Javed Hashmi, Presidente da Aliança para a Restauração da Democracia. Posso assegurar ao Parlamento que continuaremos a acompanhar de muito perto este processo e não deixaremos de incluir a questão no nosso diálogo com o Governo paquistanês.
No que se refere à situação geral dos direitos humanos no Paquistão, registaram-se alguns progressos, tais como a adopção de um sistema de justiça para a delinquência juvenil, embora continuem a existir motivos para preocupação, incluindo a lei sobre blasfémia, a violência contra as mulheres, a aplicação de pena de morte e a incidência do trabalho infantil. O Paquistão é um país-alvo para efeitos da Iniciativa Europeia para a Democracia e os Direitos Humanos, e a Comissão está a tentar activamente abordar algumas destas questões.
Esta súmula mostra que os problemas e desafios no Paquistão são multifacetados, mas que existem também avanços e evoluções positivas. É a avaliação deste balanço que me permite continuar a acreditar que um diálogo mais estreito e uma cooperação num formato estruturado, oferecidos pelo acordo de terceira geração, serão a melhor forma de reforçar a capacidade da União Europeia de ajudar o Paquistão a solucionar estas questões delicadas, incluindo as que se prendem com os direitos humanos, a não proliferação e a luta contra o terrorismo.
Assim, em suma, reconheço a pertinência das opiniões de alguns dos deputados que prefeririam manter pendente este acordo. Pela minha parte, considero que, bem vistas as coisas, devemos avançar com o acordo, e espero que ao fazê-lo possamos continuar a manter um vivo interesse no desenvolvimento dos direitos humanos e da democracia neste país, que é tão importante para todos nós.
Brok (PPE-DE ),
. - Senhor Presidente, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, Senhor Comissário Patten, posso subscrever o que foi dito nos discursos precedentes, pois este é um daqueles casos em que é necessário encontrar um equilíbrio, em que se pode dizer que o copo está meio cheio ou meio vazio e se pode portanto, justificadamente, chegar a conclusões diferentes sem que haja quaisquer razões para recriminar seja quem for. Com efeito, é minha convicção que aquilo que o senhor deputado Cushnahan tem vindo a dizer à Assembleia desde há vários meses, e que está expresso na sua resolução, são de facto pontos críticos pertinentes que têm de ser abordados no diálogo com o Paquistão. Não há qualquer dúvida que este país não apresenta sinais de uma democracia amadurecida, de um Estado de Direito, de observância dos direitos humanos ou dos direitos das mulheres no sentido que seria de esperar com base na Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre os Direitos do Homem, que, afinal de contas, é universal.
Por esta razão, é seguramente correcto e necessário que este acordo de cooperação de terceira geração também seja utilizado de modo a que o Conselho, a Comissão e o Parlamento possam trabalhar em conjunto na monitorização da sua futura evolução. Outro modelo possível passaria pela apresentação regular de relatórios, pela Comissão Europeia, à Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa e ao Parlamento sobre os progressos realizados nestas questões fundamentais da coexistência humana, que é a forma adequada de fazer avançar o processo, um processo também anunciado pelo Presidente do Paquistão.
Por outro lado, temos de admitir que, apesar de insuficientes, há já alguns progressos. Mas, sobretudo, tem de ficar claro para nós que, no que é um dos maiores conflitos que a civilização ocidental já viu, o Paquistão está muito claramente do lado dos que lutam contra o terrorismo, e que, se o que se pretende é cooperação e não confrontação, a posição do Paquistão num conflito que envolve o Iraque e o Afeganistão se reveste da máxima importância.
Estamos conscientes de que, nesta nossa União, muitas vezes se cometeram erros e se assumiram posições mal-avisadas. Sabemos que tanto os Estados Unidos como o Paquistão assumiram posições em relação aos talibãs que hoje consideraríamos imprudentes, mas, apesar de tudo, temos de reconhecer que teria sido impossível, depois do 11 de Setembro, fazer progressos sem a ajuda de vizinhos como o Afeganistão e outros países, entre os quais o Paquistão. É por essa razão que considero necessária a ratificação; temos de abrir o caminho para que o Conselho possa tomar uma decisão e a Comissão possa, em conformidade, fazer uso dos seus instrumentos, sempre, porém, tomando como nosso ponto de partida as posições expressas na resolução Cushnahan, de modo a que possa haver um verdadeiro desenvolvimento e progresso nesta matéria.
No final do seu discurso, o Comissário Patten disse que, bem vistas as coisas, era favorável à recomendação deste acordo. Penso que “as coisas” terão de ser muito bem vistas, ao longo dos meses e dos anos, se quisermos que a resolução que - como espero - nos preparamos para aprovar a fim de se poder avançar, continue a justificar-se. Queria, uma vez mais, convidar o Conselho e a Comissão a cooperarem com o Parlamento neste projecto comum, neste projecto-modelo que visa levar ao melhoramento das relações, mas também, ao mesmo tempo, fazer prevalecer os direitos do Homem.
Ludford (ELDR )
Senhor Presidente, o parecer da comissão a que pertenço aponta no sentido da aprovação do acordo de cooperação, na condição de que contenha uma cláusula sobre direitos humanos. Isso significaria que poderíamos efectivamente acompanhar a observância desses direitos, tais como a liberdade de expressão e de religião, intervindo sempre que ocorressem violações dos mesmos. A UE nem sempre tem explorado a fundo estas possibilidades, e o Parlamento deveria exercer maiores pressões nesse sentido no futuro.
A Comissão dos Direitos dos Cidadãos, da Justiça e dos Assuntos Internos está plenamente ciente do estado imperfeito da democracia e do respeito pelos direitos humanos no Paquistão. Estamos indignados perante a discriminação e a violência contra as mulheres, a manutenção da pena de morte e a perseguição das minorias, sobretudo religiosas e nacionais. O papel do exército é inaceitável e os serviços de informação são demasiado poderosos. No entanto, é mais provável que esta situação possa ser melhorada se nos empenharmos no diálogo que o acordo nos proporcionará e que nos permitirá encorajar as forças do progresso e da modernização.
A diáspora paquistanesa na Europa, especialmente numerosa no Reino Unido, pode desempenhar um papel extremamente importante na transmissão da mensagem do respeito pelos direitos humanos. A minha impressão é a de que querem ver concluído este acordo. Têm razão.
Sandbæk (EDD )
Quem me dera poder partilhar o optimismo do Conselho e da Comissão quanto à iminente demonstração por parte do Paquistão do seu compromisso para com a democracia e os direitos humanos. Parece-me mais provável que o Paquistão venha a citar o artigo 1º do acordo, onde se afirma que o respeito pelos direitos humanos e os princípios democráticos subjazem às políticas internas do Paquistão e constituem um elemento essencial do acordo. Por outras palavras, conferimos agora legitimidade ao actual comportamento do Paquistão.
A Comissão para o Desenvolvimento e a Cooperação solicitou, por isso, à Comissão que efectuasse uma avaliação da situação dos direitos humanos ao fim de um ano. Gostaria de perguntar ao Senhor Comissário Patten se a Comissão está pronta para o fazer e também a actuar em conformidade, caso, ao cabo de um ano, a situação não tiver melhorado.
Cushnahan (PPE-DE ).
Na sua decisão de abandonarem a cláusula de direitos humanos e democracia no Acordo de Terceira Geração com o Paquistão, lamentavelmente o Conselho e a Comissão estão a trair aqueles que, no Paquistão – especialmente alguns elementos da sociedade civil -, arriscam diariamente a própria segurança na defesa destes princípios. Esta traição ocorre devido a uma combinação de motivos geopolíticos injustificados e às “trinta moedas de prata” em vantagens comerciais que alguns Estados-Membros tanto valorizam.
Ouvi, hoje, o Senhor Ministro Roche, o Senhor Comissário Patten e a Senhora Baronesa Ludford argumentarem que haverá um diálogo reforçado em matéria de direitos humanos. Perguntem aos que são perseguidos e encarcerados na China, na Coreia o Norte e no Uzbequistão, países com os quais existe já, supostamente, um diálogo reforçado em matéria de direitos humanos, se este os tem ajudado. Permitam-me que lhes recorde que, no caso do Uzbequistão, este Parlamento foi pressionado para que ratificasse um acordo semelhante, em 1999, e, desde então, a situação dos direitos humanos tem vindo a deteriorar-se.
A verdadeira razão pela qual nos pedem que aprovemos este acordo prende-se com a pressão exercida pelos EUA e pelo Reino Unido, na sequência da actual confusão gerada no Iraque, como resultado de uma guerra que jamais deveria ter sido desencadeada sem a aprovação da ONU. Será que alguém pensa ajudar a situação no Iraque, abandonando os direitos democráticos e humanos do povo do Paquistão? Ao invés, alimentaremos a arrogância do Presidente de uma potência unipolar e do Primeiro-Ministro subserviente do Reino Unido, apoiando o seu erro, erro reiterado hoje no Médio Oriente com consequências provavelmente desastrosas!
Devo perguntar aos meus colegas do Parlamento Europeu: deveremos nós ser os fantoches do Conselho e da Comissão, ou a voz dos povos da Europa, defendendo a liberdade e os direitos humanos e dando esperança aos povos oprimidos do mundo? Se ratificarmos este acordo, abandonamos este papel, preferindo conferir legitimidade política a um regime quase militar, que continua a violar a democracia e os direitos humanos e a permitir que sejam vendidos segredos nucleares a Estados párias.
Pergunto aos deputados deste Parlamento: qual é a vossa posição a este respeito?
Swoboda (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, Senhor Comissário Patten, tenho o maior apreço pela dedicação do senhor deputado Cushnahan e há muitos membros do meu grupo que partilham os seus argumentos. Também eu sou bastante receptivo a esses argumentos, mas penso que nós, que talvez defendamos outra perspectiva, não nos orientamos ou guiamos pelo Conselho ou pela Comissão, nem pelos EUA ou pelo Reino Unido. Na verdade, é raro vê-los todos adoptar a mesma linha.
É, de facto, exactamente como o Comissário e o Presidente em exercício disseram; não é uma escolha entre preto e branco, mas antes uma escolha entre diferentes tons de cinzento. O facto é que o Paquistão é - e deve ser - um parceiro importante no desenvolvimento de toda a região. Em minha opinião, nestes últimos meses registaram-se alguns progressos na atitude do Paquistão relativamente ao Afeganistão e à situação dos talibãs, bem como em relação a Caxemira, à democracia e aos direitos humanos. Apraz-me, no entanto, concordar com o senhor deputado Cushnahan e todos aqueles que dizem que isso está longe de ser suficiente e que muito mais terá ainda de ser feito para levar o Paquistão a sair do seu isolamento e prosseguir na via de mais democracia e dos direitos humanos. Concordo igualmente com todos os que dizem que um acordo deste género deve servir de base a um diálogo mais intenso com o Paquistão - e com países como ele - no intuito de os incentivar a fazer mais progressos.
Senhor Deputado Cushnahan, não consigo entender de todo por que razão, tendo havido muito recentemente discussões também com Israel sobre isto, não deveríamos talvez, aqui e ali, insistir na suspensão de acordos semelhantes no caso de os compromissos assumidos não serem respeitados. Sou, portanto, inteiramente de opinião que, tendo sido considerados todos os prós e contras - e estou de acordo consigo quando diz que existem inúmeros contras - há, a meu ver, um argumento a favor da aprovação deste acordo por intermédio da resolução que o senhor deputado Brok tão bem expôs e que o senhor mesmo também subscreveu. Serei o primeiro a falar em nome do meu grupo e pedir a nossa retirada deste acordo se os progressos agora iniciados não forem prosseguidos e concluídos.
Isto leva-me a crer que os argumentos avançados neste debate são de facto sólidos e o meu grupo irá recomendar a aprovação do acordo. No entanto, respeito todos aqueles que assumem uma posição diferente e cujas consciências lhes ditam uma votação noutro sentido, pois a situação dos direitos humanos continua a ser insatisfatória e a exigir uma melhoria radical.
Gahrton (Verts/ALE ).
Senhor Presidente, o Grupo dos Verdes/Aliança Livre Europeia está, de um modo geral, de acordo com o senhor deputado Cushnahan. É claro que se atingiu um ponto de equilíbrio, como disse o senhor deputado Brok. Também estão a acontecer coisas positivas no Paquistão, nomeadamente as conversações de paz com a Índia, que são incrivelmente importantes e que deveriam ter o nosso total apoio. Não é um pouco estranho que, sempre que obtemos equilíbrios como este, os aspectos comerciais, de política comercial, acabem geralmente por contar mais do que os princípios muito claros de respeito dos direitos do Homem que inscrevemos nos nossos acordos? Para que é que inscrevemos cláusulas relativas aos direitos do Homem nos acordos com os outros países, se chegamos sempre a equilíbrios em que acabamos por não nos importar com essas cláusulas e permitimos que outros interesses, sobretudo económicos, se sobreponham?
Deste modo minamos o respeito pelos nossos próprios princípios superiores. É esse equilíbrio que nos faz parecer evidente, no Grupo dos Verdes/Aliança Livre Europeia, que devemos dizer não a este acordo agora. Esperamos que o Paquistão entenda este sinal e tome medidas que nos levem, dentro em breve, a poder dizer sim em vez de não. Gostaria de ter dito que sim, mas infelizmente isso é impossível, se quisermos defender firmemente os nossos princípios em matéria de direitos do Homem.
Ford (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, tive a honra de pertencer à delegação que se deslocou ao Paquistão e que visitou o lado paquistanês da linha de controlo em Caxemira, em Dezembro. Tivemos a oportunidade, durante essa reunião da delegação, de nos encontrarmos com o Presidente Musharraf, e fiquei muito impressionado pelo seu empenho na prossecução de um programa de paz e reconciliação com a Índia. Pela primeira vez, parece que ambas as partes estão dispostas a fazer o que, anteriormente, era impensável e a procurar uma solução, instigada pelo impacto económico nas respectivas economias, de um conflito contínuo; um conflito que lavra no mundo há 50 anos.
No entanto, continuam a existir enormes problemas no Paquistão em matéria de direitos humanos, democracia e proliferação nuclear. Alguns colegas deram-nos a conhecer o tratamento a que estão sujeitas as minorias religiosas cristãs e ahmadi, a situação das mulheres, os resultados eleitorais altamente forjados que o senhor deputado Cushnahan observou, e a detenção de membros da oposição, como Javed Hashmi. Concordo, por conseguinte, com os colegas no que respeita a estas suas preocupações.
No ano passado, o senhor deputado Tannock e eu incluímos na nossa resolução sobre a Coreia do Norte uma referência ao facto de o Paquistão ter fornecido reproduções de um programa de tecnologia de urânio altamente enriquecido à Coreia no Norte para a produção de armamento nuclear. Nessa altura, fomos fortemente atacados pelo Governo do Paquistão e, quando interpelei o Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros Kasuri a este respeito, aquando da reunião de Dezembro, foi-me dito que a Coreia do Norte não precisava de qualquer ajuda – que estava muito avançada em matéria de tecnologias de armamento, incluindo a miniaturização. Precisando ou não de ajuda, é agora evidente que esta lhes foi fornecida.
Levantam-se, pois, novas questões relativamente ao ensaio nuclear de 30 de Maio de 1998, no Baluchistão, que parece ter sido um ensaio conjunto de uma arma de plutónio levado a cabo pelo Paquistão e a Coreia do Norte. Quando levantei esta questão junto do Embaixador paquistanês, que veio encontrar-se comigo esta semana, este referiu-me que estavam a cooperar com os Estados Unidos. Isso não basta: nós, na União Europeia, queremos cooperação e queremos também participar. No entanto, apesar disso, apoio este acordo de cooperação de terceira geração. Estaremos especialmente atentos a novos progressos em matéria de direitos humanos no Paquistão.
Schröder, Jürgen (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, Senhor Comissário Patten, embora considere, evidentemente, que aquilo que o senhor deputado Cushnahan disse é altamente credível, o que está em causa não é saber se nos sentimos ou não como marionetas - e creio que não somos - nem tão-pouco é o caso de darmos prioridade a questões comerciais, como referiu o senhor deputado Gahrton. O que está em causa é algo de muito diferente. É o que o Senhor Comissário Patten mencionava esta manhã em relação ao Médio Oriente; trata-se de evitar um choque de civilizações. Trata-se da questão de saber de que modo nós, os Europeus, ao trabalharmos em prol de um diálogo intercultural, estamos a realizar o que é uma tarefa primordial no momento actual e no nosso mundo. Independentemente das reservas aqui expressas neste debate, o Paquistão tem, indiscutivelmente, um papel positivo a desempenhar nesta matéria.
A questão é esta: quem é o nosso parceiro? A Coreia do Norte não é, mas o Paquistão é um parceiro na luta contra o terrorismo internacional, e a coligação reunida contra esse terrorismo internacional é, obviamente, muito mais vasta do que a coligação de Estados que actualmente luta no Iraque contra o terrorismo naquele país e contra o regime. A coligação que combate o terrorismo internacional inclui a Alemanha, a França, a Rússia e outros. O Paquistão é um deles. Por esta razão, creio que a conclusão do acordo de terceira geração é uma questão da máxima urgência.
Guy-Quint (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, Senhor Comissário, as democracias dispõem de armas, mas quando renunciam a utilizá-las perdem a razão. A forma como trataram o estatuto da mulher no Afeganistão deve servir de lição.
Hoje temos em mãos um acordo entre a União Europeia e o Paquistão que não tem incidência financeira directa, já que a Comunidade Europeia tinha assinado em Fevereiro passado um acordo de cooperação técnica com o Paquistão no valor de cinco milhões de euros. A principal dimensão do acordo que hoje nos propõem é, portanto, política. Todos estamos conscientes do papel geoestratégico do Paquistão, vizinho do Afeganistão e da Índia. Todos estamos conscientes do contributo que esse país deu à coligação antiterrorista lançada pelos Americanos na sequência dos atentados de 11 de Setembro de 2001. Contudo, nenhum destes factores pode legitimar o nosso apoio a um país em que as autoridades chegaram ao poder por meio de um golpe militar e onde as últimas eleições se desenrolaram em condições denunciadas pelos nossos observadores e permitiram que se instalasse uma coligação dos partidários do Presidente Musharraf com os partidos religiosos fundamentalistas islâmicos que não se coíbem de expressar o seu apoio a Bin Laden.
O Presidente Musharraf acaba de adoptar uma emenda que confere mais poderes ao exército. A líder da oposição, Benazir Bhutto, mantém-se no exílio, estando o seu marido preso há cinco anos. Não menosprezamos os sinais de desanuviamento obtidos, por pressão americana, nas relações com Caxemira mas verificamos que ainda nada foi feito na prática. Nós, democratas europeus, não podemos continuar a lamentar a situação de Aung San Suu Kyi na Birmânia e avançar com o presente acordo sem problemas de consciência. Por todos estes motivos peço, em nome da delegação socialista francesa, que este acordo seja devolvido à comissão.
Howitt (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, o Parlamento bloqueou durante três anos o acordo de associação com o Paquistão, com o intuito de encorajar este país a regressar à democracia e à observância dos direitos humanos. Se quisermos manter este encorajamento e não quisermos deitar fora os progressos reais já conseguidos, é agora tempo de apoiarmos a ratificação.
Não nego que persistem profundas preocupações no que se refere à liberdade de expressão, à discriminação religiosa e ao tratamento das mulheres. Este Parlamento não pode justificar, nem justificará, qualquer violação dos direitos humanos em nome da guerra contra o terrorismo. Respeito a sinceridade do senhor deputado Cushnahan, em especial, embora lamente que, esta tarde, tenha optado por fazer um ataque pessoal ao Primeiro-Ministro britânico.
Chego, no entanto, a uma conclusão diferente, que não nega que o 17º Acordo Constitucional representa um regresso à democracia; que o Presidente Musharraf apoia a Lei sobre e a acção contra os chamados assassinatos por motivos de honra; que o senhor Javed Hashmi foi julgado por um tribunal independente, recorrerá da sentença e que o recurso para o Supremo Tribunal contra o exílio, apresentado pelo próprio presidente do seu partido, teve recentemente desfecho positivo. Não podemos negar que a proliferação nuclear está a ser exposta e travada, que os marítimos gregos parecem ter regressado ao seu país, ou que o Presidente confirmou, uma vez mais, que cessará as suas funções como comandante do exército.
Pretendo que a cláusula dos direitos humanos tenha um peso maior nos nossos acordos de associação, mas alimento igual desejo também no que se refere aos acordos hoje em vigor, com a Rússia, o Cazaquistão, o Uzbequistão, Marrocos, a Tunísia, a Argélia e Israel.
Votar “não” contra o Paquistão representaria o risco de este Parlamento ser acusado de usar de dois pesos e duas medidas. Quando o Paquistão, juntamente com a Índia, tem a coragem e a visão de retomar as conversações que permitem afastar o sub-continente da iminência da guerra, a única resposta justa e adequada da parte da Europa será um sinal de encorajamento.
Tannock (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, no passado, fui um crítico constante da República Islâmica do Paquistão em matéria de violações dos direitos humanos, em especial, no que se refere à perseguição contínua das minorias cristãs e muçulmanas ahmadi; a cooperação ambivalente e pouco entusiasta deste país na luta contra o terrorismo islâmico, que conduziu à desestabilização do Afeganistão, através da ajuda ao reagrupamento das forças talibãs; a contínua infiltração da através da linha de controlo para a Caxemira indiana; e – como o afirmou o senhor deputado Ford – mais importante de tudo, a exportação, por parte do Paquistão, de tecnologia nuclear para Estados criminosos, como a Coreia do Norte e para o Irão e a Líbia, que anteriormente apoiavam os terroristas, que ameaçam a segurança mundial.
No entanto, apoio o acordo de comércio, pois reconheço que o Paquistão deu recentemente alguns passos encorajadores em matéria de direitos humanos, inclusivamente de direitos das mulheres, que merecem ser reconhecidos e recompensados. Também, como amigo da Índia, historicamente, o vizinho gigante e inimigo do Paquistão, é-me muito cara a reaproximação pacífica evidenciada em diversas medidas de restauração da confiança, sobretudo a mais visível e mais recente, a realização com êxito do torneio de .
Há apenas três anos, estes dois países hesitaram diante da iminência de uma guerra nuclear. A Índia está hoje em pleno período eleitoral como baluarte da democracia e da prosperidade. A sua taxa de crescimento é actualmente mais elevada do que a da China e não pretende ver o Paquistão sofrer em termos económicos.
A recente campanha no Waziristão mostra a intenção de Islamabad de prosseguir uma guerra contra os redutos da Al-Qaeda em zonas tribais, historicamente zonas onde o Governo do Presidente Musharraf não entrava, governo que hoje pressiona os chefes tribais a perseguirem os militantes islamistas.
Talvez não devessem existir cláusulas de direitos humanos em acordos comerciais, uma vez que isso turva as águas, devendo, ao invés, colocar-se condições à recepção de ajuda. Caso contrário, porá a UE fim ao comércio com a Rússia, a China, o Uzbequistão ou o Irão, para dar apenas alguns exemplos de países com problemas em matéria de direitos humanos? Este é claramente um assunto para outro debate, mas, por enquanto, temos de apoiar este acordo.
Roche,
Senhor Presidente, gostaria de agradecer aos senhores deputados os seus comentários. Um Paquistão estável e democrático teria uma influência benigna na região, especialmente tendo em conta o contexto em que se insere o Afeganistão, seu vizinho. Há benefícios no que é proposto. Compreendo perfeitamente a paixão injectada no debate por parte do senhor deputado Cushnahan, porém não entendo a escolha de linguagem. Não é uma boa estratégia retratar os que discordam de nós como traidores ou fantoches. Talvez, assim que tenha oportunidade, o senhor deputado queira reconsiderar estas palavras. É possível defender posições de princípio e, simultaneamente, dar provas de pragmatismo; umas não excluem as outras.
Seja como for, felicito o senhor deputado Cushnahan pelo trabalho que realizou e felicito também o senhor deputado Brok, na qualidade de Presidente da comissão, pelo seu trabalho e pelo trabalho da sua comissão. A conclusão do acordo ajudaria a União Europeia a relacionar-se melhor com o Paquistão precisamente no que respeita às questões que o senhor deputado Cushnahan levantou, questões relativamente às quais queremos ver modificações. Talvez o último orador tenha razão ao sugerir que as questões dos direitos humanos e as relacionadas com a democracia deveriam ser completamente excluídas dos acordos comerciais, talvez não.
Outros oradores apresentaram argumentos com os quais posso seguramente concordar. O senhor deputado Ford indicou claramente que existem preocupações, e que compreende plenamente a natureza dessas preocupações, mas, depois, afirmou que até ele, como deputado que sempre se interessou de perto por esta questão, ainda está disposto a apoiar a posição tomada pela Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa e a que aqui será votada no que respeita ao acordo de terceira geração.
O senhor deputado Schröder demonstrou, uma vez mais, na sua intervenção, a lógica que subjaz à aprovação do acordo de terceira geração, assim como, na verdade, o fez também o senhor deputado Howitt, que manifestou a mesma opinião e voltou a ilustrar os perigos de se defender que só existe branco ou preto.
São para mim muito caras as palavras do Presidente Brok; só espero que o Conselho e a Comissão mantenham um sentido de equilíbrio, caso o acordo de terceira geração venha a ser ratificado. Penso que, em especial, a opinião do senhor deputado Elmar Brok é correcta e é a equilibrada. Permite-nos dispor de uma base para nos relacionarmos com o Paquistão. A Presidência não perderá de vista o facto de subsistirem numerosos aspectos negativos no que respeita ao Paquistão e procurará, certamente, assegurar que a União continue a exercer pressão sobre as autoridades paquistanesas durante o mandato da Presidência irlandesa. Também não me restam quaisquer dúvidas de que esta será a posição defendida pelas subsequentes presidências.
Uma vez mais, Senhor Presidente, os meus agradecimentos a V. Exa. e a esta Assembleia.
Patten,
Senhor Presidente, houve discursos extraordinários e apaixonados neste debate, que dão uma clara indicação da forma circunstanciada como os senhores deputados abordaram estas questões e ponderaram o tipo de argumentos que o senhor deputado Cushnahan, o senhor deputado Howitt e outros apresentaram.
Gostaria de dizer ao senhor deputado Cushnahan, que fez um discurso tempestuoso, que reflecte o seu apaixonado empenho na democracia, que foi para mim uma modesta surpresa ser descrito como um “fantoche de Washington e de Londres”. Isso melhorará a minha credibilidade pública nalguns quadrantes desta Assembleia, mas quem quer que tenha estado aqui presente esta manhã poderá considerar algo bizarra essa descrição desde vosso humilde servo. No amor e na guerra vale tudo, e reconheço que o discurso do senhor deputado foi, como disse, reflexo da paixão que tem por esta questão.
Foi-me dirigida uma pergunta directa e – espantosamente, porque nem sempre é o caso – a pessoa que me fez a pergunta permaneceu aqui para ouvir a resposta. Não estou em posição de poder concordar – embora compreenda a importância do tema – que se apliquem a este acordo procedimentos que não aplicamos a qualquer outro, mas faço notar que o próprio acordo contém uma cláusula de suspensão, que ambas as partes podem invocar, em caso de violação de um elemento essencial do acordo. O artigo 1º do acordo sobre os direitos humanos e os princípios democráticos constitui um desses elementos essenciais. A Comissão está plenamente ciente de que isso exige um acompanhamento constante, o que, na verdade, já está a ser feito. Existe um grupo de trabalho da UE sobre direitos humanos em Islamabad, que elabora relatórios regularmente. É perfeitamente possível que o Parlamento debata esses relatórios sempre que assim o entenda. O diálogo regular em matéria de direitos humanos será reforçado tão logo o acordo esteja em vigor. Se a cláusula de suspensão vier a ser invocada por qualquer das partes, o próprio acordo prevê um mecanismo de consulta, embora eu espere que nunca venha a verificar-se essa necessidade.
Uma vez mais, gostaria de agradecer ao Parlamento aquele que foi um debate interessante e aceso. As questões levantadas são de grande importância. No entanto, como reiteradamente afirmei – sobretudo na comissão a que o senhor deputado preside -, bem ponderados os factos, é agora tempo de o Parlamento aprovar este acordo de terceira geração com um país de considerável importância, quer na região, quer mundialmente, e de considerável importância sobretudo para os nossos próprios interesses estratégicos.
Presidente.
Muito obrigado, Senhor Comissário Patten.
Está encerrado o debate.
A votação terá lugar amanhã, às 11H00.
Presidente.
Segue-se na ordem do dia o relatório (A5-0270/2004) da deputada Keyser, em nome da Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa, sobre os direitos do Homem no mundo em 2003 e a política da União Europeia em matéria de direitos humanos (2003/2005(INI)).
De Keyser (PSE ),
Senhor Presidente, o meu relatório aborda quatro temas que referirei sumariamente. Primeiro tema: o balanço da legislatura no domínio dos direitos do Homem. O panorama não é uniforme. É verdade que o relatório saúda a cooperação que conseguimos com o Conselho, salienta a influência do Parlamento na luta contra todas as formas de discriminação, contra a pena de morte, em prol dos direitos das mulheres e da liberdade religiosa e de consciência. Mas lamenta que demasiadas resoluções não tenham seguimento e que o diálogo sobre os direitos do Homem, em alguns países, seja esvaziado de qualquer substância e não produza quaisquer efeitos.
Veja-se, como exemplo, o trágico caso de Leyla Zana, prémio Sakharov, cuja condenação acaba de ser hoje confirmada pela justiça turca, num julgamento injusto. Talvez seja necessário, de futuro, estabelecer um verdadeiro controlo dos direitos do Homem em parceria com o país em questão, parceria essa que respeite a sua cultura mas com objectivos e prazos precisos, como fizemos recentemente com o Bangladesh e poderá vir a acontecer, de futuro, com Marrocos e o Vietname.
Segundo tema: o terrorismo. O relatório condena sem ambiguidades qualquer forma de terrorismo. Realça a necessidade de organizar a luta contra esse flagelo. Mas recorda, também, que essa luta deve ser levada a cabo dentro dos limites do direito internacional e humanitário. O relatório evoca violações desse direito que, devido aos sentimentos de injustiça e de desespero que provocam, podem constituir terreno ainda mais fértil para o terrorismo.
Terceiro tema: a saúde reprodutiva. Trata-se de uma área da saúde mal conhecida. Recordemos que, no século passado, falava-se de doenças vergonhosas e, em anatomia, para referir o nervo que percorre as zonas genitais, se dizia o nervo vergonhoso. O que hoje é vergonhoso não é esse nervo mas o facto de, em pleno século XXI, homens e mulheres em todo o mundo serem ainda privados de educação sexual, de acesso à informação e de meios anticoncepcionais eficazes que lhes permitam escolher o número de filhos desejados e planear o seu nascimento, evitar as doenças sexualmente transmissíveis e prevenir a SIDA.
Se olharmos para a terrível propagação da SIDA em África, nos países da Ásia, da Europa de Leste e mesmo, como sabem, em alguns países candidatos às portas da União, perceberemos a urgência de uma resposta. Quem vir de perto, como eu vi, a miséria sexual nos campos de refugiados e de pessoas deslocadas - recordo que há hoje, em todo o mundo, 37 milhões de pessoas deslocadas, 65% das quais são mulheres e raparigas muito jovens, que frequentemente essas mulheres e raparigas são violadas, contaminadas pela SIDA e obrigadas a vender o corpo por uma ração alimentar e que muitas perdem a vida praticando abortos artesanais - compreenderá - e, a propósito, apelo ao senhor deputado Gahler, representante do Grupo do Partido Popular Europeu (Democratas-Cristãos) e dos Democratas Europeus - que a contracepção é um instrumento de sobrevivência vital.
Ao lutar, hoje, pela saúde reprodutiva, não luto contra qualquer chefe espiritual a quem reconheço o direito de guiar os seus fiéis. Luto contra determinadas políticas cegas como a do Presidente Bush que, cortando os fundos para o programa de saúde reprodutiva, incluindo a contracepção através de preservativo, vai matar milhares e milhares de pessoas. Luto, na verdade, pelo direito à vida e à dignidade humana.
Quarto tema: os direitos das pessoas com deficiência. Estas pessoas querem viver plenamente a sua vida mas os seus direitos, como sabemos, são ainda menosprezados nos países da União. E que dizer dos direitos das pessoas com deficiência fora das fronteiras da União, da sua marginalização, por vezes do seu encerramento em instituições, em condições desumanas?
O Grupo PPE-DE, na pessoa do senhor deputado Gahler, acusou-me de ter desenvolvido demasiado este assunto e de ter ido aos pormenores. Será um pormenor o facto de as pessoas com deficiência representarem 10% da população mundial e de essa percentagem aumentar assustadoramente nos países em desenvolvimento, sob o duplo efeito da miséria e dos conflitos armados, Senhor Deputado Gahler? Será um pormenor, quando o Grupo PPE-DE pretende suprimir os números 71, 72, 73, 77, 78, 79 e 80? Será o direito à educação, à mobilidade e à acessibilidade e o simples direito de constituir família um mero pormenor? Será um pormenor apoiar programas para tratar de crianças vítimas de problemas psíquicos gerados pelos conflitos? Será o facto de o número 78 estar prestes a ser riscado um pormenor? Estes pormenores serão, decerto, devidamente apreciados pelas pessoas com deficiência e por quem as defende.
O presente relatório é um relatório de convicções e não pretende provocar. Reconheço que apresenta uma vasta perspectiva dos direitos do Homem no mundo. Mas é uma perspectiva que, num mundo destruído, contém esperança. Não gostaria de terminar sem agradecer a todos os grupos que, excluindo o Grupo PPE-DE, me apoiaram nesta perspectiva.
Patten,
Senhor Presidente, gostaria de agradecer à Presidência por permitir que eu intervenha em primeiro lugar e gostaria de apresentar as minhas desculpas ao senhor deputado e à Assembleia por ter de abandonar o assento da Comissão, deixando-o, no entanto, bem entregue à minha colega, a Senhora Comissária Reding. Devo partir para Moscovo para reuniões com o Presidente Putin, o Senhor Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros Lavrov e outros. Espero que a Assembleia me perdoe qualquer falta de cortesia.
Gostaria de começar por agradecer à senhora deputada De Keyser o seu relatório, que ilustra, uma vez mais, a forma como o empenho do Parlamento Europeu nas questões relacionadas com os direitos humanos serve, a meu ver, de estímulo crítico para a política da UE. A Comissão responderá, como é habitual, por escrito a todas as recomendações que nos foram dirigidas a respeito deste relatório. Pela minha parte, gostaria de me debruçar sobre alguns dos importantes aspectos que foram abordados.
O tema dos direitos humanos e do terrorismo permanecerá, infelizmente, no topo da agenda internacional ainda durante algum tempo. A minha posição relativamente à luta contra o terrorismo é clara. Dei-a a conhecer repetidas vezes. Reiterei-a algumas vezes ontem à noite e, novamente, esta manhã. E volto a fazê-lo agora. A luta contra o terrorismo deverá assentar no respeito pelos direitos humanos, e não o contrário. É também minha profunda convicção que isso só não basta. A promoção dos direitos humanos deverá ser parte integrante da luta contra o terrorismo. A Comissão prosseguirá os seus esforços, com vista à promoção e defesa dos direitos humanos, em cooperação com os nossos parceiros e com todos os meios que estiverem à nossa disposição: diálogo político, cooperação para o desenvolvimento e trabalho com a sociedade civil em países terceiros.
Há duas questões relacionadas com os direitos humanos que têm merecido menos atenção e que estão abrangidas neste admirável relatório: o direito à saúde – neste caso à saúde reprodutiva – e a crescente discriminação, que, apesar dos seus esforços, as pessoas portadoras de deficiência ainda enfrentam em todo o mundo e que é ainda exacerbada em situações de conflito ou pobreza.
A capacidade de todas as pessoas, especialmente das mulheres, de gozarem de acesso à saúde reprodutiva é parte integrante dos seus direitos de reprodução. A relatora tem toda a razão na exposição que faz das consequências graves que podem advir da negação do direito à saúde reprodutiva, assim como na afirmação de que a saúde reprodutiva não é uma questão “das mulheres”. No entanto, é importante registar que as consequências sociais de uma má saúde reprodutiva podem ser sentidas, de forma mais acentuada, pelas raparigas. Por exemplo, em muitas regiões africanas, as adolescentes têm maior probabilidade do que os adolescentes de serem estigmatizadas devido a doenças sexualmente transmissíveis e ao VIH/SIDA, tendo também maior probabilidade de sofrer de forma desproporcionada devido a problemas como o aborto inseguro e a infertilidade.
Desde 1994, a Comissão tornou-se o maior parceiro na abordagem das necessidades em matéria de saúde reprodutiva nos países em desenvolvimento, no âmbito dos Objectivos acordados na Conferência Internacional sobre População e Desenvolvimento da ONU, realizada no Cairo, há dez anos. Desde então e até 2001, disponibilizámos mais de 655 milhões de euros em assistência externa especificamente dirigida ao planeamento familiar, à saúde reprodutiva, a uma maternidade segura, ao VIH/SIDA e às políticas e à gestão demográficas.
Para além disso, em Julho do ano passado, o Conselho adoptou o Regulamento relativo à ajuda para políticas e acções em matéria de saúde reprodutiva e sexual e direitos conexos nos países em desenvolvimento. Nos termos deste Regulamento, o apoio financeiro da Comunidade é concedido a operações específicas que visem as populações mais pobres e mais vulneráveis nas zonas urbanas e rurais, o combate a práticas que prejudiquem a saúde sexual e reprodutiva das mulheres, adolescentes e crianças, tais como as mutilações dos órgãos genitais femininos, a violência sexual, os casamentos de crianças e os casamentos prematuros.
A União Europeia demonstrou o seu empenho na promoção do respeito pelos direitos humanos das pessoas portadoras de deficiência através de legislação comunitária, que foi aprovada com base no artigo 13º do Tratado CE, com vista a lutar contra a discriminação no campo do emprego, através de iniciativas levadas a cabo na sequência do Ano Europeu das Pessoas com Deficiência, que decorreu no ano passado, e através do seu empenhamento activo numa nova Convenção da ONU nesta matéria.
Para além disso, a Comissão levou a cabo uma série de outras iniciativas, como parte dos nossos esforços mais alargados com vista a inserir os direitos humanos em todos os aspectos da nossa cooperação para o desenvolvimento, inclusivamente através da divulgação de orientações políticas específicas sobre o desenvolvimento e a deficiência, a seguir pelas nossas delegações. Porém, há ainda muito caminho a percorrer. Entendemos que a melhor forma de abordar estas questões passo por proporcionar formação ao nosso pessoal e facilitar o intercâmbio entre os representantes das organizações de pessoas portadoras de deficiência e os decisores políticos, aumentando a consciencialização para as questões relacionadas com deficiência no nosso diálogo com os países em desenvolvimento, e incluindo as organizações de pessoas portadoras de deficiência no diálogo realizado a nível nacional.
Por último, este excelente relatório põe em evidência a angústia provocada por uma das causas mais perniciosas de uma deficiência desnecessária em muitos países, a saber, a utilização de minas antipessoal. A este respeito, a Comissão está empenhada em prosseguir uma política vigorosa com vista a eliminar a ameaça que representam as minas antipessoal e em aumentar os seus esforços para reduzir os custos humanitários, sociais e económicos para os países afectados pelo problema das minas antipessoal.
A estratégia em matéria de acção contra as minas no período 2002-2004 liga a actuação da UE aos objectivos estabelecidos pela comunidade internacional no contexto da Convenção de Otava. A assistência, a partir do orçamento da CE, à desminagem e ao reforço das capacidades foi canalizada para 33 países e regiões, tendo a assistência da União Europeia no seu conjunto, em 2002, totalizado 145 milhões de euros.
Tive o privilégio de testemunhar o trabalho que estamos a fazer neste sector, do Sri Lanka aos Balcãs. É um trabalho extremamente importante e valioso, assim como o são os outros elementos salientados neste relatório, para os quais a senhora deputada chama a atenção do Parlamento e da opinião pública europeia em geral. Estamos extremamente gratos por este relatório. Peço desculpa por ter de correr para Moscovo mais depressa do que Napoleão o fez e estou grato à Presidência por mo permitir.
Presidente. -
Obrigado, Senhor Comissário Patten. Desejamos-lhe uma boa viagem para Moscovo.
Roche,
Senhor Presidente, também eu me congratulo com a oportunidade de me dirigir a esta Assembleia no contexto deste debate sobre direitos humanos. Trata-se de um importante debate. Como já aqui referi, é uma questão de especial preocupação e interesse para mim.
É fundamental que se reforce o diálogo entre o Parlamento e o Conselho a respeito dos direitos humanos. É uma preocupação da Presidência irlandesa. É essencial que, a este respeito, haja proximidade entre nós. Gostaria de agradecer à senhora deputada De Keyser o seu excelente relatório sobre os direitos do Homem no mundo em 2003 e a política da União Europeia em matéria de direitos humanos. Este relatório fará parte de um diálogo de suma importância. Podemos discordar quanto a alguns dos seus elementos, mas a verdade é que se trata de um excelente relatório.
A defesa e a promoção dos direitos humanos deveriam ser um critério constante nas nossas acções internacionais. Concordamos com o princípio de base de que os direitos humanos são universais, indivisíveis, interdependentes e inter-relacionados. Como o Senhor Comissário Patten acaba de afirmar, estes direitos estão intimamente relacionados com os problemas com que nos defrontamos num mundo problemático.
Não preciso de dar ênfase à relação estreita entre, por um lado, a paz, a segurança e a estabilidade e, por outro, o respeito pelos direitos humanos, as liberdades fundamentais e a democracia.
O actual debate no Parlamento é oportuno, inclusivamente pelo facto de coincidir com a sexta reunião anual da Comissão dos Direitos do Homem das Nações Unidas, que está a decorrer em Genebra. Gostaria de dizer algumas palavras acerca das nossas relações com esta Comissão. O relatório anual do Parlamento faz, muito justamente, referência ao elevado grau de congruência entre as prioridades do Parlamento Europeu, tal como expressas nas resoluções, e as acções levadas a cabo pela UE nas sessões da Comissão dos Direitos do Homem das Nações Unidas. Trata-se de um exemplo concreto do trabalho efectuado em cooperação mais estreita entre o Conselho e o Parlamento Europeu, com vista à consecução de uma maior abertura e transparência na política da União Europeia na esfera dos direitos humanos. Na verdade, esta é uma das recomendações contidas nas conclusões do Conselho “Assuntos Gerais e Relações Externas” de 10 de Dezembro de 2002 no que respeita aos direitos humanos e à democratização nos países terceiros.
A União Europeia desempenhou, este ano, um papel positivo na Comissão dos Direitos do Homem das Nações Unidas, em Genebra. Até à data, a União apresentou, com êxito, resoluções sobre a situação específica em matéria de direitos humanos em determinados países: Bielorrússia, Turquemenistão e Coreia do Norte. Foi também aprovada pela referida Comissão uma resolução sobre os colonatos israelitas nos territórios árabes ocupados.
Para além disso, têm também boa probabilidade de vir a ser adoptadas as resoluções temáticas apresentadas pela União Europeia. A resolução da União sobre a eliminação de todas as formas de intolerância religiosa, por exemplo, foi adoptada por consenso. A resolução sobre os direitos das crianças foi adoptada, praticamente por unanimidade, na sequência de um pedido de votação por parte dos Estados Unidos. Espero que a Comissão venha ainda a adoptar a resolução da União Europeia sobre a pena de morte, no final desta semana. Tudo isto é de louvar.
No entanto, uma série de iniciativas importantes das Nações Unidas-UE malogrou. Isso ficou a dever-se, em grande medida, à composição da Comissão dos Direitos do Homem das Nações Unidas. Este facto reflecte também a falta de disponibilidade de alguns grupos regionais para aceitarem qualquer condenação dos seus membros. Este sempre me pareceu ser um dos erros fatais do sistema das Nações Unidas. Foi derrotada uma iniciativa da UE sobre a Chechénia, e a nossa resolução sobre o Zimbabué caiu com a apresentação de uma moção de “não acção”. Cabe aqui referir que o número de votos expressos contra a proposta de resolução sobre a Chechénia foi, este ano, significativamente mais elevado do que o registado sobre o mesmo assunto no ano passado. Teremos de analisar este resultado e perceber as razões do sucedido. Será igualmente necessário reflectir sobre o número de resoluções críticas, específicas por país, que apresentamos na Comissão. É sobretudo necessário que decidamos se a nossa prioridade é apresentar declarações da União para que o mundo conheça a nossa posição, ou assegurar que os nossos textos sejam, efectivamente, adoptados por uma maioria dos membros da referida Comissão. Se me permitirem o uso de uma linguagem menos diplomática, talvez seja tempo de a União Europeia aprender a “combater de forma um pouco mais inteligente” no seu relacionamento com a Comissão dos Direitos do Homem das Nações Unidas. Se quisermos ser eficazes, em vez de fazermos meras declarações, teremos de usar de estratégia na nossa abordagem.
Gostaria de me deter sobre três áreas prioritárias referidas no relatório.
No seu relatório, a senhora deputada De Keyser centra-se em três temas principais: em primeiro lugar, as tendências verificadas na guerra internacional contra o terrorismo; em segundo lugar, o impacto da situação internacional na saúde reprodutiva; e em terceiro lugar, os direitos das pessoas com deficiência, em especial, em situações de conflito ou em países extremamente pobres ou em desenvolvimento.
No que se refere à deficiência, fiquei surpreso ao ler no relatório a referência ao facto de três quartos das pessoas com deficiência viverem em países em desenvolvimento. A incidência e a intensidade das deficiências nos países em desenvolvimento são agravadas pela pobreza e, como o referiu o Senhor Comissário Patten, pelo conflito. É hediondo que um número elevado de mutilações e deficiências decorra da utilização de minas produzidas no chamado mundo civilizado, nas nações civilizadas, e depois exportadas para o terceiro mundo.
Em reconhecimento dos direitos das pessoas com deficiência prosseguimos, durante a Presidência irlandesa, o trabalho realizado no seio da União e a nível da ONU, com vista à elaboração de uma Convenção da ONU sobre os direitos humanos das pessoas portadoras de deficiência.
No contexto da saúde reprodutiva, o relatório anual salienta o aumento preocupante na prevalência de VIH/SIDA na Europa Oriental e na Ásia Central e a relação entre a pobreza e a saúde reprodutiva. A Presidência irlandesa reconheceu a premência de se abordar a questão da SIDA, assim como o facto de nenhum país ter capacidade de, por si só, enfrentar este problema. Em Fevereiro, a Presidência acolheu em Dublim uma importante conferência sobre o problema da epidemia de VIH/SIDA subordinada ao tema “Derrubar barreiras: a luta contra o VIH/SIDA na Europa e na Ásia Central”.
Quanto à saúde reprodutiva em geral, gostaria de afirmar que a União Europeia trabalhará incansavelmente para assegurar que os direitos a cuidados e serviços de saúde reprodutiva, consagrados em todos os documentos de base das principais conferências das Nações Unidas, sejam observados na prática.
A União Europeia e os seus Estados-Membros estão empenhados na consecução do objectivo específico em matéria de saúde reprodutiva, acordado na Conferência Internacional do Cairo. Por outras palavras, trata-se de tornar os cuidados de saúde primários - cuidados de saúde reprodutiva - acessíveis a todos os indivíduos em idade adequada, o mais rapidamente possível e, o mais tardar, até 2015. Este compromisso está patente no Regulamento, adoptado pelo Conselho Europeu em Julho de 2003, relativo à ajuda para políticas e acções em matéria de saúde reprodutiva e sexual e direitos conexos nos países em desenvolvimento.
No que se refere ao terrorismo, a senhora deputada De Keyser tem razão em salientar o perigo de reacções emotivas, tais como o medo, o ódio e o desejo de vingança, poderem conduzir ao recurso a medidas repressivas na luta contra este fenómeno. É um tema comum, que perpassou muitos dos debates nesta Assembleia: todos nós estamos interessados numa luta conjunta contra o terrorismo, mas teremos de assegurar que essa luta seja norteada pelo respeito pelos direitos humanos e pelos princípios democráticos e o Estado de direito.
No período que decorreu desde Setembro de 2001, a luta contra o terrorismo tornou-se uma prioridade mundial. Ao mesmo tempo, essa luta levantou novos desafios para a promoção e defesa dos direitos humanos. Os actos de terrorismo jamais poderão ser justificados por qualquer causa ou ideologia, devendo ser incondicionalmente condenados. A matança indiscriminada de seres humanos inocentes, que é a imagem de marca do terrorismo, constitui, acima de tudo, uma negação flagrante do mais fundamental dos direitos: o direito à vida.
Todos os Estados têm o dever de proteger os seus cidadãos contra ataques terroristas e de combater o terrorismo em todas as suas formas. No entanto, para receber o mais amplo apoio possível e ser bem sucedida a longo prazo, é imperioso que a luta contra o terrorismo seja conduzida no mais escrupuloso respeito pelos direitos humanos e no total respeito pelas liberdades fundamentais. A promoção dos direitos humanos deverá, na verdade, tornar-se parte integrante da luta contra o terrorismo.
Há também que abordar as causas do terrorismo. Procurar entender estas causas não deverá ser visto como uma forma de complacência para com o terrorismo ou os terroristas. Pelo contrário, trata-se de um passo essencial para a sua erradicação.
Como o afirmou, aqui nesta Assembleia, no mês passado, o Presidente em exercício do Conselho Europeu, Bertie Ahern, qualquer bom médico nos dirá que para tratar uma doença é acima de tudo necessário tratar as suas causas e sintomas. Com demasiada frequência a resposta simplista ao terrorismo equivale apenas à cura dos sintomas, não da doença. No contexto da luta contra o terrorismo, a senhora deputada De Keyser salienta também, com pertinência, a necessidade de não se usar esse objectivo como desculpa para a supressão da liberdade da imprensa e, especificamente, como uma justificação para o ataque a indivíduos, ou a determinados jornalistas em particular.
A União Europeia atribui tradicionalmente grande importância ao trabalho desenvolvido por todos aqueles que se batem pelos direitos humanos, incluindo os que trabalham nos meios de comunicação social. Os defensores dos direitos humanos tornaram-se progressivamente mais eficazes na garantia de uma maior protecção das vítimas de violações de direitos humanos. No entanto, este progresso foi conseguido, frequentemente, a um preço muito elevado e com avultados custos individuais. Os próprios defensores tornaram-se, também, cada vez mais, alvos de ataques, tendo os seus direitos sido violados em muitos países.
Embora a União Europeia tenha atribuído grande importância à protecção destas pessoas, até à data, isso tem, em grande medida, sido feito de forma . A Presidência irlandesa está a trabalhar com vista à apresentação de orientações políticas específicas, de molde a reforçar o apoio da União Europeia aos defensores dos direitos humanos. Essas orientações serão, em breve, apresentadas no Conselho de Ministros.
Permitam-me que volte a felicitar a relatora pelo seu relatório. Em nome do Conselho, a Presidência congratula-se com esta colaboração com o Parlamento na promoção da nossa causa comum da democracia e dos direitos humanos. A União Europeia tem por base o respeito pelos direitos humanos, e isso é verdade, quer a nível da política interna no seio da União, quer na nossa política externa.
Gahler (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, a protecção dos direitos do Homem é, tradicionalmente, um dos temas centrais para o Parlamento Europeu e existe, de facto, consenso político quanto à forma como este deve ser abordado. Os critérios a aplicar encontram-se nos acordos internacionais que protegem os direitos humanos. Quem não cumprir estes critérios ou, de uma forma negligente, permitir que não sejam cumpridos, tem de se sujeitar à crítica desta Assembleia.
O relatório deste ano, contudo - em contraste com todos os seus predecessores durante esta legislatura -, não nasceu sob uma estrela auspiciosa. A nossa principal crítica prende-se com o facto de a relatora ter sobrecarregado o que é suposto ser um relatório anual sobre os direitos do Homem com uma inaceitável carga ideológica e de ter feito dos seus próprios cavalos de batalha, para não dizer obsessões, o seu ponto central. É por essa razão, para começar, que lhe falta uma componente geral e incontestável, que apenas foi introduzida no texto por força de 70 alterações. Quero reiterar aqui, em prol da clareza total, que um relatório como este tem de focar os grandes temas, ou seja, questões como: onde é que exigimos democracia, eleições livres, liberdade de opinião, liberdade de imprensa, liberdade de credo e de consciência, a supressão da discriminação legal ou de facto contra as mulheres, a protecção da integridade física, etc.? Quando é que criticamos o Conselho, nomeadamente quando, face a países grandes, não faz mais do que declarações simbólicas sobre os direitos do Homem?
É evidente que a referência feita neste relatório aos direitos das pessoas com deficiência - por exemplo - é correctíssima. Naturalmente, os seus direitos como cidadãos do Estado com igualdade de estatuto devem ser aplicados e os tratamentos degradantes em instituições públicas devem ser denunciados. Dentro dos limites do que os Estados nacionais podem fazer, o direito humano à vida compreende igualmente o direito de acesso aos serviços de saúde, mas tem de parar, Senhora Deputada, de apresentar exigências pormenorizadas em matéria de política social e de saúde - por muito desejáveis que possam ser - como um catálogo de direitos humanos e perpetuá-los neste relatório. O facto é que as coisas que estão garantidas como direitos humanos podem ser exigidas como direitos legais e aqueles que não os providenciarem estarão a violar os direitos humanos, mas não há uma única Constituição, uma única convenção internacional - europeia ou outra - que declare as exigências pormenorizadas que aqui faz como direitos humanos exigíveis. Se assim fosse, o Presidente da Câmara de Rabat ou o seu homólogo em Lagos estariam a violar os direitos humanos por não cumprirem a sua exigência de que os autocarros municipais sejam equipados com portas que as pessoas com deficiência possam utilizar. Não fazer isso poderá fazer dele um mau Presidente da Câmara, mas não está a violar os direitos humanos. Isto mostra como a sua abordagem está errada. Tão-pouco existe qualquer direito humano à distribuição gratuita de preservativos, mas, neste caso, esse é um objectivo a atingir. O Presidente da África do Sul, Thabo Mbeki, poderá ter uma concepção errada da forma como combater a SIDA, mas isso não faz dele um violador dos direitos humanos.
Esta Assembleia tem perante si o excelente relatório do senhor deputado Mantovani sobre a situação das pessoas com deficiência e essa é a sede própria para todas as coisas que enumera, mas então, Senhora Deputada, a senhora só poderia apresentar alterações e o relatório não levaria o seu nome. Permita-me que lhe diga, o relatório do senhor deputado Mantovani expõe tudo isso muito melhor; é por essa razão que votamos a favor do relatório do colega Mantovani e não a favor do seu.
Quanto ao seu outro cavalo de batalha, a saúde reprodutiva, essa é uma matéria que pertence à Comissão para o Desenvolvimento e a Cooperação ou ao relatório Junker sobre os dez anos após a Conferência do Cairo - de facto, esse tema até já lá está - mas não se inscreve, nesta forma, na categoria de direitos humanos garantidos e exigíveis. A quem, então, pretende exigi-lo? É aqui que muitas vezes não estamos assim tão distantes um do outro; também eu sou contra esta . Sou também o primeiro a querer que os centros de missões católicas distribuam preservativos em vez de os amaldiçoar, mas quando a senhora deputada pede que nós, na UE, compensemos a perda de fundos dos EUA, então é aí, penso eu, que outros terão a ideia de poupar dinheiro; afinal de contas, a UE tomará conta do assunto, não é verdade? O consenso em torno dos direitos do Homem tem reinado há muitos anos neste Parlamento, mas, em minha opinião, o seu relatório nada faz para ajudar a mantê-lo.
Howitt (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, no Reino Unido, um homem sufocou até à morte o seu irmão de 40 anos portador da doença de Huntington. Declarou-se culpado de homicídio passional e o juiz absolveu-o. Na Bélgica, numa residência, pessoas portadoras de deficiência foram vítimas de abusos perpetrados por funcionários e profissionais de saúde e agredidas fisicamente, tendo o seu dinheiro sido roubado e utilizado pelo pessoal. Num lar, nos Países Baixos, cinco idosos com demência foram espancados, cuspidos, pontapeados e insultados por três enfermeiras. Em Espanha, uma mulher de 44 anos portadora de deficiência foi confinada pelos seus pais a um sótão de três metros de comprimento, onde viveu desde os quatro anos de idade, situação que foi do conhecimento dos assistentes sociais durante 25 anos. Na Bulgária, as crianças de um internato para pessoas com deficiências cognitivas, no Inverno, eram amarradas às suas camas e deixadas ao frio durante a noite, altura em que o aquecimento era desligado para poupar dinheiro. Quinze crianças - um quarto dos residentes - morreram. Um homem de Veneza, em Itália, com problemas de saúde mental era frequentemente encerrado em casa quando a mãe saía, deixando-o sozinho. Quando a casa se incendiou, deparou-se com a porta da frente trancada, acabando por morrer intoxicado pela inalação de fumo. Na Alemanha, um homem de 55 anos com dificuldades de aprendizagem e de visão foi atacado a caminho do emprego por dois “cabeças rapadas” e espancado até à morte. Os jovens afirmaram à polícia que ele “não merecia viver”.
Como o senhor deputado Gahler acaba de referir, os deputados do Grupo PPE-DE neste Parlamento votaram, em sede de comissão, contra o excelente relatório da senhora deputada De Keyser, tendo alguns ameaçado opor-se ao mesmo em plenário, porque, dizem, estes exemplos de abusos contra as pessoas portadoras de deficiência não constituem uma violação dos direitos humanos. Tenham vergonha!
Van den Bos (ELDR ).
– Senhor Presidente, será que alguma vez alcançaremos o nível de civilização em que as violações dos direitos humanos em larga escala passem a pertencer ao passado? A principal causa dessas violações reside frequentemente na vontade de manter - ou de facto conquistar - o poder a todo o custo. Do mesmo modo, as práticas bárbaras de semear o ódio por razões meramente religiosas ou étnicas não foram ainda de modo algum erradicadas; pelo contrário, o número de pessoas inocentes que são mortas de forma aleatória não pára de aumentar. Esta semana, comemoramos o massacre no Ruanda. A comunidade mundial sente-se colectivamente envergonhada perante a sua passividade.
Será isso sincero? Será que tirámos realmente as conclusões correctas? Será que, para a Europa, os direitos humanos pesam realmente tanto na prática como as solenes declarações sugerem? Será que estamos verdadeiramente dispostos a atribuir mais importância aos direitos humanos do que aos interesses económicos e estratégicos? Infelizmente, isso ainda não é assim. A violência em larga escala, as torturas, as violações estruturais - como o abuso de mulheres - o sistema de castas, continuam a estar na ordem do dia.
Felizmente, a senhora deputada De Keyser apoia os apelos que lancei no meu relatório do ano passado para que o diálogo sobre os direitos humanos seja menos vago e melhor estruturado. A questão consiste em saber até que ponto é que isso já produziu efeito na prática. Depois do meu relatório, a cooperação com o Conselho melhorou consideravelmente em diversos níveis. Espero que a Presidência neerlandesa continue a melhorar as relações com o nosso Parlamento no tocante a estas matérias. Pela nossa parte, faremos bem em garantir que o relatório sobre os direitos humanos seja publicado todos os anos numa data fixa, para que seja possível incluir aí um parecer sobre o relatório do Conselho e também sobre as soluções avançadas pela Comissão dos Direitos Humanos das Nações Unidas. Além disso, o nosso Parlamento deveria acompanhar de forma mais sistemática as violações dos direitos humanos que assinalámos. A forma como o relatório De Keyser surgiu é bastante infeliz. Não obstante, o meu grupo apoia o seu conteúdo, inclusive no que se refere aos direitos das pessoas com deficiência e à saúde reprodutiva. Afinal de contas, é contra qualquer conceito fundamental de justiça que alguém morra devido à falta de cuidados médicos. Os nossos amigos Democratas-Cristãos deveriam concordar com isso, mesmo tratando-se de direitos que não podem ser impostos.
Por último, gostaria de chamar novamente a atenção para o crescente abuso das religiões para fins políticos e para o radicalismo. Tendo em conta a gravidade da ameaça e a realidade de Madrid, reitero o meu apelo do ano passado para que a União Europeia faça um levantamento do problema em todas as suas dimensões e elabore uma estratégia tendente a evitar este extremismo religioso. Também já é altura, a meu ver, de a Fundação Euromediterrânica, que foi decidida em Valência, em 2002, ser finalmente criada.
A União Europeia orgulha-se de ser uma comunidade de valores. Isso significa que a nossa política de direitos humanos tem de passar a ser menos descomprometida; isso implica igualmente um dever de trabalhar no sentido de propagar um nível de civilização em que as violações dos direitos humanos em larga escala passem a pertencer ao passado!
Boudjenah (GUE/NGL ).
- Senhor Presidente, o relatório anual sobre os direitos do Homem é de novo, infelizmente, ocasião para verificar que a situação mundial está a degradar-se. A lei do mais forte e a escolha da repressão e da intervenção militar primam sobre os princípios e os valores do direito internacional. A luta contra o terrorismo parece justificar todo o tipo de agressões, em numerosas regiões do mundo, contra as liberdades individuais e colectivas.
A lista é longa e inclui a Turquia, onde Leyla Zana e os seus companheiros acabam de ser, mais uma vez, injustamente condenados por defenderem o povo curdo; a Tunísia, onde a perseguição e a repressão dos democratas aumentam, perante a indiferença da União Europeia; Marrocos, onde as violações dos direitos dos Sarauís se multiplicam no Sara ocidental ocupado; o Iraque, onde as forças de ocupação americanas provocam verdadeiros dramas humanos, compram a baixo preço os recursos naturais do país e se arrogam o direito de se comportarem como donos, e a Palestina onde, nas palavras de Avraham Burg, antigo porta-voz do Knesset, a situação é tão explosiva "que gritar é um imperativo moral".
Poderíamos ainda referir a perseguição intolerável dos defensores dos direitos do Homem em todo o mundo. Segundo o relatório anual de 2003 do Observatório para a Protecção dos Defensores dos Direitos Humanos da Federação Internacional de Ligas de Direitos Humanos, o actual clima que privilegia a segurança e a imposição de medidas arbitrárias restritivas das liberdades individuais viola os princípios enunciados na Declaração Universal dos Direitos do Homem. Neste contexto, tornou-se cada vez mais difícil denunciar a adopção de leis restritivas, defender o direito a um julgamento justo, lutar contra a pena de morte ou denunciar a tortura. Em alguns países, jornalistas, advogados, opositores políticos, sindicalistas, tornaram-se verdadeiros alvos a abater. Mas hoje, mais do que nunca, o apoio e o encorajamento dados a esses homens e mulheres na sua luta pela democracia, a justiça e a paz são essenciais para o nosso futuro comum.
Finalmente, o respeito e a garantia dos direitos fundamentais como o direito à soberania e à auto-suficiência alimentar, o direito à saúde, o direito a viver com dignidade e não na miséria contribuem, igualmente, para a construção de um mundo melhor. Apoio, neste sentido, a proposta da relatora, nomeadamente no que respeita à saúde reprodutiva.
Wuori (Verts/ALE ).
– Senhor Presidente, podemos aceitar as alterações quanto ao fundo, apesar da pouca ênfase dada a alguns pormenores. Contudo, quero chamar a atenção, de um modo mais geral, para os métodos utilizados, que foram, desta vez, escandalosos. Não se deve permitir que os direitos humanos fiquem reféns de uma política quotidiana de vistas curtas e frequentemente conduzida pelos meios de comunicação social. A sua aplicação exige, pois, que se façam opções políticas e também ela terá um impacto político. Os direitos humanos têm um valor intrínseco.
O trabalho no domínio dos direitos humanos exige uma perspectiva global da situação e a hierarquização sistemática, sustentada e coerente dos problemas, tanto em termos temáticos como em termos geográficos, baseada no seu próprio sistema logístico. Saudamos a panorâmica geral do actual trabalho no domínio dos direitos do Homem dada pelo presente relatório. Ao mesmo tempo, porém, é necessário que olhemos para o futuro. Se não conseguirmos melhorar a coordenação e o alinhamento dos processos comunitários de acompanhamento dos direitos do Homem, a nível interno e externo, se não conseguirmos empenhar-nos numa actividade pós-acompanhamento mais enérgica e ignorar os motivos políticos irrelevantes e as segundas intenções, deixaremos uma triste herança ao próximo Parlamento. Para podermos exigir, com credibilidade, que os Estados-Membros e o Conselho abandonem a sua atitude em matéria de política comercial e os seus pontos de vista acanhados sobre os ganhos que poderão retirar de uma dada situação, criando uma política coerente e duradoura, teremos primeiro de pôr a nossa casa em ordem. Neste sentido, os direitos do Homem começam em casa, e é isso, sobretudo, que está em questão neste momento.
Ribeiro e Castro (UEN ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhor Ministro, Senhora Comissária, caros colegas: concordo com a intervenção que acabámos de ouvir. Também nós preferíamos um relatório que estivesse no tronco comum da cultura dos Direitos Humanos que arranca da declaração universal dos Direitos do Homem das Nações Unidas. Creio que é por aí que nós devemos caminhar e não na instrumentalização destes relatórios para conseguirmos um ou outro fim particular. O relatório, reconheço-o, está melhor do que a versão inicial que tropeçou na comissão parlamentar, mas ainda assim tenho algumas observações que queria fazer pessoalmente, em nome do meu partido e do meu grupo.
Em primeiro lugar, quanto ao Prémio Sakharov e aos três premiados com o Prémio Sakharov que continuam a ser objecto de perseguições. A resolução é desequilibrada, citando na exposição de motivos três casos na Turquia, na Birmânia e em Cuba, e depois, no parágrafo 23 da resolução final, é esquecida a situação de Osvaldo Payá em Cuba. Creio que isso deve ser corrigido, sob pena de podermos ser acusados de falta de memória e de sectarismo.
Em segundo lugar, também me parece que quanto ao terrorismo não há ainda uma abordagem bem equilibrada. Mas, sobretudo, quero expressar as minhas reservas à forma como é introduzido o assunto da saúde reprodutiva nesta área e sobretudo a associação do aborto com a saúde reprodutiva, com o que discordo.
Para citar apenas uns números do relatório, diz-se, na exposição de motivos, que, no mundo, se praticam 100 abortos por minuto e morrem 70 mil mulheres. Fiz uma conta e isso significa que morrem 52 milhões e 560 mil crianças por nascer, nos anos comuns, e 52 milhões e 700 mil nos anos bissextos, além das 70 mil mulheres. É, de facto, um assunto preocupante, mas numa linha completamente diferente: numa linha de afirmação do direito à vida.
Sandbæk (EDD ).
Senhor Presidente, gostaria de agradecer a Veronique De Keyser por ter, pela primeira vez na história deste Parlamento, incluído o direito das mulheres à saúde reprodutiva no seu relatório.
Na Conferência Internacional sobre a População e o Desenvolvimento (CIPD), a comunidade internacional inseriu claramente a saúde reprodutiva no contexto dos direitos humanos, e por uma razão óbvia. Na interpretação dos tratados sobre direitos humanos, as diferenças biológicas entre os homens e as mulheres não são tidas em consideração e este facto tem consequências drásticas, especialmente no que se refere à pandemia de SIDA: 60% das pessoas afectadas são mulheres. Num país como a Zâmbia, apenas 11% das mulheres consideram ter o direito de pedir aos seus maridos que usem preservativos. Aproximadamente metade das jovens mulheres e raparigas nos países em desenvolvimento afirmam ser forçadas na sua primeira experiência sexual. Não têm a opção da abstinência. Podem permanecer fiéis, mas os seus maridos não, e também não usam preservativos.
De facto, há uma frequência maior de VIH entre as mulheres casadas do que nas solteiras. Aquelas precisam desesperadamente de saber que a saúde sexual e reprodutiva é um direito. Fico horrorizada pelo facto de alguns colegas desta Assembleia pretenderem privar as mulheres destes direitos ao tentar suprimir um capítulo que os torna explícitos no relatório sobre os direitos humanos.
Esta Assembleia deveria ser extremamente clara no seu apoio a estas mulheres; poderemos fazê-lo, votando a favor das alterações que a senhora deputada De Keyser apresentou e do seu relatório.
Claeys (NI ).
– Senhor Presidente, tenho a desagradável sensação de que a relatora encara a luta contra o terrorismo como um problema tão grave quanto o próprio terrorismo. Esta observação foi feita repetidamente durante a discussão do relatório em comissão. Apesar de ela ter sido veementemente refutada, a versão final do relatório não conseguiu, para todos os efeitos, dissipar essa sensação.
Formalmente, o terrorismo é condenado – estranho seria que assim não fosse –, após o que o relatório consagra numerosos parágrafos aos direitos humanos dos terroristas ou daqueles que são acusados de cometer actos terroristas. O conflito israelo-palestiniano é igualmente abordado sem qualquer nuance: os atentados terroristas palestinianos e a construção do muro de segurança, por exemplo, são metidos no mesmo saco. Neste Parlamento Europeu, deveríamos reflectir seriamente sobre se este género de relatórios tem alguma utilidade. Além do mais, trata-se aqui de um relatório sobre direitos do Homem no mundo, o que significa o mundo fora da União Europeia, embora talvez fizéssemos bem em olhar melhor para o que se passa cá dentro.
Precisamente hoje, o tribunal na Bélgica vai pronunciar-se no âmbito de um processo judicial contra o principal partido da oposição da Flandres, o , um processo que foi instaurado por um órgão governamental onde todos os partidos tradicionais têm assento, incluindo aquele a que a relatora pertence. Aquilo a que agora assistimos na Bélgica é à instrumentalização da luta contra o racismo - ou aquilo que por isso se pretende fazer passar – a fim de restringir o direito à liberdade de expressão. A apenas algumas semanas das eleições estão a ser feitas tentativas no sentido de despojar um partido democrático da oposição do respectivo financiamento, e de fazer até com que o mesmo seja efectivamente proibido por um tribunal. Decerto compreenderá que eu tenha as minhas reservas quando vejo que alguém que sanciona tais práticas é hoje o relator de um documento sobre direitos do Humanos no mundo.
Van Orden (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, sou um fervoroso defensor dos verdadeiros direitos humanos, mas existe aqui o perigo de estarmos a caminhar para uma cultura cada vez mais assente em direitos e para uma situação em que todos os desejos e necessidades sociais e de saúde do ser humano serão definidos como um direito humano fundamental. Esta abordagem é, de diversas perspectivas, contraproducente, sobretudo do ponto de vista daqueles que são efectivamente vítimas de violações dos verdadeiros direitos humanos e cujos gritos de dor são abafados por outras exigências concorrentes.
Nutro ainda uma outra preocupação: numa altura em que o terrorismo internacional ocupa um lugar entre as nossas maiores ansiedades, assistimos frequentemente à utilização abusiva por parte dos terroristas, das suas principais organizações e dos seus defensores políticos do rótulo dos direitos humanos para os seus próprios fins, como uma arma política e como forma de reduzirem a eficácia das forças de segurança que se lhes opõem.
O relatório que temos em mãos enferma de todos esses defeitos. Trata-se de uma melhoria significativa relativamente à redacção inicial, mas continua a prestar uma escassa atenção às preocupações com os verdadeiros direitos humanos em todo o mundo. Embora atingindo os actuais alvos da esquerda – os Estados Unidos e Israel – perde a oportunidade de expor aqueles regimes corruptos que, em diversos continentes, mantêm os seus povos na miséria, e oferece escasso apoio às vítimas do terrorismo, ou aos que lutam contra o terrorismo.
No que se refere à questão Israelo-Palestiniana, infere-se, do número 46 do relatório, que a actividade de estabelecimento dos colonatos fora das fronteiras de Israel é, de alguma forma, comparável aos ataques terroristas indiscriminados sobre civis inocentes dentro de Israel. Estas comparações são uma verdadeira aberração, sendo uma extrema irresponsabilidade que políticos façam este tipo de sugestões, especialmente quando todos os nossos povos enfrentam a ameaça do terrorismo. No que se refere à questão da Baía de Guantanamo, o relatório oferece um apoio excessivo aos que estão detidos em Camp Delta, ignorando, simultaneamente, as dificuldades enfrentadas pelas nossas democracias no confronto com estes fanáticos, determinados a ameaçar e assassinar civis inocentes.
Gostaria que se apelasse a que a UE e o resto da comunidade internacional tomassem acções firmes com vista a conseguir uma alteração concreta na situação que se vive nos países onde se verificam violações dos verdadeiros direitos humanos, como no Zimbabué. É preciso que nos centremos nos problemas de direitos humanos, e não em caprichos políticos.
Theorin (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, este relatório é um relatório muito importante, que quase naufragou devido aos jogos políticos desleais da Direita. Concentrar-me-ei em duas partes do relatório: as relativas a Israel/Palestina e ao direito das mulheres a determinarem a sua própria vida.
Permiti que eu diga, em primeiro lugar, a respeito do debate sobre o Paquistão, que, também nesta matéria, são os direitos do Homem, e não os aspectos económicos, que devem estar no centro das preocupações. Legitimar um regime que usurpou o poder através de um golpe militar e que não respeita os direitos humanos seria uma atitude bastante estranha para União Europeia.
Ontem, nós, deputados da Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa, pudemos escutar a Iniciativa de Genebra e representantes de Israel e da Palestina, que confirmam aquilo que é descrito, por exemplo, nos números 46 e 47 do presente relatório, mas que o grupo à direita pretende agora eliminar através da votação. Fechar os olhos à realidade nunca permitiu resolver genuinamente os problemas.
Em segundo lugar, uma palavra sobre a saúde reprodutiva. Os direitos das mulheres são direitos humanos. É evidente que as mulheres devem ter o direito de tomar decisões a respeito do seu próprio corpo e, portanto, têm direito à saúde reprodutiva. As propostas 28 a 40 são aditamentos importantes que devem ser apoiados. A cada minuto morre uma mulher vítima de causas ligadas à gravidez. Por minuto, fazem-se 100 abortos, metade dos quais por pessoas sem formação médica. Em cada ano, morrem 70 000 mulheres devido a abortos praticados sem as devidas condições de segurança.
Nos países em desenvolvimento, os problemas reprodutivos são a mais importante causa de morte e invalidez. Nesta situação, recusar apoio às organizações que dão conselhos sobre contracepção e contribuir conscientemente para uma situação em que centenas de milhares de mulheres se submetem a abortos sem segurança e morrem prematuramente, e em que centenas de milhares de mulheres são infectadas com o VIH em cada ano, constitui uma grave violação dos direitos humanos e um sério risco para a saúde reprodutiva das mulheres.
Malmström (ELDR ).
Senhor Presidente, aos olhos do mundo que nos rodeia, o trabalho da União Europeia em prol dos direitos do Homem tem uma enorme importância. Os Estados que não respeitam o direito internacional e que condenamos nos nossos relatórios enviam os seus embaixadores para retirarem as referências aos seus países a qualquer preço. Inversamente, uma resolução do Parlamento por vezes traz esperança e uma coragem renovada àqueles que, em todo o mundo, são presos, torturados e oprimidos, ou que travam as suas lutas.
Pessoas empenhadas esperam que a UE desempenhe um papel activo no trabalho por um mundo melhor. Às vezes ficam desapontadas, quando preferimos fechar os olhos a crimes graves porque a política comercial ou os interesses estratégicos tomam a primazia face a essas violações grosseiras. Nunca devemos, por isso, vacilar e deixar de enfatizar os direitos humanos nos nossos contactos com países como a China, o Irão, Cuba, a Síria, o Zimbabué, etc.
Há quase cinco anos, elaborei um relatório sobre o relatório anual relativo aos direitos do Homem, no qual chamei a atenção para a questão da violência contra as mulheres. Penso que é lógico prosseguirmos por este caminho no último relatório desta legislatura. O facto de, em 2004, estarmos a discutir se a violência sexual, a mutilação genital, o comércio sexual, a violação de meninas e a falta de medicamentos contra a SIDA devem ou não figurar num relatório sobre os direitos do Homem mostra que também temos um longo caminho a percorrer nesta assembleia.
Não concordo com a senhora deputada De Keyser em relação a todos os elementos do seu relatório, mas é importante e mais do que justo que se realcem estas questões. É muito estranho que existam protestos da Direita, dizendo que estas questões não devem figurar num relatório sobre os direitos humanos.
Krivine (GUE/NGL ).
- Senhor Presidente, após a queda do muro de Berlim, muitas pessoas pensaram que o fim da guerra fria significava que íamos, finalmente, conhecer um mundo de paz. Passa-se exactamente o contrário. Nunca houve tanta violência no mundo.
Foi neste clima de medo e de dúvidas que a administração Bush lançou a sua cruzada antiterrorista cujo único objectivo era, afinal, garantir a supremacia económica e, logo, militar do seu império numa economia liberal globalizada. Nasceu um novo conceito, portador de consequências trágicas: o da guerra preventiva. É em nome da luta contra o terrorismo privado do seu antigo agente Bin Laden que Bush está, agora, a legalizar o terrorismo de Estado, cujas primeiras vítimas são os povos palestiniano ou iraquiano e cujos primeiros cúmplices são Sharon, Blair ou Aznar. Sempre em nome dessa luta vai-se armazenando, em todo o mundo, um novo arsenal repressivo que põe em causa as liberdades fundamentais.
Que valores comuns poderíamos ter com um governo que organizou o campo de mortos-vivos de Guantanamo Bay? Longe de enfraquecer o terrorismo privado, aquele arsenal vai, antes, criminalizar qualquer oposição à criação dessa nova ordem, como é o caso do movimento sindical, associativo ou anti-globalização. Infelizmente, a União Europeia participou nessa empresa com uma definição liberticida do terrorismo, adoptando o mandado de captura europeu ou múltiplas leis contra os imigrantes, isto para já não referir os governos que ainda ousam, na Europa, proibir o recurso ao aborto.
A luta para erradicar as guerras e as violências não pode limitar-se a votos piedosos, como costuma fazer este Parlamento. Há que atacar as raízes do mal, um sistema social dominado exclusivamente pelo lucro, que transforma as pessoas em mercadorias, um regime que destrói o ambiente e que exclui do trabalho, do sistema de saúde ou da educação, da habitação e, até, da satisfação das necessidades de alimentação mais básicas milhares de seres humanos.
A globalização capitalista gera a globalização da violência. Mas podemos, desde já, intervir de uma forma concreta, por exemplo, regularizando a situação dos imigrantes ilegais e impedindo as expulsões colectivas em voos fretados, insistindo com o Conselho para que suspenda os acordos de associação com Israel, reorganizando a repartição da riqueza, nomeadamente através de uma taxa Tobin sobre os movimentos de capitais ou, até, anulando a dívida do terceiro mundo.
Boumediene-Thiery (Verts/ALE ).
- Senhor Presidente, Senhor Comissário, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, hoje a nossa Assembleia está a examinar a situação dos direitos humanos e a sua política europeia em relação aos países terceiros. Decidi intervir sobre a Síria.
Certamente sabeis que os defensores dos direitos humanos e das liberdades democráticas sofrem, nesse país, pressões e perseguições contínuas. Diversos relatórios de ONG denunciam violações flagrantes: pessoas detidas por delitos de opinião, exilados políticos, interrogatórios constantes, interrupção de oradores, detenções, torturas e, por vezes, desaparecimentos. Atkham Naissé, presidente dos comités para a defesa das liberdades democráticas e dos direitos humanos na Síria, foi detido no dia 13 de Abril pelas forças de segurança militar. Está detido em local secreto. Não lhe é permitido tomar medicamentos, apesar de o seu estado de saúde ser alarmante. Pensa-se, até, que dentro em breve será presente ao Tribunal de Segurança do Estado. Defender os direitos humanos constituirá uma ameaça à ordem pública ou um acto de terrorismo? Ahmad Khazen e Hassan Wafta foram detidos em 15 e 16 de Março de 2004 pelas forças de segurança militar e condenados a penas de prisão por se terem manifestado no Parlamento, ao qual exigiam reformas democráticas e o levantamento do estado de sítio. Até hoje, a sociedade civil síria não viu nem ouviu qualquer reacção da Comissão Europeia. A sua delegação em Damasco, porém, já assistiu a algumas destas violações. Não se trata de ingerência, mas da defesa dos valores universais, onde temos alguma responsabilidade.
Permitam-me recordar que estamos a negociar um acordo de associação com a Síria. Os acordos deste tipo fundamentam-se no direito e o artigo 2º dos mesmos estabelece claramente o compromisso de as duas partes respeitarem os direitos humanos. Na Síria, o estado de sítio vigora há 41 anos, o que permite que os tribunais militares apliquem a lei marcial. Tal facto é contrário ao primado do direito e ao respeito das liberdades fundamentais tal como garantidos pelo direito internacional e pela Declaração de Barcelona. Há precisamente um mês, no dia 22 de Março, criámos, em Atenas, a Assembleia parlamentar Euromediterrânica, de que faz parte a Síria. Essa parceria apenas poderá construir-se se estiverem garantidas determinadas condições, como o respeito dos direitos humanos e das liberdades democráticas.
Assim, gostaria de solicitar que intervenham, urgentemente, junto das autoridades sírias, e lhes exijam que garantam a integridade das pessoas que mencionei, que procedam à sua libertação imediata e incondicional, que ponham termo às contínuas pressões e perseguições, que respeitem o direito internacional e obedeçam às disposições da Declaração Universal dos Direitos do Homem e dos instrumentos internacionais ratificados pela Síria. As nossas democracias dispõem de meios de pressão. Se não as utilizarmos para fazer respeitar os nossos valores universais, perderemos a face. Senhor Comissário, Senhor Presidente em exercício do Conselho, somos muitos os que aguardamos a vossa resposta, pois nenhuma complacência é admissível quando os direitos do Homem são violados.
Dell'Alba (NI ).
- Senhor Presidente, caros colegas, queria felicitar calorosamente a nossa relatora por aquilo que consta do seu relatório e também por o que aí não consta e espero que, amanhã, a votação seja favorável, de modo a restabelecer aquilo que torna tão original e específica a perspectiva que a senhora deputada De Keyser tentou trazer à dimensão dos direitos humanos no mundo.
Tal como outros colegas, nós, os Radicais italianos, estamos muito atentos a tudo o que se relaciona com a saúde reprodutiva, a toda essa nova dimensão que a nossa sociedade deve, cada vez mais, tomar em consideração na sua forma de apreender os direitos do Homem incluindo nela, por exemplo, o direito à saúde, que agora implica as novas tecnologias, a investigação genética e todo o tipo de possibilidades que se abrem à humanidade mas que, por enquanto, ainda são problemáticas, ainda são um bloqueio em grande parte das nossas sociedades. Votaremos amanhã, portanto, a favor de todas as alterações nesse sentido, na esperança de enriquecer o relatório da senhora deputada De Keyser.
Posto isto gostaria agora, no âmbito do presente debate, de lançar um apelo aos colegas, à nossa relatora, aos coordenadores dos diversos grupos, esperando que a minha mensagem seja ouvida. Após a aprovação do relatório em comissão, teve lugar um terrível massacre, foi exercida uma assustadora violência contra o povo indígena dos do Vietname. Trata-se de uma população autóctone, a mais antiga do Vietname, que sofre a opressão do regime de Hanói. Essa opressão traduziu-se, há poucos dias, em acções policiais brutais cujo objectivo era fazer dispersar manifestantes, tal como aconteceu noutro país, como acabamos de ouvir. Dezenas de pessoas foram, sem dúvida, mortas e muitas outras detidas e lançadas para a prisão. Não temos notícias delas.
Eu sei que os prazos já expiraram mas, visto no presente relatório falarmos de povos indígenas, eu tomaria a liberdade, amanhã, se os colegas concordarem, de apresentar uma alteração oral com o objectivo de inserir uma breve referência aos do Vietname, para lembrar às autoridades de Hanói que o Parlamento Europeu se preocupa com a situação. Muitas vezes o Comissário Patten, bem como alguns países europeus, intervieram neste assunto. Penso que é nosso dever mencionar, na votação de amanhã, a opressão de que são vítimas os do Vietname.
Stockton (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, (Antes de mais, cara Senhora, devo felicitá-la pelo seu relatório!). No entanto, existe uma preocupante tendência subjacente à forma como os direitos humanos e o terrorismo foram abordados. Embora partilhe de muitos dos sentimentos que aqui foram expressos pelo meu colega, o senhor deputado Van Orden, fico também preocupado por outros motivos. Os governos centralizados, nacionais ou internacionais, são muito rápidos a usurpar poderes e estabelecer mecanismos que ajudá-los na luta contra o terrorismo, mas que, certamente, corroem os consagrados direitos e liberdades dos cidadãos. Existe, por isso, uma ironia suprema no facto de as políticas de luta contra o terrorismo, que todos apoiamos, poderem fazer tanto para restringir as nossas liberdades como os próprios terroristas.
Senhor Presidente, a menos que exista um milagre eleitoral em Junho, ou uma demissão maciça por espírito de sacrifício entre os meus colegas, esta será a última vez que terei o prazer de me dirigir a esta distinta e nobre Assembleia.
Permita-me, com a sua indulgência, Senhor Presidente, que aproveite esta oportunidade para deixar registados os meus mais sinceros agradecimentos aos deputados deste Parlamento, ao seu pessoal, aqui e em Bruxelas, e, acima de tudo, à delegação dos meus colegas conservadores britânicos pela generosidade, amabilidade, ajuda, simpatia e, frequentemente, necessário apoio, que todos souberam demonstrar-me ao longo dos últimos cinco anos.
Mentiria se dissesse que estou feliz com a posição mais secundária que ocupo na lista do meu partido, na região Sudoeste da Grã-Bretanha, mas mentiria também se não dissesse que apreciei muito estes cinco anos, talvez mais do que posso dizer. Por isso, Senhor Presidente, obrigado e até sempre.
Presidente.
- Caro Earl of Stockton, estive muito perto de me juntar aos aplausos, coisa que não me é permitido fazer. Muito obrigado pela sua despedida tão pessoal deste Parlamento; quem sabe se não acabará por regressar?
Fava (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, trazia um discurso preparado, que decidi pôr de lado depois de ouvir os comentários de alguns deputados da direita. Penso que enquanto circularem críticas nesta Casa – como se estivéssemos a julgar Galileu – sempre que nos ocuparmos do tema dos direitos das mulheres, e enquanto empregarmos o termo "obsessão" ao falar de direitos, os nossos debates apenas servirão para dar trabalho aos estenógrafos.
Esperávamos mais rigor e mais paixão de alguns deputados da direita, por exemplo, ao denunciarem o vazio jurídico que existe – que vai ao arrepio de todas as normas do direito internacional – relativamente ao estatuto dos prisioneiros da Baía de Guantanamo. Esperávamos paixão e severidade na denúncia do uso arbitrário que é, lamentavelmente, muitas vezes feito da luta contra o terrorismo para reprimir dissidentes.
Senhor Presidente, consideramos que a defesa dos direitos deve ser perseguida e garantida, acima de tudo, na vida quotidiana com a finalidade de evitar que os direitos dos justos se tornem nos direitos dos poucos, e pensamos, efectivamente, que tal silêncio sobre esta questão é obsessivo.
Nordmann (ELDR ).
- Senhor Presidente, penso que o relatório De Keyser é muito desigual. Capítulos há que são interessantes, que abrem perspectivas, em particular para a saúde reprodutiva e para os direitos dos portadores de deficiência. Contudo parece-me que a senhora deputada De Keyser não tratou da melhor maneira a questão central que, de certo modo, pretendia privilegiar.
Refiro-me às ligações entre direitos do Homem e luta contra o terrorismo e, mais precisamente, ao desafio que o combate ao terrorismo lança à democracia. No século XX as democracias conheceram o desafio da guerra. Era possível entrar na guerra e continuar a ser democracias? Foi necessário encontrar soluções de compromisso entre o ideal e o possível.
Hoje temos de dar provas de criatividade para tentar atingir, também aqui, equilíbrio. Não podemos pôr ao mesmo nível os direitos dos terroristas e os direitos das vítimas do terrorismo. Não podemos permitir que o combate ao terrorismo venha após o combate aos que combatem o terrorismo. Mas é este o desagradável sentimento que a senhora deputada Keyser provoca ao tentar colocar os vários pontos de vista em pé de igualdade, quando o que temos de fazer é inventar um direito de legítima defesa democrática contra o terrorismo. É este o ponto fulcral mas, infelizmente, a relatora não o tratou de forma adequada, o que me parece lamentável.
Deva (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, gostaria de intervir na sequência do excelente discurso do senhor deputado Van Orden e do argumento, extremamente interessante, apresentado ainda agora pelo senhor deputado Stockton no seu discurso de despedida.
Na sua reunião da semana passada, a Comissão dos Direitos do Homem das Nações Unidas não criticou publicamente a Rússia e a China pelas suas violações dos direitos humanos. Rejeitou as resoluções sobre a Chechénia, a China e o Zimbabué, mas adoptou medidas sobre a Coreia do Norte, Cuba, a Bielorrússia e o Turquemenistão. Ficou assim demonstrado que os países poderosos ainda podem ficar impunes quando assassinam, torturam e silenciam os seus críticos, escassos dias antes de terem surgido notícias sobre a descoberta, na Chechénia, dos corpos de nove homens executados extra-judicialmente. A tortura e a detenção arbitrária continuam a florescer na Chechénia apesar de o Governo russo afirmar que a situação está a normalizar-se.
Os Estados Unidos patrocinaram uma resolução sobre a China, com uma redacção suave, na qual se encoraja o Governo chinês a fazer progressos substanciais na realização de reformas sistemáticas, com vista a assegurar o respeito pelos direitos humanos e as liberdades fundamentais. No entanto, a China saiu vitoriosa de uma iniciativa processual na ONU, graças à apresentação de uma noção de “não-acção” destinada a evitar que se pusesse a votação a resolução que a condenava. Ao longo dos últimos dez anos, cerca de 8 900 cristãos chineses foram detidos e presos, sendo ilegal qualquer actividade religiosa não controlada pelo Estado. A China classifica cada vez mais grupos religiosos inofensivos como seitas perigosas.
No Zimbabué, as violações dos direitos humanos são crónicas e, no entanto, as Nações Unidas não tomam qualquer medida. É absolutamente inadmissível que países com um historial extremamente negativo em matéria de direitos humanos recorram a moções de “não-acção” com vista a bloquearem a discussão sobre as suas próprias práticas neste domínio. O objectivo da Comissão dos Direitos do Homem das Nações Unidas é divulgar publicamente a situação dos direitos humanos em qualquer país, sobretudo no caso dos violadores flagrantes. É tempo de se pôr cobro ao uso indevido de mecanismos processuais para manter as violações fora de discussão. Se a ONU continuar a ser um fantoche, deveremos deixar de financiar as suas actividades no domínio dos direitos humanos.
Cashman (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, congratulo-me com este relatório, que é espantosamente abrangente. Triste é termos de ter um relatório deste teor. Que bom seria vivermos num mundo onde não tivéssemos de erguer perpetuamente a voz para condenar as violações de direitos humanos que ocorrem em todo o mundo.
Permitam-me que refira o que está a acontecer em Zanzibar, com a criminalização e detenção de homossexuais, sendo que a UE possui um mecanismo através do qual pode actuar – o Acordo de Cotonu -, mas parece não ter a vontade política para o fazer. De igual modo, sempre que se verificaram violações das cláusulas de direitos humanos constantes dos nossos Acordos de Associação e apelámos a que se agisse, esses apelos foram ignorados.
Permitam-me que refira igualmente o Egipto, onde se procede constantemente à detenção, armadilha e prisão de homossexuais. Saúdo a Presidência irlandesa pelo trabalho desenvolvido na ONU em defesa da resolução brasileira sobre os direitos humanos e a orientação sexual. Infelizmente, esta resolução foi, uma vez mais, suspensa, devido, sobretudo, às pressões exercidas pelo Egipto e o Paquistão, o Vaticano e a Conferência de Estados Islâmicos.
Estão aqui em causa seres humanos e a destruição da liberdade individual, da esperança pessoal e da vida de cada um. A dignidade de qualquer sociedade assenta no respeito pela dignidade dos indivíduos.
Por último, este relatório envia uma mensagem poderosa: o que acontece noutras partes do mundo é tão importante para esta Assembleia e os Estados-Membros da UE como se acontecesse na Europa. As violações dos direitos humanos de outro indivíduo constituem violações dos direitos humanos de todos nós.
Paasilinna (PSE ).
– Senhor Presidente, gostaria de agradecer o excelente relatório. Meios de comunicação social livres, independentes e pluralistas constituem um direito fundamental. Isto ainda é mais importante na sociedade da informação, em que esta última é o factor de produção principal. É bom recordarmos a situação existente na China, mas temos problemas aqui mesmo, entre nós.
A informação é uma importante indústria que guia os governos e as nações. Contribui para nutrir a consciência humana, que não poderia conter nada mais importante. A influência política não controlada que os grandes proprietários dos meios de comunicação social possuem é algo que nos é familiar a todos. A Itália tem agora nada menos do que um sistema de movimento contínuo: um poder económico imenso comprou o poder dos meios de comunicação social, que, por sua vez, legitima o poder político. Também há aqui um novo perigo. Em França, grandes empresas estão a comprar os meios de comunicação social para se protegerem, ficando assim fora do alcance das críticas. Por que razão não intervimos nesta situação, tal como intervimos em relação às violações dos direitos do Homem? Afinal trata-se de uma violação do direito de acesso à informação, que é um direito fundamental na sociedade de informação humana.
Roche,
Senhor Presidente, uma vez mais, os meus agradecimentos aos senhores deputados pelos seus contributos.
Para resumir, este debate põe em evidência o valor que atribuímos ao reforço do diálogo entre o Parlamento e o Conselho na esfera dos direitos humanos. Ilustra também, uma vez mais, quão variada é esta paleta, e quão extraordinariamente diversos têm de ser os pontos de vista no que toca aos direitos humanos e aos seus defensores. As contribuições que aqui ouvimos abarcaram um leque extremamente vasto de temas, e esta é obviamente uma área em que os senhores deputados não só têm um interesse específico, como possuem considerável experiência. Espero que as pessoas que criticam este Parlamento leiam o relato integral de hoje e, por uma vez que seja, cheguem à conclusão de que esta Assembleia é merecedora do seu apoio. Estou certo de que a Presidência e o Conselho tirarão grandes benefícios da troca de impressões que aqui mantivemos.
No preciso momento em que vos falo, os trabalhos da Comissão dos Direitos do Homem das Nações Unidas prosseguem, em Genebra. Referi, há pouco, algumas das resoluções que adoptámos relativamente às situações dos direitos humanos na Bielorrússia, Turquemenistão, Coreia do Norte e colonatos israelitas nos territórios árabes ocupados. O trabalho sobre as restantes resoluções prossegue, mas podemos orgulhar-nos do papel que a União Europeia tem desempenhado através da referida Comissão e do trabalho que esta realizou até à data. Tenho boas notícias a transmitir à Assembleia, mas deixá-las-ei para o fim da minha intervenção.
Os senhores deputados estão obviamente muito preocupados, à medida que avança a guerra contra o terrorismo, com os aspectos relacionados com os direitos humanos. O relatório da senhora deputada De Keyser reflecte essas preocupações, e posso assegurar à Assembleia que as mesmas foram registadas pelo Conselho. Gostaria também de agradecer ao senhor deputado Crowley, que afirmou recentemente, numa reunião interparlamentar com o Congresso dos EUA, que, na nossa actuação contra os terroristas, temos de respeitar as regras que os terroristas violam. Foi um argumento extremamente válido, defendido por um deputado desta Assembleia, argumento que o Conselho partilha – a saber, que o respeito pelos direitos humanos deverá estar sempre subjacente à nossa abordagem da guerra contra o terrorismo, assim como subjacente à dos nossos aliados. Os direitos humanos são indivisíveis. Os direitos humanos não podem ser postos de lado pela conveniência do momento. Penso ter sido o Presidente Chirac quem afirmou que só dessa forma traremos à luz do dia e analisaremos as raízes do terror, a fim de as cortarmos. Temos de estar despertos para a totalidade das questões referidas no relatório.
Tocou-me muito o discurso de despedida de Lord Stockton. Desejo-lhe o melhor. Na verdade, ontem e hoje, uma série de oradores fizeram alusão ao facto de esta ser a sua sessão de despedida. Desejo o melhor para todos. É sempre um momento de tristeza na vida de um político assistir à partida de um parlamentar.
O senhor deputado Deva fez uma observação muito interessante, salientando os diversos problemas de natureza intergovernamental que existem na Comissão dos Direitos do Homem das Nações Unidas. Os defensores da ONU – ou seja, a maioria dos deputados desta Assembleia e, certamente, eu próprio – poderão congratular-se, com razão, com o papel que esta organização desempenha, mas deverão também reflectir sobre as afirmações do senhor deputado.
O senhor deputado Dell'Alba levantou a questão dos povos de montanha do Vietname. Gostaria de lhe assegurar e garantir também à Assembleia que a situação destas pessoas preocupa vivamente o Conselho e continuará a fazer parte do diálogo da União com o Governo do Vietname. Os representantes da União em Hanoi receberam orientações a este respeito.
Gostaria de terminar com uma nota positiva. Recebi boas notícias quando, há pouco, proferia a minha intervenção e é com prazer que as partilho com a Assembleia. Ao início de hoje, a Comissão dos Direitos do Homem das Nações Unidas aprovou a resolução da União Europeia sobre a pena de morte por 28 votos a favor, 20 contra e 5 abstenções.
Gostaria de salientar à Assembleia que esta é a vitória pela margem mais dilatada de sempre na história desta iniciativa da UE. Esta margem é uma indicação da eficácia da política da UE de oposição à pena de morte em todas as circunstâncias. É igualmente um sinal da tendência crescente para a abolição internacional da pena de morte. Vem ainda reforçar o argumento, que há pouco defendi, de que, se a União tem por vezes de partir de trás relativamente a assuntos que são do seu interesse, então talvez devamos aprender a combater de forma mais inteligente e a usar um pouco mais de estratégia. No entanto, estas são boas notícias e é com prazer que as partilho convosco.
Presidente.
Está encerrado o debate.
A votação terá lugar amanhã, às 11H00.
Presidente.
Segue-se na ordem do dia o relatório (A5-0279/2004) do deputado Fernández Martín, em nome da Comissão para o Desenvolvimento e a Cooperação, sobre a proposta de regulamento do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho que altera o Regulamento (CE) nº 975/1999, que estabelece os requisitos para a execução das acções de cooperação para o desenvolvimento que contribuem para o objectivo geral de desenvolvimento e consolidação da democracia e do Estado de Direito, bem como para o objectivo do respeito dos direitos do Homem e das liberdades fundamentais (COM(2003) 639 – C5-0507/2003 – 2003/0250(COD)).
Nielson,
Senhor Presidente, é com enorme prazer que tenho esta oportunidade de dizer ao Parlamento por que razão a proposta extremamente técnica da Comissão, agora em primeira leitura, se reveste de tanta importância.
A regulamentação relativamente à qual vos é proposta uma prorrogação de dois anos do seu período de vigência, até ao final das actuais Perspectivas Financeiras em vigor, ou seja em 2006, constitui uma das duas bases jurídicas para a Iniciativa Europeia para a Democracia e os Direitos do Homem. Como estarão absolutamente cientes, a presente iniciativa é um elemento extremamente importante da política global da União Europeia sobre a promoção dos direitos humanos e democratização em países terceiros.
Em 1999, o próprio Parlamento Europeu envolveu-se profundamente na elaboração dos regulamentos que estão na base da Iniciativa Europeia para a Democracia e os Direitos do Homem, moldando os objectivos da iniciativa e fixando prioridades, assim como regulando os procedimentos administrativos para a sua implementação. Muito apraz ver agora que o relatório do senhor deputado apoia plenamente a proposta da Comissão ao assegurar uma prorrogação da iniciativa para além do final do corrente ano, sujeita a algumas alterações.
No período que antecedeu a sessão plenária de hoje e a tomada de decisão, a proposta da Comissão deu início a uma profícua troca de ideias entre deputados desta Casa e o Senhor Comissário Patten e/ou os serviços da Comissão. Este intercâmbio centrou-se fundamentalmente em duas importantes questões: em primeiro lugar, como envolver mais concretamente o Parlamento Europeu na definição das prioridades políticas para a implementação da iniciativa e, em segundo lugar, como melhorar o desempenho e a importância, na prática, da iniciativa, tendo em vista a construção da democracia e o reforço dos direitos do Homem no mundo.
Acolhemos com satisfação esse intercâmbio de ideias, assim como saudamos hoje este debate. A Comissão, tal como o Parlamento, tem todo o interesse em apoiar propostas destinadas a tornar a iniciativa sempre mais eficaz e pertinente. Como se disse na sessão de Fevereiro, existe abertura da nossa parte relativamente às ideias que os senhores deputados possam apresentar. Contudo, isso não nos permite ignorar certas restrições impostas pelas respectivas prerrogativas institucionais, nem perder de vista o objectivo fundamental da proposta da Comissão que nos é hoje apresentada, a saber, assegurar uma disponibilidade operacional continuada da iniciativa para os dois próximos anos.
A Comissão ouviu atentamente os pontos de vista expressos pelos senhores deputados e está disposta a examinar, com um espírito construtivo, todas as ideias apresentadas, por forma a garantir que as acções que desenvolvemos ao abrigo da Iniciativa Europeia para a Democracia e os Direitos do Homem, são mais bem direccionadas e mais eficazes.
Mais especificamente, gostaria de dizer que a Comissão está empenhada em encetar um diálogo estruturado e regular sobre a iniciativa com as comissões competentes do Parlamento Europeu, conduzido pelo Comissário responsável e apoiado pelos seus serviços. Isto permitir-nos-á trocar ideias, em tempo útil, sobre os documentos para a programação plurianual prevista, as actualizações da programação anual e programas de trabalho, ou alterações aos mesmos. Proporcionará, assim espero, ao Parlamento uma ampla oportunidade para contribuir com os seus comentários e incentivos para as reflexões da Comissão. Um diálogo que será também, fundamentalmente, compatível com as regras da comitologia e as prerrogativas institucionais.
Além do mais, a Comissão analisará com um espírito aberto a sugestão, contida na exposição de motivos do relatório, de criar mecanismos específicos que permitam um maior envolvimento da sociedade civil e das ONG, tendo em vista a promoção da democracia e dos direitos humanos. A este respeito, não quero deixar de lembrar que esta sugestão tem de ser vista no contexto da recente proposta da Comissão sobre as futuras Perspectivas Financeiras, que prevê uma arquitectura simplificada para a ajuda externa da Comunidade e que, por conseguinte, terá também implicações significativas no futuro funcionamento da Iniciativa Europeia para a Democracia e os Direitos do Homem.
A terminar, permitam-me que reitere o quanto a Comissão apreciou o espírito construtivo que esta Casa demonstrou e o seu apoio a uma acção eficaz e continuada da iniciativa para além de 2004. O vosso voto favorável ao relatório do senhor deputado Fernandez Martin em primeira leitura, hoje, deverá abrir caminho a um acordo com o Conselho, eliminando assim a segunda leitura e permitindo uma prorrogação oportuna das bases jurídicas da iniciativa. Dada a importância política que todos nós atribuímos à Iniciativa Europeia para a Democracia e os Direitos do Homem, este é um resultado bem-vindo e no interesse de todos.
Fernández Martín (PPE-DE ),
- Senhor Presidente, este debate sobre o regulamento que altera determinados aspectos relativos à execução das acções comunitárias de cooperação para o desenvolvimento que contribuem para a consolidação da democracia e do Estado de Direito, bem como para o respeito dos direitos do Homem, serviu para testar, ao longo destes últimos meses, o alcance das nossas capacidades e também para pôr em evidência alguns defeitos dos nossos procedimentos.
Trata-se, sem dúvida, de um instrumento modesto em termos financeiros, mas muito importante pelos seus conteúdos e objectivos, muito apreciados por todos, e em especial pelo Parlamento Europeu. Recordo que uma das linhas orçamentais que financia estes programas foi criada em 1994 por nossa iniciativa.
Tal como o Comissário Nielson acaba de dizer, estamos a falar de uma proposta de alteração regulamentar que, no entender da Comissão, segundo nos foi dito pelos seus serviços, diz respeito a aspectos puramente técnicos - embora esta menção específica não tenha sido feita - e se aproxima mais do que o Parlamento considera ter tido sempre um indiscutível conteúdo político, mais que não seja porque a intenção é prolongar por dois anos o período de vigência e a capacidade operacional de um instrumento, que, de acordo com todos os relatórios e pareceres recebidos, e que são mencionados na comunicação do Conselho, se reveste de enorme interesse.
No entanto, o Parlamento entende que, tal como é proposta no projecto do Conselho, a participação da nossa Instituição nas diferentes fases do procedimento não responde às nossas aspirações, especialmente num domínio que é objecto de co-decisão.
Desde o início, há já mais de seis meses, temos despendido muito tempo a debater questões formais e processuais, mas, felizmente, como referiu o Senhor Comissário Nielson, hoje creio poder afirmar que conseguiremos concluir, porventura no último minuto, mas dentro do prazo, a fim de que esta iniciativa comunitária não seja interrompida ou paralisada durante algum tempo em consequência das mudanças que ocorrer no Parlamento e na Comissão nos próximos meses.
Antes de fazer alguns comentários técnicos sobre a nossa proposta, devo advertir, Senhor Presidente, que existe uma corrigenda técnica, da qual os serviços da Assembleia devem ter conhecimento neste momento, que modifica a ordem das alterações por nós propostas e que iremos votar amanhã.
No relatório que propus e que é apoiado pela Comissão para o Desenvolvimento e a Cooperação, e em concordância com o Conselho, propomos uma alteração ao nº 1 do artigo 4º, mediante a qual introduzimos no texto legislativo uma passagem que diz, cito, "no caso de missões de observação de eleições da UE e de procedimentos , as pessoas singulares podem obter um apoio financeiro no âmbito do presente Regulamento".
A experiência de todos nós, os que participámos em missões de observação eleitoral, diz-nos que, não obstante todas as limitações que se queira mencionar, a presença de observadores internacionais em processos eleitorais aumenta a confiança na transparência e na estrita observância dos princípios democráticos nos países em desenvolvimento.
O Parlamento não deseja abdicar da sua participação na fase de programação, da definição de prioridades e na implementação de iniciativas. Incluímos esta pretensão do Parlamento na exposição de motivos para o caso de tal não ser possível neste momento, conforme referido pelo Senhor Comissário Nielson, em consequência do actual quadro legislativo. Esperamos que o compromisso assumido pelo Comissário Nielson em nome da Comissão possa ver-se confirmado no futuro.
Em minha opinião, a alteração 3, que figura no parecer da Comissão dos Orçamentos, deveria ser retirada pelo seu relator. Se tal não suceder, recomendo o voto contra esta alteração.
Este é o melhor acordo possível se pretendemos aprovar este relatório em primeira leitura, como é desejo do Conselho, da Comissão e do Parlamento, a fim de dar resposta a uma exigência amplamente partilhada. Além disso, ele é particularmente necessário para o reforço da sociedade civil nos países em desenvolvimento. No entanto, isto não significa - nem deve ser entendido desse modo - que o Parlamento esteja satisfeito.
É um procedimento de co-decisão numa questão que diz respeito aos direitos humanos e às liberdades fundamentais, uma questão a que esta Assembleia é extremamente sensível desde há muitos anos. O Parlamento entende que, sempre que se trate de estabelecer um novo programa e não apenas uma prorrogação para os próximos dois anos, como é o caso que debatemos hoje, devemos exigir uma maior presença e uma participação mais activa no quadro das normas que regulam o diálogo institucional da União, normas a respeito das quais os que vierem a suceder-nos aqui na próxima legislatura terão de estabelecer um novo quadro que crie uma base jurídica que permita que este desejo do Parlamento seja satisfeito.
McMillan-Scott (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, as más notícias para a Comissão e para o Conselho é que espero voltar na próxima legislatura e sou relator da Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, dos Direitos do Homem, da Segurança Comum e da Política de Defesa sobre a regulamentação que abrange os países terceiros.
Fica absolutamente claro que a Comissão para o Desenvolvimento e a Cooperação está satisfeita com as acções desenvolvidas ao abrigo da Iniciativa Europeia para a Democracia e os Direitos do Homem e é compreensível que dois terços do montante seja agora posto à disposição para o próximo ano. Estou certo de que o senhor Comissário Nielson está satisfeito com esta situação. Por outro lado, a Comissão dos Assuntos Externos, que efectivamente deu início a este programa há alguns doze anos atrás – foi em 1992 e não em 1994, e eu fui o relator original – não está satisfeita. Os seus membros concordaram em retirar o meu relatório, que deveria ter sido debatido hoje, de modo a dar-nos tempo para exercer mais pressão sobre a Comissão e o Conselho durante as próximas semanas para que dêem o “sim” a dois simples pedidos.
O primeiro pedido prende-se com a criação de um comité consultor – à margem da comitologia, composto de representantes do Parlamento e da Comissão e, provavelmente, presidido pelo Alto Representante – para se debruçar sobre este programa que é em si sensível, que não terá necessariamente de envolver só os países em desenvolvimento, mas também os países que estão mais próximos de nós – a “nova vizinhança” como se diz agora.
O segundo pedido é que seja levado a cabo um estudo independente, e espero uma proposta séria da parte da Comissão sobre esta questão, e não apenas a posição que foi avançada: “temos uma mente aberta”. A Comissão não tem uma mente aberta. Quer simplesmente chamar a si todo o programa. Contudo, há maneiras melhores de o executar, como é demonstrado pelos americanos, dinamarqueses, alemães, holandeses, suecos e britânicos, que passam por ter uma fundação separada que seja fiável, flexível e conhecedora da matéria para ajudar a Comissão na execução do programa. Esta é a nossa posição e aguardamos com expectativa uma reacção adequada e em tempo útil da parte da Comissão e do Conselho a estas sugestões.
O Senhor Comissário afirmou que acolhia com satisfação este resultado, o qual contemplava os interesses de todos. Estará a falar das centenas de milhões de pessoas que vivem nos novos países vizinhos, desde a Rússia, Bielorússia e Ucrânia, passando pelo Cáucaso e continuando pela curva de instabilidade de todo o Norte de África até Marrocos, entrando pelo Mundo Árabe? Há duzentos e oitenta milhões de árabes que vivem em regimes não democráticos. Orgulhar-se-á disso?
Devo agora endereçar as minhas observações à imprensa, atendendo a que temos umas eleições à porta e no de hoje, eu digo que “o poder da Europa corre o risco de ser tão brando que os cidadãos sobre quem é exercido, mal o sentem”. Infelizmente, este felicitado programa, brilhantemente implementado no ex-bloco soviético, é totalmente ineficaz no mundo de hoje. Cabe à Comissão torná-lo eficaz e tenciono exercer grande pressão para garantir que o faz.
Theorin (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, creio que devemos saudar o relatório do senhor deputado Fernández Martín e congratular-nos por a responsabilidade pelo relatório ter sido finalmente atribuída à Comissão para o Desenvolvimento e a Cooperação. Na realidade, os países a que o regulamento é aplicável são, na sua maioria, países em desenvolvimento.
Trabalhámos muito para alcançar, na Comissão para o Desenvolvimento e a Cooperação, um compromisso que pudesse ser aceite pelo Conselho e a Comissão, bem como pelo Parlamento. Compreendemos a importância de fazer passar este relatório na primeira leitura. Apoiamos, por isso, o pedido do relator para que se vote contra a terceira alteração proposta pela Comissão dos Orçamentos, que é inaceitável para o Conselho. Todavia, fizemos alguns pedidos à Comissão para assegurar que o Parlamento poderá acompanhar o trabalho sobre o regulamento de forma mais eficaz. Ao pedirmos à Comissão que apresente um relatório anual com a programação para o ano seguinte por região e por sector, desejamos aumentar consideravelmente a transparência do trabalho relativo ao regulamento.
Além disso, a apresentação de relatórios ao Parlamento permitir-nos-á compreender melhor em que áreas a execução é mais eficaz. Congratulamo-nos por a Comissão ter aceite algumas das nossas alterações mais importantes. É importante que as decisões tomadas com base nos direitos do Homem reflictam os compromissos da UE de apoiar a democracia, o direito internacional e, naturalmente, o respeito dos direitos humanos.
As outras propostas inicialmente apresentadas visavam garantir que as nossas decisões sobre os direitos do Homem se baseariam na nossa própria preocupação com a segurança da União Europeia. Isso teria sido um erro trágico. Necessitamos de nos proteger, sobretudo contra as ameaças terroristas, mas a actual tendência, a que até várias personalidades de relevo da UE aderiram, segundo a qual a ajuda deverá ser adaptada à satisfação das nossas necessidades de segurança, é um caminho muito perigoso para se seguir e um princípio que não deverá ser estabelecido.
Devemos proteger a dignidade humana nas nossas medidas relativas aos direitos do Homem, à cooperação e à ajuda ao desenvolvimento e garantir que o principal objectivo destas medidas é sempre a consolidação da democracia, do direito internacional e dos direitos do Homem, bem como a erradicação da pobreza.
A concluir, esta é a última vez que também eu intervenho nesta Assembleia. Vou deixá-la ao fim de dez anos e desejo agradecer-vos pela vossa cooperação tão construtiva.
Presidente.
- Estamosmuito gratos à senhora deputada Theorin pelo extraordinário trabalho que realizou durante estes anos.
Napoletano (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, o programa sobre democracia e o desenvolvimento da democracia nos países terceiros é um programa com poucos recursos – não estamos a falar de grandes investimentos em termos do orçamento comunitário –, mas um programa que é muito importante no que diz respeito ao conteúdo, em virtude de ser o único instrumento de que dispomos para implementar uma política de desenvolvimento dos direitos humanos, para prestar assistência às mulheres, para apoiar a democracia e fazer a observação da eleições, sem passar necessariamente pelas relações bilaterais com os governos. Dado ser, pois, o único instrumento deste tipo que temos, devemos asseverar-nos da sua eficácia e não podemos verificar sempre a eficiência das nossas medidas.
Pelo aduzido, julgo que, no respeito pelas várias prerrogativas da Comissão e do próprio Parlamento – porque isso não é da nossa competência –, o Parlamento deveria ter uma maior participação, tanto na fase de programação de medidas, como na fase de avaliação dos resultados. Acima de tudo, a pergunta que se coloca é se os instrumentos para implementar este programa são tão flexíveis como a situação o exige, dado que, naturalmente, a situação não é rígida e burocrática como o são, por vezes, as nossas normas.
É por esta razão que as alterações que apresentámos a este regulamento são importantes e, principalmente, o debate que teremos oportunidade de desenvolver com a Comissão será importante. O Senhor Comissário Patten remeteu-nos uma carta sobre o outro regulamento, para o qual não está previsto o processo de co-decisão, propondo associar muito mais o Parlamento na nova abordagem da revisão destes regulamentos a partir de 2006.
Penso, por conseguinte, que as nossas alterações são apenas o início de um envolvimento mais profundo, que alcançará o seu nível óptimo em 2006 ou, pelo menos, levará a medidas mais precisas e efectivas do que aquelas que conseguimos implementar hoje através deste instrumento.
Nielson,
Senhor Presidente, o senhor deputado McMillan-Scott colocou-me uma questão muito clara e objectiva – muito embora estranha. Perguntou-me se estou contente com os milhões de pessoas que vivem em países não democráticos ou desrespeitadores dos direitos humanos. Uma pergunta tão clara merece uma resposta igualmente clara. Espero que o Senhor Deputado não fique chocado com a assertividade, mas a resposta é “Não, não fico contente com situações dessas”.
A Comissão apoia a proposta do relator de retirar a alteração 3 da Comissão do Controlo Orçamental sobre o procedimento de comitologia a aplicar. A intenção contida nesta alteração de prever um comité consultor em vez do comité regulador de hoje, é absolutamente inaceitável para o Conselho. Isto é do conhecimento geral. Assim sendo, manter a alteração arruinaria os nossos esforços conjuntos e o objectivo de facilitar o acordo em primeira leitura, ao abrigo do processo de co-decisão. A Comissão propôs um comité de gestão como sendo a forma adequada de comité neste caso e como sendo também um compromisso justo.
É extremamente importante que sejamos capazes de assegurar a continuação deste trabalho. Concordo com a senhora deputada Napoletano quando afirma que as nossas acções nem sempre são eficazes. Uma das razões é que nós próprios não somos eficazes. Uma outra é que numa área como esta, é extremamente difícil produzir as chamadas soluções eficazes. Porém, há que tentar.
Não nos propomos a tudo isto porque funciona, mas sim porque é necessário. Essa é a natureza deste tipo de actividade. Esta iniciativa não só tem sido importante na prática como envia um sinal que mostra como pensamos na Europa sobre o que há a fazer no mundo. Agradeço ao Parlamento o espírito construtivo com que tem vindo a abordar esta questão.
Presidente.
Está encerrado o debate.
A votação terá lugar amanhã, às 11H00.
Presidente.
Segue-se na ordem do dia o relatório (A5-0148/2004) do deputado Rocard, em nome da Comissão para a Cultura, a Juventude, a Educação, os Meios de Comunicação Social e os Desportos, sobre a proposta de decisão do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho que altera a Decisão 1419/1999/CE relativa à criação de uma acção comunitária de apoio à manifestação "Capital Europeia da Cultura" para os anos de 2005 a 2019 (COM(2003) 700 – C5-0548/2003 – 2003/0274(COD)).
Reding,
Senhor Presidente, vamos dar início ao que considero a alma da Europa, o aspecto mais positivo da Europa, que mostra aos cidadãos que existem e lhes proporciona um fórum onde podem expressar-se na sua diversidade. Creio que as cidades europeias da cultura, agora chamadas Capitais Europeias da Cultura, assumiram nesse sentido, ao longo dos anos, uma importância de monta na paisagem cultural europeia. São um espaço cultural comum. Mostram o melhor das nossas diversidades.
Evidentemente, a fórmula evoluiu com o passar do tempo: a iniciativa foi lançada em 1985, sob o impulso de Melina Mercouri e, inicialmente, a designação das cidades ocorria no âmbito de um processo intergovernamental. Desde aí, avançámos bastante e, com a decisão de 1999, o acontecimento tornou-se uma acção comunitária.
O processo está ainda em evolução e assim continuará. O que vamos hoje fazer é examinar e decidir uma etapa desse processo. Porquê apenas uma etapa? Porque nos encontramos em vésperas de um acontecimento histórico que vai modificar o destino da União Europeia. Refiro-me, é evidente, ao alargamento, que tinha de ser tomado em consideração ao estudar as Capitais Europeias da Cultura, e daqui a proposta da Comissão hoje em debate.
O objectivo da presente proposta é permitir a rápida integração dos novos Estados-Membros na iniciativa "Capital Europeia da Cultura". Não significa isto que não devamos, a muito curto prazo, reflectir noutras modificações que possam vir a revelar-se necessárias. Aliás, todos concordamos em que a decisão actual deve ser sujeita a modificações radicais e, de resto, estamos a trabalhar nesse sentido. Está em curso um estudo sobre as Capitais Europeias da Cultura desde 1995 até 2004. Os resultados, a publicar na segunda metade de 2004, constituirão a base da nossa reflexão e depois, penso, da acção que tomarmos com vista a desenvolver novas regras.
Hoje, porém, não podemos fazer os novos Estados-Membros esperarem mais. Devem, como os outros, estar preparados para participar nesta acção, tão apreciada. Há que os acolher, então, adequadamente. Já tiveram de desenvolver enormes esforços para conseguir entrar na União actual. Não podem ser mantidos de fora da "Capital Europeia da Cultura". A integração dos novos membros é, neste momento, prioritária e deve concretizar-se muito rapidamente. Por essa razão, a Comissão gostaria de dissociar a etapa de integração dos novos Estados-Membros do debate sobre a necessidade de remodelar todo o processo.
Assim, nesta fase a Comissão propõe simplesmente que se acrescente, a partir de 2009, os novos Estados-Membros, por ordem alfabética, à lista constante da decisão, a par dos Estados-Membros actuais, já designados. A ordem actual tinha, aliás, sido decidida por acordo entre o Conselho e o Parlamento em 1999 e é a partir da mesma que as cidades estão a preparar-se para os próximos anos.
A partir de 2009, portanto, serão designadas, por ano, duas capitais: uma dos actuais Estados-Membros e a outra dos novos Estados.
Compreendo perfeitamente a preocupação do Parlamento de que o processo seja melhorado. Contudo, esta forma de agir é a única que nos permite colocar os novos Estados-Membros em pé de igualdade com os Estados-Membros actuais no que respeita às Capitais Europeias da Cultura. Há que estar ciente que, se saltarmos esta etapa e nos lançarmos, desde já, na reforma do processo, os novos Estados-Membros não poderão participar na iniciativa senão, no melhor dos casos, a partir de 2010 ou 2011 ou, até, 2012, pois são necessários quatro anos para preparar um acontecimento destes e as designações para 2008 far-se-ão já este ano.
Acresce que é ao novo Parlamento que caberá a tarefa de decidir da revisão do processo, já que, de futuro, ele dirá respeito a vinte e cinco Estados-Membros.
Qual é a nossa posição sobre as alterações propostas pelo Parlamento Europeu?
A Comissão para a Cultura, a Juventude, a Educação, os Meios de Comunicação Social e os Desportos do Parlamento Europeu conservou o objectivo da proposta da Comissão. No entanto, expressou o desejo de que, a partir de 2009, cada Estado interessado, ou seja, dois por ano, apresente, no mínimo, duas candidaturas de cidades.
Aqui reside uma alteração substancial ao processo de designação, o que constitui uma modificação da proposta da Comissão. Por isso não posso aceitar tal modificação, numa perspectiva de revisão em duas fases. Na verdade, a modificação sugerida tem a ver com a segunda fase, quando dispusermos dos dados específicos necessários para completar a reforma desta decisão, isto é, terá lugar mais tarde. Do mesmo modo, a Comissão é obrigada a rejeitar a alteração 2 da comissão parlamentar e, consequentemente, as alterações 3, 4 e 5, que dela decorrem.
Em compensação, a alteração 1, referente à adaptação do orçamento devido à existência de, pelo menos, duas capitais por ano, pode ser aceite.
Efectivamente, há que ter em conta a duplicação do número de cidades envolvidas quando chegarmos à fase de avaliação de qualquer proposta de programa que substitua o "Cultura 2000", com efeitos a partir de 2007. Na verdade, as disposições relativas ao financiamento foram tomadas em função desse programa e não em conformidade com a decisão de 1999.
A Comissão não pode, do mesmo modo, aceitar as alterações 6, 7, 8, 9 e 10, apresentadas em nome do Grupo Verts/ALE, pois também iriam introduzir mudanças radicais no processo de designação, mas tal debate deverá ter lugar mais tarde.
Eis, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, aquela que me parece ser, hoje, uma posição de bom-senso. Sei que não foi fácil de conseguir, pois todos, incluindo a vossa Comissária, teríamos preferido algo melhor. Mas, em política, há que ser realista e, se queremos avançar, é melhor, por vezes, avançar aos poucos para, finalmente, atingir o nosso objectivo.
Rocard (PSE ),
Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, a Comissão para a Cultura, a Juventude, a Educação, os Meios de Comunicação Social e os Desportos tem a honra de apresentar para debate e, depois, de submeter à votação da nossa Assembleia um relatório que foi alvo de muita discussão. Conclui, provisoriamente, uma aventura que eu apelidaria de infeliz. Trata-se de um relatório sobre o qual o vosso relator é minoritário e, consequentemente, posso apenas traçar o seu historial. É a primeira vez, nos dois anos e meio em que tenho tido o prazer de trabalhar com a senhora Comissária Reding, que estou em desacordo com ela - um desacordo amigável mas, ainda assim, inegável. A Senhora Comissária bem o sabe. Acaba, mesmo, de lhe fazer uma ténue alusão.
A ideia de uma cidade diferente da Europa ser, todos os anos, Capital Europeia da Cultura vem de Melina Mercouri, em 1985. Inicialmente, Senhor Presidente, essa ideia teve um futuro brilhante, na época em que uma viva competição atraía numerosas cidades candidatas a uma designação única e em que um júri de peritos se pronunciava sobre o verdadeiro interesse europeu de cada projecto das cidades candidatas.
Em 1999, a infeliz Decisão 1419 foi proposta pelo Conselho, apoiada pela Comissão e aprovada pelo Parlamento, e estabelece até 2019, como acaba de recordar a Senhora Comissária, a lista dos Estados-Membros que, à razão de um apenas por ano, estão encarregados de propor a Capital Europeia da Cultura. Antes de mais, a decisão não tem em conta que, já nessa altura, se encarava a possível adesão de, pelo menos, dez novos Estados-Membros, o que é inadmissível. Depois, a decisão é, dos pontos de vista jurídico e político, criticável e, mesmo, escandalosa, ao praticamente proibir que as duas legislaturas seguintes do Parlamento Europeu, as que começam em 1999 e 2004, exerçam, por um período de cinco anos, as suas competências, contribuindo para a escolha anual da Capital Europeia da Cultura.
Finalmente - e pelo menos, tão grave como o que acabo de expor -, embora alguns Estados-Membros tenham apresentado às Instituições Europeias e ao júri uma lista de duas ou três cidades, permitindo assim que, entre elas, se opere uma verdadeira selecção em função do dinamismo, da inovação e da dimensão europeia dos projectos, nem todos o fizeram. As escolhas recentes dos Estados-Membros recaíram, frequentemente, sobre uma única cidade, seleccionada por motivos de política eleitoral local dos governos no poder e sem que a própria cidade em causa tenha manifestado verdadeiro interesse em assumir esse papel. Daqui resulta um trabalho realizado sem vontade, tanto mais que a ajuda do orçamento europeu para essas actividades representa menos de 5% da despesa final.
Senhor Presidente, temos de recomeçar do princípio. No início deste debate, há alguns meses, a minha comissão era unânime sobre este facto. A Comissária Reding também tinha disso conhecimento e sabe, tão bem como eu, que é verdade, apesar de nos ter repetido que se trata de algo a fazer na segunda fase, no Outono.
É evidente que se impõe rever a lista e mudar a ordem a partir de 2008 porque, Senhora Comissária, ao contrário do que acaba de dizer, possível integrar os novos Estados-Membros, desde que Estados já designados para os anos após 2009 aceitassem atrasar um pouco a sua participação. Era perfeitamente possível e até muito simples, Senhor Presidente, porque há que perceber que uma cidade precisa de cinco anos para se preparar. Impunha-se, portanto, rever a lista, mudar a ordem depois de 2008, reintroduzir a competição entre cidades e voltar a dar relevância ao papel do júri que, quando existe uma única "Capital", não desempenha, obviamente, qualquer tarefa e deixa de servir para alguma coisa. Aliás, o próprio júri já disse o mesmo por escrito, com uma saborosa amargura diplomática.
Mas o Conselho estava alerta e a Comissão não ousou enfrentá-lo. Por conseguinte têm, agora, à vossa frente uma proposta de decisão que eu apelidaria de espantosa e que consiste em estatuir que, a partir de 2009 e até 2019 haverá, por ano, duas Capitais Europeias da Cultura - uma num Estado-Membro actual e outra num novo Estado-Membro - e que caberá, sempre, aos Estados-Membros designarem as cidades candidatas, sem obrigação de apresentarem às Instituições Europeias escolhas alternativas. A Senhora Comissária Reding vai, até, rejeitar uma alteração do PPE, não obstante apontar nesse sentido. Escolher, no momento em que o processo se esgota, duas Capitais Europeias da Cultura por ano é, justamente, o contrário do que devíamos fazer. Vamos agravar a diluição e a obsolescência. O júri continua a não ter qualquer sentido e as duas próximas legislaturas do Parlamento não são autorizadas a participar no processo de selecção.
A promessa que a Comissão fez de nos apresentar, no Outono, um novo projecto de decisão modificando este sistema não passa de um logro. Se neste momento aprovarmos este projecto, Senhora Comissária, não vejo de que modo, no Outono, poderemos voltar atrás quanto à data de 2019, quanto à ordem dos Estados e, sobretudo, quanto ao facto de se designar duas capitais por ano, deixando essa tarefa aos dois Estados-Membros implicados. Penso, ainda, que não vai conseguir que a directiva que anunciou seja adoptada porque, no que respeita ao cerne do problema, a confusão é total. Eis o que prevejo.
Mas o Conselho está atento e exerce intimidação. Os três Estados do período crucial 2009-2011, a saber, Áustria, Alemanha e Finlândia, recearam ver a sua designação posta em causa, coisa que, no entanto, não passava pela cabeça de ninguém. O Grupo PPE foi conquistado. Encontramo-nos perante uma decisão que serve os interesses de prestígio dos nossos Estados-Membros mas não serve, decerto, os da Europa, que consistiriam em revitalizar e voltar a dar alma ao que já foi um excelente processo.
Numa preocupação de manter a paz entre nós e a amizade pessoal com a Comissária Reding propus, e o Grupo Socialista apoiou-me, aceitar a nossa derrota em comissão e decidir não voltar a apresentar as nossas alterações em sessão plenária. Afinal, a minha mãe educou-me como deve ser e mantive-me um rapaz bem comportado. Os nossos amigos Verdes, porém, retomaram essas alterações, e estão no seu pleno direito. Estamos, portanto, perante dois pacotes de alterações totalmente incompatíveis. Temos, primeiro, as alterações de origem socialista mas que, hoje, levam a assinatura dos Verdes. Tendem a voltar ao sistema antigo, a não entrar em compromissos para o futuro senão até 2010, reservando ao próximo Parlamento o direito de solicitar à Comissão que proponha, no Outono, uma nova lista de Estados que integre os novos membros, e a dar instruções aos que puderem fazê-lo para que organizem uma ampla competição de cidades para, após eliminação de algumas delas, a arbitragem final ser deixada ao júri de peritos, que precisa de assumir o seu papel se pretendemos que sirva para alguma coisa, assim como às Instituições Europeias.
O outro pacote de alterações, proveniente, sobretudo, do PPE, valida e pormenoriza a proposta da Comissão, o que, a meu ver, torna totalmente inútil nova decisão no próximo Outono. Este grupo de alterações, contudo, solicita que os Estados que puderem fazê-lo proponham diversas cidades e, cara Senhora Deputada Pack, acaba de ouvir que isso está fora de questão, já que a Senhora Comissária Reding é obrigada, pelas pressões que sofre, a recusá-lo. Essa série de alterações pretende encorajar a competição entre cidades mas não explica como, pois não trata do problema dos numerosos pequenos Estados-Membros que contam com uma única cidade de alguma importância, o que obrigaria a rever a lista dos Estados que, no Outono, haverá que redigir. Mas a abertura da competição é, agora, recusada.
Eis a situação, Senhor Presidente: os deputados votarão segundo a sua consciência. Quero mais uma vez frisar que culpo menos a Senhora Comissária do que o Conselho de Ministros, o qual abafa a emergência de um espírito verdadeiramente europeu e dita um sistema em que os Estados-Membros expõem o seu património e talentos nacionais e que, ao mesmo tempo, nega, de forma resoluta, a autoridade deste Parlamento. Perante esta situação sinto alguma tristeza mas, claro, falo na posição de vencido.
Pack (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, teria aplaudido de muito bom grado o senhor deputado Rocard, não fora o lamentável facto de nem tudo o que afirmou estar na mesma linha do que vou dizer. É por essa razão que não pude aplaudi-lo como gostaria. O facto é que não consigo agir sem pensar; tenho de me guiar pelos factos.
A Capital da Cultura, que hoje estamos a debater, é como que um farol de luz na pequena porção de política cultural que nos é permitido tratar e, por isso, estou feliz por mantermos viva essa chama. O conceito já existe há bastante tempo; foi concebido por uma deputada grega deste Parlamento e penso que podemos orgulhar-nos disso. Também concordo com o pedido do senhor deputado Rocard para que a escolha incida, pelo menos, em duas cidades. Afinal de contas, fomos nós que introduzimos esta ideia e penso, Senhora Comissária, que ela pode ser posta em prática de imediato.
Nesta Capital da Cultura, a diversidade europeia deveria ser muito mais visível do que tem sido até agora e, por isso, não creio que estas alterações venham contrariar aquilo que pretende fazer, Senhora Comissária. Peço-lhe, por conseguinte, que considere a possibilidade de incorporar estas alterações.
Em segundo lugar, tenho de reiterar aqui o quanto todos nós lamentamos a decisão do Conselho de Ministros, e eu muito em especial, quando, já em 1999, me zanguei violentamente face à decisão do Conselho de Ministros, considerando-a sem visão e orientada por interesses nacionais. Nessa altura, o Conselho de Ministros sabia tão bem como nós que a União Europeia seria alargada e não se importou nem um pouco com esse facto, nomeando apenas cidades da Europa Ocidental até 2019. A vergonha é do Conselho, não nossa, já que nós ficámos prisioneiros dessa decisão.
A decisão foi tomada, porém, e, como se diz no meu país, ! Por isso não podemos alterar o facto de, até 2019, os países em causa terem também o direito de propor cidades. Assim, gostaria de dizer aos meus ouvintes alemães que a Alemanha poderá propor uma cidade para 2010. No entanto, nós, no Grupo do Partido Popular Europeu (Democratas-Cristãos) e dos Democratas Europeus, apoiamos a proposta da Comissária para a nomeação de duas Capitais da Cultura, simplesmente porque os 10 novos Estados-Membros não podem fazer nada quanto à escandalosa conduta dos antigos 15. Está agora nas mãos da Comissária remediar essa situação; poderá fazê-lo dando a duas cidades a possibilidade de se apresentarem ao mundo e não creio que seja assim tão mau termos, em 2010, por exemplo, uma cidade da Alemanha e outra da Hungria. Não creio que seja assim tão má ideia. Os dois países possuem coisas maravilhosas em comum e as rivalidades entre eles têm sido produtivas.
Permitam-me que diga ainda mais uma coisa: podemos ter 25 países hoje, mas haverá ainda mais até 2019 - a Roménia, a Bulgária e a Croácia, para não mencionar os outros. Se pudermos nomear apenas uma Capital da Cultura, isso significa que cada país veria chegada a sua oportunidade apenas uma vez numa geração. Não podemos esperar que os cidadãos tolerem isso. É por essa razão que, tal como o meu grupo, apoio a proposta da Senhora Comissária.
Prets (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária Reding, muito obrigada a Melina Mercouri por ter concebido a ideia de uma Capital Europeia da Cultura, uma vez que ser a Capital Europeia da Cultura é um desafio destinado a reflectir a criatividade artística contemporânea; promove a discussão e permite que as pessoas cheguem a conclusões; promove a tomada de consciência dos valores da nossa herança cultural e deixa atrás de si sinais visíveis, como, por exemplo, a em Graz, que foi a Capital da Cultura no ano passado, um edifício que tem sido objecto de muitos debates. Isto, para além do facto de ser igualmente muito importante que a arquitectura moderna reflicta também esses sinais.
Concordo com os meus colegas e com todos os que intervieram antes de mim, quando dizem que a decisão tomada em 1999 foi, muito simplesmente, errada. Por muito que tenha tomado em consideração prazos de execução, processos de retirada, etc., esta decisão foi longe de mais. Com ela, não só se cometeu o erro de não ter em consideração os futuros novos Estados-Membros, como também se colocou completamente à margem os futuros parlamentos. A concorrência é necessária e são precisas regras para se poder conferir ao júri de peritos um domínio de actividade e um mandato claro, o que, infelizmente, ainda não sucedeu até à data. Se tal não for feito, a Capital Europeia da Cultura - actualmente um símbolo da diversidade e da qualidade culturais - perderá valor.
Se vamos ter, no futuro, duas Capitais da Cultura, tal não deve naturalmente significar, ao ser-lhes atribuída uma base financeira, que dividamos em dois os subsídios existentes, mas sim que os dupliquemos. Qualquer outra coisa não faria sentido. Insto, assim, a que façamos alguma coisa relativamente à base financeira, pois duas Capitais da Cultura - se estas quiserem apresentar um bom programa - necessitam de muito apoio, independentemente do enorme esforço que lhes é exigido e dos financiamentos que elas próprias têm de providenciar.
Flautre (Verts/ALE ).
- Senhor Presidente, quero, sinceramente, apoiar as propostas do relator e presidente da comissão, senhor deputado Rocard. Não valerá a pena analisar a espantosa natureza da decisão de 1999 que estabelecia uma selecção que excluía totalmente os dez países que, dentro de menos de um mês, se juntarão a nós. A solução proposta pela Comissão, que pretendia dividir em dois o processo, significaria que, durante um período demasiado longo - até 2019 - haveria dois colégios, o que é, afinal, o contrário da integração. Integração não significa mantermos na União e nos seus processos de selecção e de tomada de decisão dois colégios, constituídos por antigos e novos Estados-Membros. Julgo que este caminho é absolutamente contrário ao objectivo desejado que é, segundo dizemos, tornarem-se membros. Assim, e ainda por outras razões, parece-me sensato parar este sistema em 2010.
As outras razões prendem-se com a avaliação que está a decorrer e que a Senhora Comissária referiu. Parece-me que os desvios salientados pelo deputado Rocard, que têm a ver com decisões demasiado motivadas pelo interesse próprio, instrumentalizadas, com razões de prestígio ou, mesmo, razões menos interessantes, inclusive políticas, atenuaram o carácter europeu destes acontecimentos, e é este aspecto que temos de analisar. É esse carácter que o novo processo de selecção, que afirmamos pretender, deve reafirmar, indubitavelmente através da competição, e tomando também em consideração os eventos que agora estão a decorrer, como é o caso de .
Este acontecimento é, por um lado, muito atraente e cheio de acontecimentos, com muitas manifestações de interesse mas, ao mesmo tempo, verifica-se grande frustração entre as pessoas envolvidas. Os artistas e as pessoas que trabalham na cultura não hesitam em afirmar que esta iniciativa, que se centra, sobretudo, em acontecimentos, poderia desvalorizar o seu trabalho como artistas, quebrar a relação que, normalmente, se estabelece com o público e resultar em concorrência feroz entre estruturas culturais.
Estes comentários colectivos de uma rede de agentes culturais e artistas numa cidade ou região onde se desenvolve o projecto "Capital Europeia da Cultura", Lille, deviam merecer a atenção e interesse da avaliação que está a decorrer e convidar a alguma cautela. Devíamos aguardar pela avaliação e tentar encontrar um método de selecção e competição que traga valor acrescentado à Europa, já que é este o desafio que se coloca, para garantir que a cultura é valorizada em toda a Europa.
Perry (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, o programa para a Capital Europeia da Cultura é uma das histórias de sucesso da União Europeia. Retira a Europa de Bruxelas e de Estrasburgo e insere-a nos corações e espíritos dos povos de toda a Europa. As cidades competem para se tornar a Capital da Cultura - o que é visto como uma distinção – e de facto devem fazê-lo.
No Reino Unido, o tempo de Glasgow como Capital Europeia da Cultura, em 1990, foi, de facto, uma história de sucesso. Hoje em dia é a terceira cidade mais visitada do Reino Unido. O renascimento urbano de Glasgow ofereceu um modelo padrão a outras, e estou certo de que Liverpool – a terra Natal dos Beatles, como toda a gente sabe – gozará também de grande sucesso no seu ano, em 2008. Como deputado ao Parlamento Europeu da região sudeste de Inglaterra, lamento apenas que as nossas cidades candidatas - Canterbury, Brighton e Oxford - não tenham sido seleccionadas. Qualquer delas teria sido uma grande Capital Europeia da Cultura.
Como Conservador britânico, tenho grande respeito pelo nosso Presidente francês e socialista da Comissão para a Cultura, a Juventude, a Educação, os Meios de Comunicação Social e os Desportos; admiro a primeira qualidade, e desculparei a segunda! Neste momento, creio que a maioria na comissão tinha razão. Era demasiado tempo esperar até 2019 para que qualquer dos Estados aderentes tivesse a oportunidade de se tornar a Capital Europeia da Cultura. Ao partilhar a lista a partir de 2009, em que a Lituânia será o primeiro dos Estados aderentes a ter essa oportunidade, não nos desviaremos do princípio: introduziremos a oportunidade de cooperação em toda a Europa, repondo este conceito na Europa. Aí está uma coisa que se pode aguardar com entusiasmo: afinal de contas, a Europa é cooperação.
Junker (PSE ).
- Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, gostaria efectivamente que tivéssemos podido realizar um debate aberto nesta Assembleia sobre a optimização da forma como a Capital Europeia da Cultura é escolhida. Em vez disso, somos confrontados com o que temos de classificar como uma espécie de solução de emergência ou remendo. Foi dito, e com toda a razão, que foi profundamente egoísta da parte do Conselho tomar a decisão precipitada de usar todos os actuais Estados-Membros até 2019, sabendo perfeitamente que iríamos ter a unificação, na forma do alargamento. Agora que o alargamento está iminente e algumas pessoas se deram conta que não é correcto fazer esperar estes países até 2020 ou mesmo mais tarde, a Comissão encontrou agora esta solução - é realmente uma solução, embora deva dizer-lhe, Senhora Comissária, que ela deixa, naturalmente, um travo algo desagradável. Penso que também saberá isso. Mas reconheço de boa vontade que tentou fazer o melhor que era possível e, de facto, é extremamente vergonhoso que também aqui, neste Parlamento, haja duas posições e as opiniões divirjam, o que implica que as propostas que o senhor deputado Rocard fez no seu relatório com vista ao melhoramento qualitativo do processo de selecção não possam ser discutidas isoladamente da questão de saber o que de facto acontecerá se forem feitas alterações fundamentais.
Sou uma deputada alemã. Na Alemanha, há 17 cidades candidatas a ser a Capital da Cultura em 2010. Dizem-nos que ninguém pretende interferir nisso. Mas que segurança jurídica existe para estas cidades se o processo não puder ser concluído? Estas cidades candidataram-se e estão empenhadas numa competição que, creio, pode apontar no caminho certo. A única verdadeira recomendação que posso fazer para o futuro é que se realize uma competição nos Estados-Membros, que leve depois cada Estado-Membro a tomar uma decisão baseada em critérios qualitativos, a qual seria depois apresentada a nível europeu, nível esse onde eu gostaria de ver também um processo de selecção competitivo. Espero que o novo Parlamento possa fazer novas reflexões de fundo nesta matéria.
Hieronymi (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária Reding, estamos totalmente de acordo com o que acabámos de ouvir, nomeadamente, que a decisão tomada pelo Conselho foi prematura e errada. Agora, porém, penso que deveríamos envidar todos os esforços para fazer o melhor que for possível dessa decisão, no interesse dos países em causa e, sobretudo, da cultura europeia. Por muito que tivesse preferido, teoricamente, a solução clara e purista do nosso presidente, penso todavia que já é hora de inverter as coisas. Deveríamos agora ver esta solução, que foi necessário encontrar, não como uma medida de emergência, mas como uma oportunidade positiva para exibir a diversidade cultural da Europa, tendo não apenas uma Capital da Cultura, mas - e porque não? - duas capitais para esta grande Europa, que pela primeira vez compreenderá o Ocidente e o Oriente, como símbolo da nossa diversidade cultural. Então, não poderá haver distinção entre velhos e novos Estados-Membros; devem ser duas cidades em igualdade de circunstâncias, simbolizando a diversidade cultural da Europa.
O importante, então, será que o conceito, a visão que está subjacente ao projecto da Capital Europeia da Cultura volte a desempenhar um papel mais importante. Não deve tratar-se somente de cidades expondo-se a si e a sua esplêndida história, o seu passado e o seu presente, mas de cidades mostrando a forma como a história europeia foi feita e a Europa de hoje foi moldada por elas. Deste ponto de vista, vejo de facto a resolução que agora aprovamos como - se remontarmos às suas origens - uma grande oportunidade para a diversidade cultural da Europa.
Vila Abelló (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, antes de começar gostaria de dizer que sou deputado do Parlamento Europeu há apenas 19 dias e que esta é a minha primeira intervenção perante esta ilustre Assembleia e talvez a última, mas não creio que seja uma audácia da minha parte falar de cultura hoje aqui, visto que nos últimos oito anos fui Presidente da , um canal europeu de notícias que observou e difundiu as actividades do Parlamento, da Comissão e do Conselho, mas que também se dedicou intensamente a observar e difundir as actividades culturais europeias, oficiais ou não. E sendo alguém que vem de fora e que pode, porventura, emitir opiniões com menos implicações políticas, queria dizer que a cultura é muito ampla, tem muitas vertentes, e que duas capitais europeias não é excessivo. No desporto temos dois Jogos Olímpicos, no Inverno e no Verão, no mesmo ano, sem que daí resulte qualquer prejuízo. A cultura é, talvez, ainda mais ampla, e não podemos negar aos novos países que vão entrar a possibilidade de organizar e ter uma Capital Europeia da Cultura numa das suas cidades. Por conseguinte, o meu grupo e eu, pessoalmente, apoiamos a proposta da Comissão de nomear duas cidades como Capitais Europeias da Cultura.
Sobre a questão de saber como as seleccionar, cremos que a concorrência deve prevalecer. Isto, de certa forma, já é previsível, havendo duas cidades de dois países diferentes no mesmo ano. Mas deveríamos tentar garantir também que haja um certo grau concorrência entre candidaturas do mesmo país. Esperamos que a Comissão possa resolver esta questão.
Presidente.
- Muito obrigado, Senhor Deputado Vila Abelló.
Queria dizer-lhe que dá a impressão de ter sido deputado do Parlamento Europeu durante muitos anos dado o seu domínio da situação. Felicitamo-lo por esta primeira intervenção e esperamos que não seja a última.
Reding,
Senhor Presidente, em primeiro lugar, visto que não terei outra oportunidade nesta Assembleia, permita que felicite o presidente da Comissão para a Cultura, a Juventude, a Educação, os Meios de Comunicação Social e os Desportos, o meu colega e amigo, Michel Rocard. Nos últimos anos desenvolvemos algum trabalho frutífero. Lamento que a nossa colaboração termine em desacordo. Todavia, não discordamos quanto ao fundamental, pois temos a mesma ideia base: garantir que as capitais europeias da cultura continuam a ser verdadeiros trampolins para as culturas e a diversidade europeias. Infelizmente, o facto de os Tratados exigirem unanimidade em assuntos culturais não nos permite avançar mais, que é o que verdadeiramente se impunha. É por isso que, embora esperemos conhecer em breve um novo tratado que estabeleça a maioria para as decisões na área da cultura, o que nos ajudaria muitíssimo a avançar em diversos domínios, devíamos propor, o mais brevemente possível, uma revisão radical da forma como as capitais europeias da cultura são seleccionadas.
Gostaria de dizer duas coisas. A primeira é que concordo com aqueles entre vós que afirmaram que uma solução de reparação pode ser uma oportunidade para o futuro. Muitas vezes, no passado, as capitais europeias da cultura não foram suficientemente europeias. Se tivermos duas capitais que estabelecem pontes entre si, poderá haver um reforço significativo dessa dimensão europeia. Devo, igualmente, garantir que esta Comissária tem o seu bastão de peregrina pronto para se deslocar às cidades quando estão em fase de preparação, a fim de defender a causa de um programa mais europeu. Julgo que os três últimos exemplos - Graz, Génova e Lille -, para nomear apenas alguns, dão mostras de um esforço notável no sentido de dar ênfase ao carácter europeu da cultura, ultrapassando as dimensões regional e nacional. Estou, portanto, optimista, pois falo com base naquilo que está a ser feito.
Alguns Estados-Membros já estão, até, a fazer o que queremos para o futuro: concorrência saudável para se poder escolher a melhor cidade. O que está a acontecer em Inglaterra, na Alemanha e noutros países é extraordinário. Estamos também conscientes, como é óbvio, da existência de exemplos negativos, mas preferia, hoje, olhar sobretudo para os positivos, pois são fabulosos e mostram-nos que as capitais da Europa são uma boa ideia, com grande futuro à sua frente.
Dou grande importância às pontes a construir entre as cidades. Vejam, por exemplo, a proposta luxemburguesa, que suscitou alguns problemas por não se encontrar suficientemente desenvolvida. O júri protestou. O Luxemburgo apresentou novo projecto que cria sinergias dentro da grande região da Europa, a saber, Alemanha, Luxemburgo, Bélgica e França, criando ao mesmo tempo sinergias com uma cidade romena que, historicamente, tem uma relação especial com o Luxemburgo. Inclusivamente, ainda se fala, nela, Luxemburguês. Queria com isto mostrar que, se fizermos bem o nosso trabalho e incentivarmos as nossas cidades a ser melhores, a ser verdadeiramente europeias nas suas escolhas culturais, o resultado pode ser muito positivo.
Concordo com os deputados que mencionaram algumas cidades como exemplo de que o facto de se tornarem capitais europeias da cultura lhes abriu novas perspectivas, direccionando-as para indústrias culturais, turismo cultural e excelência cultural. É o caso de uma cidade como Glasgow que, à partida, não estava verdadeiramente orientada para a cultura. O mesmo se aplica a Liverpool. Estas cidades estão a viver um desenvolvimento não só industrial e social mas que também envolve os cidadãos e a cultura.
Se trabalharmos bem de futuro, como fez nos últimos cinco anos o actual Parlamento, para o qual este é o último debate sobre cultura, não duvido um só momento, Senhor Presidente Rocard, que o que a sua comissão desejava e a sua Comissária sempre defendeu acontecerá nas cidades da cultura vindouras. Espero que os bons exemplos do passado sejam seguidos no futuro, e desejo a todos os cidadãos e partes implicadas na cultura coragem e aprazimento quando, de futuro, se encontrarem nas cidades culturais da Europa.
Presidente.
Está encerrado o debate.
A votação terá lugar amanhã, às 11H00.(1)
Presidente.
Segue-se na ordem do dia o relatório (A5-0247/2004) da deputada Zissener, em nome da Comissão para a Cultura, a Juventude, a Educação, os Meios de Comunicação Social e os Desportos, sobre a proposta de decisão do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho relativa a um quadro único para a transparência das qualificações e competências (Europass) (COM(2003) 796 – C5 0648/2003 – 2003/0307(COD)).
Reding,
. Senhor Presidente, passamos da cultura para a educação, para a formação profissional, para as competências e qualificações, mas a verdade é que, a meu ver, os dois temas estão ligados.
A 17 de Dezembro de 2003, a Comissão adoptou uma proposta que visa racionalizar a situação europeia em matéria de transparência das qualificações e das competências. Estão com certeza cientes de que se trata de um passo em frente na construção da Europa da educação e da formação. Trata-se, simultaneamente, de um instrumento fundamental ao serviço dos cidadãos e da livre circulação. A presente iniciativa nasce da nossa vontade de prestar uma ajuda concreta a todos aqueles que pretendem ver as suas qualificações reconhecidas num outro Estado-Membro e de proporcionar uma oportunidade suplementar de encontrar um emprego.
Esta iniciativa teve lugar a pedido, explícito, do Conselho na sua resolução de 19 de Dezembro de 2002 e foi, aliás, bem recebida pelo Conselho e Parlamento. Foram vários os melhoramentos introduzidos na proposta da Comissão, sem no entanto ter sido feita qualquer objecção substancial à mesma. Congratulo-me com este consenso, quer em relação ao objectivo, quer ao conteúdo da nossa proposta.
Qual é a proposta? A proposta integra num dossier coordenado designado Europass, cinco documentos existentes, que abrangem as qualificações e as competências numa perspectiva de aprendizagem ao longo da vida: o CV europeu, que diz respeito às competências pessoais; Carteira Europeia das Línguas, o multilinguísmo, que tanto defendemos ao longo destes últimos cinco anos; o Mobilipass, quesubstitui e alarga o actual Europass-Formação; o Suplemento ao diploma , que diz respeito às qualificações do ensino superior; e o seu equivalente para a formação profissional,Suplemento ao certificado.
Ao mencionar estes documentos, não gostaria que pensassem que a proposta se esgota aqui. Pretende-se que o Europass seja um quadro aberto, e que outros documentos possam ser-lhe aditados no futuro. Refiro-me, por exemplo, voltando à nossa política para a juventude, às acções de voluntariado que os cidadãos levam a cabo durante a sua juventude ou nas suas vidas adultas, e às acções de natureza social e cívica, que devem ser tomadas em consideração, pois a verdade é que fazem parte da personalidade de um ser humano.
Muito embora se verifique um consenso em torno desta matéria, foram aprovadas várias alterações. A Comissão aceita-as com algumas excepções. A alteração 7 não é aceitável na sua formulação actual. Com efeito confere às Agências Nacionais Europass a tarefa suplementar de pôr à disposição de qualquer cidadão um guia da mobilidade. Ora, semelhante tarefa não faz parte das suas responsabilidades iniciais. Na sequência das modificações propostas pelo Conselho, foi sugerida uma modificação a esta alteração, que prevê que as agências nacionais Europass cumpram esta tarefa «sempre que necessário». Com este aditamento, a alteração será aceitável.
Também a alteração 12 não é aceitável na sua versão actual. Em primeiro lugar, o Mobillipass deve ser preenchido pela organização de envio e pela de acolhimento e não por uma ou por outra. Em segundo lugar, a terceira língua em que o Mobilipass pode ser traduzido não tem de ser necessariamente uma língua de grande divulgação. Se estabelecesse uma responsabilidade comum às organizações de envio e de acolhimento e não se limitasse a uma terceira língua ou exclusivamente às línguas de grande divulgação, a alteração seria aceitável.
A alteração 5, que salienta o papel dos parceiros sociais no desenvolvimento de futuras iniciativas sectoriais, é, em princípio, aceitável para a Comissão. Na sequência das modificações propostas pelo Conselho, foi proposta uma modificação, nomeadamente a de eliminar a especificação "sectoriais". Esta modificação também é aceitável. O mesmo se aplica à alteração 8, que pode ser modificada no mesmo sentido.
Como se pode ver, Senhor Presidente, não há nada que seja insuperável. O importante é que esta proposta visa pôr à disposição dos cidadãos um serviço que lhes permite valorizar mais as suas competências, e nesse ponto estamos de acordo. Saúdo pois os esforços envidados por este Parlamento e pelo Conselho no sentido de garantir que a proposta seja rapidamente aprovada, de modo a que os cidadãos possam dispor deste instrumento a partir do início de 2005.
Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, o Europass é a concretização de uma política que os cidadãos esperam de nós. Considero que se trata de um projecto de qualidade e quero agradecer o vosso apoio.
Zissener (PPE-DE ),
. – Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, a mobilidade é um conceito fundamental em matéria de política europeia, a que a globalização confere uma importância sempre crescente. Infelizmente, porém, a realidade é que temos verificado, e continuamos a verificar, que os cidadãos da Europa não têm ainda a mobilidade que nós desejaríamos. Um dos motivos que explicam o facto de não se ter logrado concretizar ainda a mobilidade plena é a falta de transparência das qualificações e das competências. A falta de transparência é, como todos sabemos, o principal obstáculo à mobilidade nos campos da formação e da actividade profissional e um significativo óbice à flexibilização do mercado de trabalho europeu.
A Comissão propõe agora o conceito de um quadro único para a promoção da transparência em matéria de qualificações e competências – abreviadamente, o Europass – que há muito era aguardado e ardentemente desejado. Esta proposta da Comissão é excepcionalmente boa, na medida em que facilita o acesso dos cidadãos a oportunidades de mobilidade. A Comissão já anunciou que o novo dossier conjunto, Europass, integrará cinco instrumentos de mobilidade já existentes, designadamente, o modelo comum europeu para os , o Suplemento ao Diploma, o actual Europass-Formação e, igualmente de grande relevância, a Carteira Europeia das Línguas.
Conforme já foi mencionado, esses instrumentos já existiam. Todavia, não tinham ainda a visibilidade pública adequada. Isso faz com que seja muitíssimo importante promover a coordenação e a racionalização, não só dos instrumentos já existentes como também das redes. Um dossier de documentação previamente estabelecido tem mais impacto comunicacional do que um agregado arbitrário de documentos avulsos. O importante, contudo, é que se trata de um modelo aberto, e creio que isso se deve a duas razões. Em primeiro lugar, os cidadãos podem procurar os documentos que considerem relevantes. Ninguém é obrigado a esquadrinhar os cinco documentos. Em segundo lugar, este sistema aberto permite a inclusão na carteira de novos documentos. No meu relatório, proponho que o próximo documento a ser incluído seja um certificado de aptidão no domínio da informática.
Queria agradecer agora a todos, à Presidência do Conselho e à Comissão, a sua colaboração, que torna possível o rápido cumprimento de toda a tramitação burocrática pela presente proposta. Penso que é do interesse de todos assegurar a maior celeridade na sua aplicação e a disponibilização ao público do Europass no mais curto lapso de tempo possível.
Weiler (PSE ),
– Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, é altamente gratificante aprovar, na penúltima semana de sessão plenária da actual legislatura, um projecto europeu tão positivo, interessante e inovador, projecto que eu cuidei poder vir a passar sem conflitos nem objecções da parte do Conselho. Convicção que me vejo forçada a moderar um tanto, agora que sei que a Senhora Comissária não concorda com várias das alterações, incluindo as que foram propostas por mim. Talvez a administração possa reexaminar comigo diversos pontos esta noite, uma vez mais, para que amanhã possamos, efectivamente, aprovar algo que vá além do que nos foi apresentado inicialmente.
A Comissão do Emprego e dos Assuntos Sociais, para a qual elaborei este parecer, não só levou a sério e acolheu favoravelmente o projecto, como o integrou no seu trabalho. Sabemos que a mobilidade e a aprendizagem ao longo da vida são hoje requisitos importantes para o sucesso profissional e que, até à data, a economia e as políticas empreendidas, muitas vezes, não criaram as condições necessárias para elas. Tal situação está prestes a mudar.
Por estes motivos, avançámos diversos aditamentos e propostas, que reputamos importantes, por exemplo a inclusão dos nacionais de países terceiros – reputamo-la um sinal de justiça –, a inclusão dos parceiros sociais, com vista a tirar partido do seu saber, a atenção a dar à questão da integração social e, por último, mas não menos importante, mais e melhor informação ao público, agentes de ensino e formação e parceiros sociais, especialmente para as pequenas e médias empresas. Isto, porque o projecto no seu todo só terá algum préstimo, só terá êxito, se for amplamente conhecido e aceite pelos jovens, pelos trabalhadores e, também, pela indústria e pela sociedade. Por conseguinte, será necessário promover também uma campanha de divulgação e esclarecimento. Depois disso, creio que ficaremos em condições de pôr esta “criança” no caminho certo.
Pack (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, estamos na contagem decrescente para um acto eleitoral e eu, à semelhança da senhora deputada Weiler, regozijo-me pelo facto de, mesmo no final da presente legislatura, termos logrado criar algo que se destina a um grande número de jovens, a todos os jovens, na verdade. Isto porque o Europass é algo que diz realmente respeito aos jovens, mesmo àqueles que estão a iniciar agora os seus estudos. Penso que investimos muito tempo neste projecto e alegro-me com o facto de a Senhora Comissária o poder pôr em marcha no final do seu actual mandato. Naturalmente que teria sido agradável adoptarmos esta proposta na presente legislatura, mas temos de nos conformar com a impossibilidade de o fazer, e se puder ser em Setembro ou Outubro, não será mau de todo.
Embora não devamos onerar o Europass com expectativas de toda a espécie, devemos esperar dele que, no mínimo, torne realidade esses piedosos chavões constantemente repisados que são a transparência e as oportunidades de mobilidade. Elas são o dia-a-dia dos jovens e dos trabalhadores; frequentemente afectadas por leis europeias, continuam sem condições para evoluir como nós desejaríamos. Isto significa que há necessidade de decisões claras sobre a estrutura curricular europeia. Temos de definir muito claramente o que significam as competências especializadas do indivíduo. Deve haver a possibilidade de incluir as competências linguísticas dos indivíduos num formulário devidamente testado. Devemos igualmente, como sugeriu, ter em conta as experiências de voluntariado dos jovens, uma vez que elas representam competências adquiridas pelos jovens ao longo da sua vida, e devem ser objecto de um reconhecimento maior do que aquele que têm tido até aqui, incluindo por parte dos empregadores.
Penso ainda que há inúmeros modos possíveis de auxiliar os jovens a orientarem-se neste enorme mercado de trabalho e a serem, por seu turno, descobertos, com base nas respectivas qualificações. Hoje em dia, é muitas vezes impossível avaliar com precisão aquilo que uma pessoa sabe fazer, simplesmente porque o que consta das suas referências não está traduzido e, basicamente, não é susceptível de comparação. Assim, penso que, com este Europass, conseguimos assegurar clareza em relação aos períodos de formação e ao conteúdo da formação e das competências profissionais, e penso que é isso que nos faz falta, que faz falta aos jovens, para viverem efectivamente a Europa, eles próprios.
Permitam-me, pois, que reitere a satisfação do meu grupo por a responsabilidade de elaborar o presente relatório ter cabido à senhora deputada Zissener, e o seu contentamento com a perspectiva de podermos lançar este projecto no Outono – infelizmente, já com outra Presidência do Conselho –, no interesse dos nossos jovens e, como tal, dos nossos filhos e netos.
Prets (PSE ).
– Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, com o arranque, em 2007, da nova geração de programas no domínio da formação profissional geral, com o envolvimento intensivo dos novos Estados-Membros, adquire ainda maior peso a necessidade de certificar, num passaporte de modelo normalizado, a experiência e, bem assim, as aptidões, competências e qualificações, adquiridas no estrangeiro.
Considero fundamental sermos efectivamente capazes de concretizar aquilo que amanhã adoptaremos, e é absolutamente essencial que o presente projecto seja acompanhado de uma campanha publicitária. A sua utilidade, significado e o valor acrescentado que traz devem ser perfeitamente inteligíveis para todos os utilizadores e para todos os que venham a preencher os respectivos formulários. Tendo em conta que a nova geração de programas, incluindo o programa Leonardo, visa atingir um número de 150 000 formandos por ano, é absolutamente vital que os agentes de formação tenham conhecimento do Europass. Visto que este documento constitui um reconhecimento formal de qualificações profissionais, peço aqui mesmo que os custos administrativos sejam contidos ao mais baixo nível possível, já que representam um dos principais obstáculos para todos os jovens.
O Europass afigura-se-me vital, contanto que contemple não apenas as qualificações formais, como também as competências informais. O factor verdadeiramente decisivo – e permitam-me que realce este ponto – é a competência intercultural, porque no futuro, com o incremento da globalização e da integração e interacção entre as diferentes civilizações e culturas, vai ser necessário ter capacidades interculturais e saber explorá-las.
O MobiliPass, que abarca todos os tipos de aprendizagem e de conhecimento transnacionais adquiridos no estrangeiro, deve certificar também este tipo de experiência. Tanto no processo de aquisição de conhecimentos como na vida profissional, é necessária mobilidade. Para que os jovens possam ter uma visão de conjunto do emaranhado de programas de apoio e de intercâmbio existentes, as agências competentes, em colaboração com a Comissão, devem elaborar um conjunto de directrizes para a mobilidade, divulgando os programas de apoio e de intercâmbio, e os nomes e moradas das pessoas a contactar, bem como , para que o valor acrescentado criado pela Europa se torne evidente para todos.
Crowley (UEN ).
Senhor Presidente, também eu gostaria de me associar aos meus colegas nas felicitações dirigidas à relatora pelo seu trabalho, bem como à Senhora Comissária, pelo enorme empenho dedicado a esta questão.
Uma pequena nota a título de chamada de atenção: esperava que tudo ficasse resolvido em primeira leitura relativamente a este relatório. Não sei bem se isso foi finalmente acordado. Sei que a Presidência do Conselho esteve em contacto com a relatora, e não só, para tentar alcançar este resultado. Tal como disseram, e bem, a Senhora Comissária, a relatora, o relator de parecer e outros oradores, este é um dos elementos-chave que traduz até que ponto nós, nas Instituições da União Europeia, contribuímos para melhorar as vidas dos cidadãos, no terreno; até que ponto facilitamos as suas vidas, quer em termos de trabalho, quer de educação. A possibilidade de reunir um simples com todas as qualificações e competências que os cidadãos possuem e de o mesmo circular entre os vários países e os vários sectores de trabalho é, necessariamente, uma melhoria comparada com a actual situação.
Desde os finais dos anos oitenta que temos esta ideia de um mercado interno que compreende a livre circulação de pessoas, bens e serviços, mas a verdade é que a burocracia e a falta de reconhecimento das qualificações e competências era tal que a livre circulação de pessoas não era uma realidade. Esta questão do quadro único, tal como proposto pela relatora, é um passo positivo nesse sentido.
A questão da formação ao longo da vida é uma matéria que continua a ser de suma importância, não apenas porque as pessoas voltam a envolver-se em actividades ligadas à educação e ao trabalho, mas muito simplesmente porque se verificam mudanças, ao nível das tecnologias, no local de trabalho e, actualmente, na nossa vida de todos os dias também: quer se trate dos serviços bancários de correio electrónico ou de estar envolvido em qualquer processo de natureza técnica na nossa área de trabalho.
O aspecto desta proposta que mais beneficiará os cidadãos em geral prende-se com o facto de os empregadores, as instituições ligadas à educação e outras ainda terem apenas de analisar um único documento, sendo que esse documento dará finalmente uma ideia da equivalência das qualificações e experiência profissional em todos os Estados-Membros.
Presidente.
Gostaria de agradecer à Senhora Comissária as suas intervenções e o seu trabalho, esta noite e ao longo desta legislatura.
Está encerrado o debate.
A votação terá lugar amanhã, às 11H00.
Presidente.
Segue-se na ordem do dia a discussão da moção de censura à Comissão das Comunidades Europeias (B5-0189/2004).
Gostaria de informar a Assembleia que os senhores deputados Borghezio, Gobbo e Turchi subscreveram igualmente a moção. A senhora deputada Muscardini retirou a sua assinatura. Isto perfaz um total de 67 assinaturas.
Bonde (EDD ).
– Senhor Presidente, habitualmente, é o autor de uma proposta de resolução que inicia o debate, por isso sugiro que se permita ao senhor deputado Heaton-Harris iniciar o debate.
Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, esta moção visa censurar toda a Comissão. Infelizmente, não temos o poder, nesta Assembleia, de censurar indivíduos - dispomos apenas desta opção de conjunto.
Talvez no caso do Eurostat seja a melhor solução. O problema aqui é que os senhores Comissários gostam muito de proferir grandes declarações políticas, mas recusam-se completamente a assumir a responsabilidade política pelos problemas que ocorrem nas suas direcções-gerais. O controlo político eficaz, a boa comunicação, os procedimentos e as verificações, ou não vigoravam no Eurostat, isto é, não funcionavam, ou eram simplesmente ignorados. Na verdade, todos os sinais de aviso foram completamente ignorados.
No caso em apreço, desapareceram cinco milhões de euros por fraude ou por um controlo insuficiente ao nível da gestão. No entanto, a única pessoa a ser detida foi um jornalista - Hans-Martin Tillack - que decidiu noticiar estes factos no e cujo gabinete foi novamente objecto de uma rusga esta manhã. Não é de espantar que o OLAF tenha a capacidade de actuar com esta celeridade, envolvendo a polícia, quando pretende obter o nome de um jornalista e verificar as suas contas bancárias em questão de dias. Contudo, se se comparar esta destreza ao caso Eurostat, em que passados meses, mais de um ano, de investigações não se apurou praticamente nada, presume-se quais as verdadeiras prioridades de vários indivíduos no seio da DG responsável.
Durante o processo de quitação relativo ao exercício de 2001, o Eurostat foi um dos temas principais do nosso relator. Sabemos agora que nem toda a informação de que necessitávamos na altura foi disponibilizada a esta Assembleia. É também do conhecimento público que muitos deputados afirmaram que se estivessem na posse de todos os elementos na altura, teriam votado contra a concessão de quitação relativa às contas do ano transacto. Se a Comissão e os dirigentes dos grupos políticos neste Parlamento tivessem envidado metade dos esforços que envidaram agora para tentar impedir a apresentação da moção nesta Assembleia, se o tivessem feito, diria, na solução dos problemas fundamentais expostos pelo caso Eurostat, todas as questões já estariam resolvidas há anos atrás.
Esta Comissão merece ser censurada, e os futuros Comissários precisam de saber que eles assumirão a responsabilidade política pelas acções das suas direcções-gerais.
Reding,
Senhor Presidente, como afirmou ontem o meu colega, o Senhor Comissário Fischler, a Comissão tomou imediatamente medidas quando se confirmaram os problemas no Eurostat. Essas medidas resultaram numa total reestruturação da Direcção-Geral Eurostat e das suas acções. Para além da declaração feita pelo meu colega em nome da Comissão, gostaria de salientar as medidas ligadas, em especial, à revisão do código de conduta, à melhoria do fluxo de informação relacionado com as acusações de fraude, bem como à revisão do quadro jurídico do OLAF.
Gostaria de destacar as seguintes medidas: em primeiro lugar, a revisão do código de conduta que rege as relações entre os Comissários e os seus serviços e que sublinha a responsabilidade política do Comissário, bem como a do Director-Geral ou do Chefe de serviço. O novo código de conduta inclui procedimentos específicos que impõem a obrigatoriedade de informar o Comissário sobre qualquer facto, situação ou questão respeitante à gestão – especialmente gestão financeira – cuja gravidade possa invocar a responsabilidade do Comissário ou de um colega.
Em segundo lugar, a implementação de medidas que facilitam a referência cruzada de qualquer informação relacionada com as acusações de fraude, ajudando a garantir que a classe política é mantida informada e que qualquer caso que seja detectado seja devidamente acompanhado.
Em terceiro lugar, o reforço dos circuitos de informação entre os serviços centrais e os serviços operacionais, especialmente em áreas de controlo e de auditoria interna. Isto envolve uma série de medidas importantes que visam ajustar reformas ao nível da gestão financeira já introduzidas pela Comissão do Presidente Prodi. Estas medidas têm origem essencialmente nas recomendações que o auditor interno inscreveu no seu relatório sobre os contratos da DG Eurostat – informar e formar o pessoal sobre os diferentes mecanismos em vigor para a transmissão de informação e revisão do quadro jurídico do OLAF, mediante a adopção de duas novas propostas legislativas a ser analisadas pelo novo Parlamento. Estas propostas visam melhorar os fluxos de informação dentro das Instituições da União e reforçar as garantias processuais.
Apesar da situação de crise, as funções do Eurostat de produção dos principais trabalhos de estatística da Comissão não foram interrompidas. A Comissão aprovou uma enorme reorganização do Eurostat a 29 de Setembro de 2003, sendo que o novo organigrama entrou em funcionamento a 1 de Novembro. O sistema de aprovação das autorizações e dos pagamentos foi reorganizado. Os circuitos financeiros foram mais bem definidos, de molde a tornar mais claras as responsabilidades dos gestores orçamentais delegados, ao nível da chefia da unidade e da direcção. A decisão da Comissão de terminar os laços contratuais com quatro empresas exigiu um trabalho considerável para anular os próprios contratos e assegurar que a possibilidade de litígio era minimizada. Na sequência da auditoria especial realizada pelo serviço de auditoria interna em Setembro de 2003, bem como da auditoria circunstanciada que foi concluída recentemente, tiveram também início uma série de iniciativas decorrentes do relatório de actividade anual.
Haverá uma orientação completamente nova no campo da informação estatística. Com base no princípio de que a informação estatística europeia é um serviço público, todos os dados estatísticos produzidos e recolhidos pelo Eurostat deverão ser disponibilizados gratuitamente aos utentes e deverão estar acessíveis na Internet.
Por último, o programa de trabalho para 2004 está rigorosamente organizado de acordo com as prioridades e é deliberadamente realista. A tónica situa-se nas principais missões do Eurostat, em especial a produção de cálculos estatísticos independentes. A Comissão faz questão de reduzir a sua dependência de empresas e organizações externas e de assegurar que o serviço de estatísticas europeu continue a ser um serviço público aberto e disponível aos utentes e que actue em benefício do interesse público.
A Comissão actuou pois com celeridade e tomou medidas muito concretas para responder às críticas feitas pelo Parlamento Europeu na sua resolução de 17 de Dezembro de 2003 sobre o programa legislativo e de trabalho da Comissão para 2004. Esta actuação é também confirmada no relatório de progressos da Comissão, de 9 de Fevereiro de 2004, sobre a conclusão do mandato das reformas.
A Comissão gostaria de agradecer ao Parlamento e ao relator, o senhor deputado Bayona de Perogordo, por terem votado hoje, por larga maioria, a favor da concessão de quitação à Comissão pela execução do orçamento geral das comunidades europeias relativo a 2002. Esta votação vem confirmar que o caso Eurostat é uma excepção extremamente lamentável a uma gestão financeira segura do orçamento das Comunidades Europeias. Contudo, o caso Eurostat também mostra a necessidade e a importância de se realizarem progressos ao nível das reformas iniciadas pela Comissão.
Em relação à responsabilidade política mencionada na moção de censura que será hoje à noite debatida nesta Assembleia, gostaria de confirmar a posição da Comissão, tal como enunciada muito claramente pelo Presidente Prodi no seu discurso de 25 de Setembro de 2003, na Conferência de Presidentes dos grupos políticos.
Gostaria também de referir, como a minha colega, a senhora Comissária Schreyer, o fez ontem quando respondeu à pergunta da senhora deputada Avilés Perea, que as medidas de reformas impedirão que problemas como os que ocorreram no Eurostat antes de 1999 voltem a suceder, e que a Comissão não só aprendeu a sua lição em relação aos problemas de fluxos de informação insuficientes, revelado pelo caso Eurostat, como tomou as medidas adequadas.
O Presidente Prodi e toda a sua Comissão comprometerem-se a ter uma tolerância zero face à fraude. Saberão certamente que isto não é uma garantia de que jamais voltarão a suceder casos de fraude, mas é uma garantia de que nada será silenciado. Os potenciais problemas virão a lume e serão tomadas as medidas adequadas.
Também como disse o meu colega, o senhor Comissário Fischler, a Comissão continua empenhada em acompanhar as medidas tomadas para maximizar as salvaguardas contra a fraude e está grata ao Parlamento Europeu pela sua contribuição substancial e o seu apoio constante nesta questão.
Grossetête (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, o debate desta noite não só é lamentável como é, na minha opinião, perigoso. Lamentável porque os signatários desta moção não têm outro objectivo senão o de denegrir a reputação da Comissão que, muito embora possa ser criticada pela gestão do Eurostat, não merece certamente um voto de desconfiança do Parlamento. É igualmente perigoso na medida em que vivemos um momento importante da história da construção da Europa, que se expressa na unificação do continente a 1 de Maio, nas eleições europeias, na aprovação, esperemos, da Constituição e na luta contra o terrorismo. Todo este processo só pode ser enfraquecido por manobras políticas medíocres que não enganam ninguém.
Não quero de modo algum minimizar a importância das questões ligadas ao caso Eurostat, mas gostaria, antes de mais, de compreender as verdadeiras razões que levaram aqueles que subscreveram esta moção a fazê-lo. Tratar-se-á de facto de uma preocupação de transparência? Não creio. Tratar-se-á realmente de uma intenção de esclarecer o caso Eurostat? Estou certa de que não. Penso assim por dois motivos. O primeiro tem a ver com o momento escolhido para esta iniciativa, a saber, a última sessão legislativa do nosso Parlamento. Haverá quem argumente, ingenuamente, que se trata de uma mera coincidência, no entanto, gostaria de referir que aos observadores mais objectivos não escapa o facto da proximidade das eleições. Lembro que as questões que envolvem o caso Eurostat já foram levantadas há dois anos atrás. Se por detrás desta posição estivesse efectivamente um desejo de transparência, a moção de censura teria sido apresentada bem mais cedo.
O segundo motivo que sustenta os meus argumentos prende-se com a lista de signatários desta moção de censura. Cada um é livre de defender as suas convicções, e certamente que os deputados que apoiam esta moção de censura o fazem de alma e coração e em consciência. Todavia, a maioria deles tem um coração anti-europeu e uma consciência exclusivamente nacional. Apesar das aparências, o alvo não é a Comissão, mas sim a construção europeia. Não está aqui em questão a defesa dos interesses do contribuinte europeu, mas sim a intenção de abalar a reputação da Europa, que, muito embora não seja perfeita, constitui um meio eficaz de os nossos povos viverem em paz e em relativa prosperidade. A presente moção de censura é obra do clube dos "egocêntricos", o clube daqueles que rejeitam as políticas comuns, que combatem os progressos da Europa, arvorando a bandeira do medo, e que rejeitam o contrato de confiança que a Constituição Europeia, proposta pela Convenção, representa.
Não estou a tentar ofender ninguém com estas palavras, pois, na realidade, é o que fazem quando pretendem transmitir aos cidadãos a ideia de que a Europa é uma máquina, um monstro que regulamenta tudo, decide tudo, que defrauda e sei lá que mais.
O Grupo do Partido Popular Europeu (Democratas Cristãos) e dos Democratas Europeus escolheu um caminho diferente do dos signatários, simplesmente porque falamos do futuro enquanto outros ficam encalhados no passado, porque a construção da Europa não se faz com base no medo, mas sim na ambição e na vontade. Naturalmente que nem tudo é perfeito. Há ainda muito a fazer, nomeadamente, dar um verdadeiro sentido político a um passo de natureza humana, pois é uma aventura humana acolher os dez novos países que são um exemplo simbólico disso mesmo.
No que se refere ao caso Eurostat, o Grupo PPE-DE, no seu conjunto, sempre manifestou publicamente o desejo de que se fizesse luz sobre o assunto. Registámos as medidas tomadas pela Comissão. Entendemos que os responsáveis têm de se explicar, na medida em que existem fortes suspeitas de que se cometeram erros graves. No entanto, os responsáveis devem ser penalizados de acordo com as infracções detectadas. Nós devemos aos Europeus o sentido das responsabilidades, o respeito pelos procedimentos democráticos e a garantia do Estado de Direito. Há que proceder aos inquéritos, há que aplicar sanções pelas infracções cometidas, há que usar de justiça na aplicação da sanção e há que impor a transparência. Estas foram sempre as nossas palavras, e é por isso que nos batemos.
Todavia, pretender, como o fazem os signatários desta moção de censura, que a Comissão não cumpriu as suas obrigações, pretender incriminar, no final do mandato, uma Comissão que terá certamente cometido erros, mas cujo historial é louvável, não consideramos aceitável. Razão por que o Grupo PPE-DE se manifestará, com determinação e convicção, contra a presente a moção.
Kuhne (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, quando V. Excelência ontem anunciou que a moção de desconfiança dirigida à Comissão era apresentada por uma coligação de conservadores britânicos e comunistas gregos, veio-me à mente a observação de Karl Marx de que, quando a História se repete, a reedição das tragédias assume a forma de farsa.
Há cinco anos, aquando da queda da Comissão Santer, a maioria de entre nós, socialistas, permitiu que o nosso grupo fosse encostado à parede ao defender, em certa medida, o indefensável. Essa experiência serviu-nos de lição. Tendo estado entre a minoria que, na altura, votou a favor da moção de desconfiança, é com uma convicção redobrada que hoje, em nome do meu grupo, me pronuncio contra a farsa que representa esta moção de desconfiança, cujo único objectivo é prestar um serviço àqueles jornais dos quais se pode dizer que não se sabe se são feitos para ou por analfabetos.
Para que fique claro, este juízo é transnacional, é válido para diversos países e não apenas para um.
É legítimo, mesmo neste Parlamento, ser-se contra a integração europeia e, consequentemente, contra as instituições comunitárias. A questão é, porém, se se deve consentir que se transforme a tentativa sistemática de desacreditar as instituições da UE num instrumento normal do debate político. Essa questão não deve ser posta aos conservadores britânicos ou à Esquerda Unitária Europeia, que recorreram a esse tipo de conduta no passado, e continuarão a recorrer. O que importa saber é se os partidários da integração política, nesta Câmara, fazem tenção de não oferecer resistência a essa gente. Eu sou a favor de que se lhes ofereça resistência.
Defender-nos-emos igualmente do abuso do controlo orçamental para fins claramente políticos. Até V. Excelência, Senhor Deputado Heaton-Harris, na Comissão do Controlo Orçamental, deixou claro muitas vezes que as razões que levaram ao colapso da Comissão Santer não se verificavam no caso vertente, por muitas críticas que se pudessem dirigir à actual Comissão. Ao contrário da Comissão Santer, a actual Comissão, apesar de todos os erros que cometeu, não tentou sistematicamente sonegar informação ao Parlamento. É esse o ponto fundamental. Os senhores deputados Bösch e Casaca são dois socialistas que tiveram um papel proeminente na evolução do processo referente ao Eurostat. Utilizar o caso Eurostat como arma eleitoral é a melhor maneira de perturbar o incipiente processo de reformas, e nós não pretendemos fazer isso.
O grotesco deste número de circo deixa claras duas coisas, que devem ser divulgadas nesta sessão. Entre os signatários da moção de desconfiança figura um deputado a este Parlamento que há vários meses me instou a certificar-me de que o caso Eurostat era abafado. Segundo as suas próprias palavras, o motivo que o levava a isso era o facto de, com a aproximação de eleições, os deputados ficarem cada vez mais desvairados. Agora surge como signatário da moção.
Esta manhã – e dirijo-me agora ao senhor deputado Bonde –, quando estávamos sentados numa roda a discutir a abordagem global a adoptar na questão do Eurostat, o senhor deputado, delicadamente, perguntou se não seria possível contorná-la, incluindo na resolução sobre o Eurostat um par de parágrafos muito críticos sobre o tópico da responsabilidade política, por não estar certo de que a moção de desconfiança daria bom resultado. Senhor Deputado Bonde, não fazemos tenções de os safar da embrulhada em que se meteram. A maioria desta Câmara não lhes vai dar uma mão, têm de se desembaraçar sozinhos. Em Maio, mal eles cheguem, podem propor que os dez novos comissários sejam imediatamente recambiados para os seus países e passar por tolos aos olhos do público europeu, por terem abusado do mecanismo da moção de desconfiança para fins puramente político-partidários.
Jonckheer (Verts/ALE ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, o meu grupo, na sua grande maioria, não apoia a iniciativa de uma moção de censura à Comissão. Na verdade, esta iniciativa afigura-se-nos inoportuna, atendendo a que votar a favor da demissão da Comissão sempre que se descobrem e reconhecem problemas de má gestão é absolutamente excessivo.
Para além das medidas disciplinares individuais, impõe-se reforçar a independência, as competências e os recursos do OLAF e dotar a Comissão, no seu conjunto, dos meios humanos e financeiros necessários ao cumprimento das suas missões. As reformas iniciadas pela Comissão vão nesse sentido, como a Senhora Comissária acaba de lembrar, e o Parlamento Europeu, nas suas várias resoluções, formulou recomendações precisas que esperamos ver implementadas.
Senhor Presidente, no período histórico que se inicia com uma União a vinte e cinco, com um alargamento que terá de ser um sucesso, o nosso grupo considera que se impõe um executivo e uma função pública europeia competente e submetida a um controlo democrático permanente deste Parlamento.
Camre (UEN ).
– Senhor Presidente, tentámos que fosse atribuída a culpa pelo sucedido, mas não foi possível. Em nossa opinião, ninguém se considera culpado de nada. Foi esta a conclusão do relatório submetido pelo denominado Comité dos Sábios, em Março de 1999, relativamente aos problemas com a anterior Comissão Santer.
O mesmo se poderá dizer relativamente ao escândalo Eurostat. Todos os mecanismos de defesa foram postos em marcha. O senhor Comissário Solbes não tem culpa, porque não lê os jornais. O senhor Comissário Kinnock não tem culpa, porque não estava com atenção quando o senhor deputado Blak referiu aquilo que a senhora Schmidt Brown lhe havia comunicado. A senhora Comissária Schreyer não teve culpa porque não lê os relatórios de auditoria, e o senhor Prodi, Presidente da Comissão, não tem, absolutamente, culpa nenhuma porque assegurou que não lhe chegasse nenhuma informação, quer do Parlamento Europeu quer da imprensa e, conforme referiu o senhor Comissário Prodi, não se pode ser responsável por algo que se desconhece.
Podemos apenas interrogar-nos como é que pessoas com tão pouca capacidade para se aperceber do que se passa em seu redor tenham conseguido chegar tão longe.
Naturalmente, a verdade é que sabiam, perfeitamente, há mais de um ano, o que é que se estava a passar no Eurostat, mas ocultaram uma situação que nunca deveria ter sido ocultada. Poderemos, porventura, designar o facto como lealdade imerecida em relação a um sistema corrupto. Poderemos designá-lo como nepotismo. Não importa o que lhe chamemos, não é digno de uma instituição inter-europeia. É por essa razão que queremos estabelecer de quem é a culpa, mas o sistema foi concebido de forma a impedir que isso se verifique.
Numa democracia normal, os críticos de um parlamento poderão apresentar um voto de censura. Esta situação ocorre, ocasionalmente, nos nossos Estados-Membros. Se um governo possui uma maioria sólida não é muito afectado. Um governo que sai vencedor de uma moção de censura, geralmente sai reforçado. Neste caso, a Comissão irá seguramente ganhar, porque a maioria, aqui no Parlamento, não quer que a culpa seja atribuída, e todos aqueles que assinaram a moção de censura sabem que irão perder.
Apesar disso, aqueles que são leais à Comissão têm estado muito atarefados a tentar evitar a realização deste debate e a subsequente votação. Houve assinaturas que foram postas em causa e eliminadas sem motivos objectivos, e houve casos de deputados que foram sujeitos a pressão para que retirassem as suas assinaturas. Não se poderá designar isso de verdadeiro parlamentarismo. Existe algo de podre que repassa toda esta questão do Eurostat e uma maioria neste Parlamento não quer contribuir para a atribuição da culpa.
Recomendo, pois, aos senhores deputados que votem a favor da nossa moção de censura.
Bonde (EDD ).
– Senhor Presidente, gostaria de começar por colocar uma pergunta à senhora deputada Grossetête, ao senhor deputado Kuhne e à senhora Comissária Reding: quem é politicamente responsável pelo escândalo Eurostat?
Mais de 100 deputados ao Parlamento Europeu assinaram uma moção de censura contra a Comissão, mas um em cada três sofreram pressões para retirar a sua assinatura. Entre os mais corajosos, contam-se agora alguns deputados que correm o risco de perder os lugares que detinham em comités ou delegações importantes. Alguns deputados a este Parlamento serão castigados pelos seus grupos por apoiarem o princípio simples da responsabilização dos ministros e dos Comissários no exercício das funções destes.
A administração altamente politizada do Parlamento já não está lá apenas para servir os seus Membros. Não contente com a verificação da autenticidade das assinaturas e com a contagem das mesmas, tem estado a cooperar com os grupos com vista a persuadir os Membros a retirarem as suas assinaturas. Recusou, inclusivamente, aceitar uma confirmação enviada por fax bem como assinaturas obviamente genuínas, com o propósito de calar ou adiar o debate relativo à moção de censura. Será que vamos ter de verificar as assinaturas da lista de presenças através de carta manuscrita?
Imaginem se todos os presidentes dos grupos penalizassem, com o mesmo desvelo, os colaboradores da Comissão que tiraram dinheiro do cofre ou que encobriram aqueles que tiraram. No entanto, não há nada que seja tão mau que não tenha também algum aspecto positivo. O texto de compromisso relativo ao Eurostat contém a crítica mais violenta, desde sempre, à gestão financeira da Comissão. Contudo, continua a não atribuir a responsabilidade directa, pelo que continuamos a exaurir aqueles elementos da Comissão que trabalham com vista à apresentação de contas sérias e transparentes. Apoiamos aqueles que dizem que a aprovação das contas não passa de tagarelice parlamentar, que é destituído de relevância e que podemos continuar a intrujar as pessoas. Todos os anos desaparecem 8 mil milhões de euros do nosso orçamento. É dinheiro dos contribuintes e nós fomos eleitos para este Parlamento para representar os contribuintes. Consequentemente, temos de apelar à Comissão para que atribua, ela própria, a culpa, até às 12H00 de terça-feira, dia 4 de Maio. Caso contrário, iremos votar a moção de censura.
Gostaria de agradecer aos mais de 100 membros signatários. Depois das eleições o número de cães de guarda será superior. Gostaria de agradecer ao Senhor Presidente e, à pessoa que referiu que isto não passa de uma manobra eleitoral, gostaria de salientar que a Comissão de Controlo Orçamental tentou atribuir a responsabilidade política desde o dia em que o escândalo foi descoberto.
Berthu (NI ).
Senhor Presidente, para justificar plenamente a proposta de moção de censura contra a Comissão, de que sou também signatário, basta remeter para o relatório que o próprio Parlamento Europeu aprovou por uma larga maioria, a 29 de Janeiro último, sobre as medidas tomadas pela Comissão para dar seguimento às nossas observações sobre a execução do orçamento relativo a 2001, especificamente, sobre o caso Eurostat. A avaliação feita nessa resolução é arrasadora. O que é mais grave não é tanto o caso Eurostat em si mesmo, pois, afinal de contas, a prevaricação pode suceder em qualquer lugar, mas sim as deficiências ao nível do controlo que essas prevaricações revelaram, e, sobretudo, a incapacidade da parte da Comissão para repor, de forma convincente, a normalidade da situação.
A nossa resolução de 29 de Janeiro, aprovada pelo Parlamento Europeu, recordo-o novamente, criticava a cultura do secretismo e da falta de transparência que reina na Comissão, a má transmissão de informação a nível interno, a extrema morosidade e as reticências em submeter os relatórios da auditoria ao Parlamento Europeu, bem como o facto de os Comissários se descartarem das suas responsabilidades políticas. Esta última característica parece ainda mais real agora, na medida em que a Comissão já não assume qualquer responsabilidade neste caso, e o Presidente Prodi, que nem sequer compareceu ao debate desta noite, aparenta estar mais interessado na campanha eleitoral em Itália.
Razão por que os deputados devem agora assumir as suas próprias responsabilidades como representantes eleitos dos cidadãos europeus, dos contribuintes europeus. Felicito os sessenta e seis outros co-signatários desta moção, encabeçada por Jens-Peter Bonde e Christopher Heaton-Harris, que tiveram a coragem e a lucidez de resistir a todas as pressões. Gostaria de dizer aos deputados que hesitam em votar a favor da moção de censura o seguinte: ao defender a Comissão, como acabou de fazer há pouco a senhora deputada Grossetête, os senhores estarão a encobrir, quer queiram, quer não, comportamentos inadmissíveis e a prestar um mau serviço às Instituições Europeias.
Ora, a maneira de prestar um bom serviço às Instituições Europeias é fazer a Comissão compreender que não goza de um privilégio especial, que é um órgão como todos os outros, que tem de se submeter ao controlo superior do Parlamento Europeu e dos Estados-Membros.
Presidente.
Houve dois colegas que se referiram à questão das assinaturas e deram a entender que se passava qualquer coisa de obscuro nos bastidores. Tanto quanto eu sei, a moção de censura é sobre a Comissão Europeia e não sobre os serviços do Parlamento Europeu.
Permitam-me que deixe claro que embora alguém tenha afirmado que há 100 assinaturas, eu tenho o dever, como Presidente, por força do Regimento, de saber e verificar quem assinou ou não a moção. No cumprimento desse dever e ao dar instruções ao pessoal para atender a essa obrigação em meu nome, eu assumo a responsabilidade. Portanto, se têm qualquer problema com o que se passa nos bastidores, falem comigo. Sob a minha supervisão, ou faremos as coisas como deve ser ou, pura e simplesmente, não faremos.
Avilés Perea (PPE-DE ).
- Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, a razão de ser da moção de censura, argumentam os seus signatários, é o escândalo e as irregularidades ocorridas no Eurostat.
É do conhecimento de todos que, desde há algum tempo, nós, na Comissão do Controlo Orçamental, temos vindo a trabalhar muito arduamente para tentar esclarecer este assunto e resolver os problemas dele decorrentes. É verdade que a Comissão tardou a reagir, mas fê-lo finalmente, tendo posto em marcha uma reforma bastante profunda e, até agora, os resultados parecem-nos satisfatórios.
É verdade que o caso não está encerrado, posto que está em marcha um procedimento judicial. A maioria dos grupos políticos preparou, assim, uma resolução que será votada na sessão de amanhã, precisamente porque mantemos a nossa preocupação relativamente a um assunto de tão grande importância como foi a fraude no Eurostat. Não consideramos que a questão esteja sanada e pensamos que temos de seguir os acontecimentos muito atentamente para evitar uma repetição no futuro, seja no Eurostat ou em qualquer outro organismo da Comissão.
A resolução que vários grupos vão apresentar amanhã deixa muito claro que o Parlamento está vigilante, está a cumprir a sua missão e a exercer o controlo que o Tratado lhe confere como Instituição comunitária fundamental em todo o processo.
Esta moção não tem qualquer razão de ser; é uma questão puramente eleitoral para os signatários, que têm em comum, entre muitas outras coisas, o seu sentimento e militância anti-europeus, o seu eurocepticismo e a sua campanha continuada contra as Instituições Europeias.
Pensamos, por conseguinte, que estão moção é inapropriada. Nós, no Parlamento, fazemos o nosso trabalho, temo-lo feito com seriedade e rigor e vamos continuar a fazê-lo, não nos parecendo que alguns deputados que se autodenominam anti-europeus e eurocépticos sejam as pessoas mais adequadas para defender a transparência e o bom funcionamento das Instituições Europeias.
No nosso trabalho, insistimos várias vezes na necessidade de confiar no controlo da gestão da Comissão, tal como fizemos esta manhã, deixando todavia claro que continuamos preocupados com o problema do Eurostat e, por isso, consideramos absolutamente inadequado que pequenos grupos desta Assembleia - cuja trajectória e abordagem relativamente a esta questão foram bem conhecidas desde o primeiro momento e nunca se alteraram - tentem aproveitar esta questão para fins político-partidários e eleitoralistas. Não deram ouvidos a quaisquer explicações ou soluções, nem a qualquer tipo de sugestões.
A posição do Grupo Popular é muito clara e continuaremos a trabalhar em prol da abertura e transparência das Instituições Europeias e também em prol do seu reforço.
Napoletano (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, o documento em debate assemelha-se mais a um manifesto eleitoral do que a um mecanismo parlamentar. Aliás, o facto de ser elaborado e subscrito por minorias conhecidas pelo seu anti-europeismo deixa clara a sua intenção. Isto confirma que, ao tornar o trabalho do Parlamento mais frenético, o período que antecede as eleições inspira iniciativas como a que nos ocupa esta noite.
O caso Eurostat volta a ser debatido por alguns dos nossos colegas com o intuito de lançar o descrédito geral sobre as Instituições europeias e, em particular, sobre a Comissão e o seu Presidente. Os colegas que subscreveram este documento sabem que o caso Eurostat foi – e ainda é – seguido permanente e atentamente por este Parlamento e será objecto da enésima resolução também nesta sessão. É óbvia a má-fé relativamente a este caso quando nada se diz sobre as medidas específicas adoptadas pela Comissão e, mais genericamente, sobre as reformas implementadas com vista a alcançar a boa governança que queremos que inspire todas as Instituições da União Europeia, um processo seguido passo a passo por este Parlamento e também pela sua Comissão do Controlo Orçamental, e aqui referido pela Senhora Comissária Reding.
É certo que é fácil lançar o escândalo sobre questões particulares para tentar atrair a atenção do público, que regra geral está mal informado acerca da política e das Instituições Europeias. É mais difícil construir uma dimensão política da Europa, começando pela adopção de uma verdadeira Constituição.
Posto isto, na qualidade de representante do Grupo Socialista no Parlamento Europeu, é para mim motivo de orgulho o facto de ninguém do meu grupo ter subscrito esta moção. O apoio dos Conservadores britânicos demonstra claramente, mais uma vez, o insustentável vínculo deste grupo à tradição do Partido Popular Europeu, tão bem representada pela senhora deputada Grossetête e também pela senhora deputada Avilés Perea.
Constato, pois, que entre os signatários há muitos colegas do Grupo União para a Europa das Nações, destacando-se em particular os representantes da italiana. Considero que esta posição contrasta de certa forma com o papel que o Vice-Primeiro Ministro de Itália, Senhor Fini, desempenhou nos trabalhos da Convenção. É eventualmente por esta razão que a senhora deputada Muscardini sensatamente retirou a sua assinatura. Se os deputados da sua delegação seguissem o seu exemplo, a segurança das 66 assinaturas anunciadas pelo Presidente esta manhã seria posta em causa, sem mencionar as designadas "assinaturas técnicas", que também não se tornariam votos favoráveis.
Todavia, há outra chave de interpretação das verdadeiras intenções daqueles que apresentaram esta moção: aquela que foi dada pelo Vice-Presidente do Senado italiano, senhor Calderoli, máximo representante da . Ele afirmou que, efectivamente, os signatários são apoiantes secretos do Senhor Presidente Prodi. Com efeito, a confiança deste Parlamento no Presidente da Comissão reforçar-se-ia e o seu prestígio aumentaria como resultado desta moção, que será, muito provavelmente, rejeitada. Mas se isto é verdade, o que dizer então do senhor deputado Speroni, membro do mesmo partido do senhor Calderoli? Estará ele consciente de se ter transformado num dos mais fervorosos apoiantes da Comissão Europeia?
Se as coisas são, de facto, desta maneira, e se olharmos para a moção de censura desta perspectiva, penso, então, que todo o conjunto de signatários tem algo em que reflectir.
Gahrton (Verts/ALE ).
Senhor Presidente, é claro que se podem ter diferentes opiniões sobre se a acção da Comissão é suficientemente grave para exigir uma moção de censura, e por isso respeito um contributo tão objectivo como o do senhor deputado Jonckheer. Porém, quando ouvi a senhora deputada Grossetête, o senhor deputado Kuhne etc., recordei-me de quando, na década de 1980, visitei o Soviete Supremo em Moscovo, no qual todos os críticos eram ridicularizados, condenados e acusados de serem anti-soviéticos e traidores. É dessa forma que ides defender o vosso projecto da UE? Deverá ser defendido por meio de acusações e do escárnio, através da perseguição aos que fazem denúncias e pondo a polícia no encalço dos jornalistas que fazem as investigações?
Não notastes que o projecto está a ser afectado por uma crise de confiança devido à falta de transparência e de legitimidade democrática? Estamos a tentar utilizar um instrumento parlamentar clássico para controlar o executivo. Podeis ter um ponto de vista diferente mas, quando nos ridicularizais, nos deitais abaixo e nos chamais anti-europeus, minais a legitimidade democrática do vosso próprio projecto.
Angelilli (UEN ).
Senhor Presidente, por fim, e quase demasiado tarde, concordei em subscrever a moção de censura à Comissão relativamente ao caso Eurostat. Sinceramente, não sinto que seja analfabeta nem, muito menos, anti-europeísta, nem creio que a culpa me possa ser atribuída por a Comissão ser desacreditada; quanto muito, desacreditou-se a ela própria.
Em última instância, fomos praticamente forçados a esta medida extrema pela indiferença da Comissão e por uma atitude superficial para com o Parlamento, porque – desejo referi-lo – não se trata de um gesto não premeditado. Durante mais de um ano, foram suscitadas centenas de questões e um enorme trabalho parlamentar por trás deste gesto extremo. De todas as formas, esperávamos da Comissão uma atitude menos ao estilo de Pôncio Pilatos; era isto que esperávamos e, em minha opinião, o que merecíamos, na medida em que, afinal, somos a única Instituição que conta com uma verdadeira legitimidade popular.
Não pretendo voltar às numerosas perguntas que não receberam uma resposta adequada, nem às boas propostas anunciadas pela Comissão para o futuro. Gostaria, contudo, de voltar a comentar o organismo implicado, a saber, o Eurostat Vale a pena recordar que o Eurostat não se ocupa da elaboração de estatísticas interessantes e inofensivas. O Eurostat é uma instituição que, através da sua investigação e de trabalho estatístico, é efectivamente o garante do Pacto de Estabilidade e Crescimento: monitoriza a aplicação dos critérios de Maastricht. Está envolvido, por conseguinte, na determinação das políticas económicas e financeiras dos Estados-Membros e, de facto, obriga os Estados-Membros a adoptar políticas de rigor que, frequentemente, implicam reduções a nível do orçamento ou da assistência social. É, por isso, uma Instituição com um papel de controlo, cuja imparcialidade e autoridade não deve ser nem mesmo escassamente ensombrada pelas dúvidas e pela suspeição que hoje recaem sobre o Eurostat.
Lamento, pois, Senhora Comissária Reding, mas não se pode fazer um risco sobre o caso Eurostat como sendo uma deplorável excepção. Compreendemos que o caso é embaraçoso, também o é para mim, mas julgo que são os cidadãos que pedem que isto não seja tolerado, as mesmas pessoas a quem nós pedimos que façam sacrifícios em nome do Pacto de Estabilidade e Crescimento.
Não pretendo dar lições de democracia a ninguém – Deus me livre –, mas gostaria simplesmente de recordar que a democracia se baseia nos direitos das minorias de exprimir a sua opinião.
Abitbol (EDD ).
Senhor Presidente, creio que participamos esta noite numa autêntica paródia, num simulacro de democracia. Todas as semanas, resolução após resolução, damos lições de democracia, de transparência, de direitos humanos, e sei lá que mais, a todo o mundo, e não somos capazes de organizar um debate, digno de um Parlamento merecedor desse nome, sobre censura, o que, em todas as nossas democracias, representa um momento importante da vida política, democrática e parlamentar.
Costuma dizer-se que só nos afirmamos se nos opusermos. Foi aliás assim que apareceram os parlamentos nacionais ao longo da história, regra geral, contra a natureza arbitrária dos poderes executivos. Não é o caso aqui. Senhora Deputada Grossetête, pense bem no assunto, por favor - não é esse o caso. O poder executivo e poder legislativo ajudam-se, escamoteando a verdade, como no célebre quadro de Vermeer, aos olhos dos observadores que são os cidadãos europeus. Admito que me impressionou neste exercício, Senhora Deputada Grossetête. Estou a falar de escamotear a verdade, de má fé, e diria mesmo que, de alguma forma, me fez lembrar Vichinsky apelando ao Parlamento soviético.
A proximidade das eleições pode exacerbar um pouco a atitude das pessoas, o que é absolutamente natural para um democrata: as eleições não são um momento difícil que temos de atravessar, como parecem crer. Nós passámos uma hora, esta manhã, Senhor Presidente, uma hora, e fizemo-lo também na última sessão, num joguete de insinuações por razões que, pessoalmente, me escapam por completo. É esse o exemplo de democracia que querem dar? Passámos uma hora esta manhã e passaremos certamente duas ou três horas, amanhã de manhã, a debater uma manobra obscura da política interna italiana. É dessa democracia que estão a falar? Veja, Senhora Deputada Grossetête, que será no mínimo paradoxal que este Parlamento, que, repito, dá lições a todo o mundo, aja como uma virgem assustada quando se trata de exercer o único poder que detém: controlar e censurar a Comissão Europeia quando cometeu um erro.
Borghezio (NI ).
Senhor Presidente, o Senator Calderoli tem razão ao afirmar que a nossa verdadeira intenção era a de ajudar o Senhor Presidente Prodi. Quisemos evitar que ele encerrasse este caso europeu no vergonhoso papel de alguém que é tão esquivo como uma enguia quando confrontado com perguntas e solicitações de diferentes jornais – e pensámos que ele tivesse a decência de comparecer nesta Casa para debater esta questão –, enquanto uma das pessoas que expôs a informação está a ser alvo de um inquérito, como nos bons velhos tempos da polícia comunista, e os seus ficheiros são confiscados porque ele se atreve a investigar a fraude europeia e o Eurostat.
O escândalo diz respeito a um organismo das Instituições Europeias que se ocupa dos fundos e de dados sensíveis, o que demonstra a seriedade da situação. O dossiê do Eurostat comprometeu a imagem da Comissão Europeia e do seu Presidente, que – na nossa óptica – faria bem em retirar daqui as consequências necessárias.
O que devemos realmente interrogar-nos nesta situação é que tipo de ligações ocultas de solidariedade – em Itália diríamos de tipo mafioso – impediram a Comissão de lancetar a pústula que é o Eurostat. Agradecia uma resposta.
Presidente.
Está encerrado o debate.
A votação terá lugar durante o período de sessões de Maio.
Presidente.
Segue-se na ordem do dia a discussão conjunta de quatro relatórios elaborados em nome da Delegação do Parlamento Europeu ao Comité de Conciliação:
– A5-0242/2004, do deputado Jarzembowski, sobre o projecto comum, aprovado pelo Comité de Conciliação, de directiva do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho que altera a Directiva 91/440/CEE do Conselho relativa ao desenvolvimento dos caminhos-de-ferro comunitários (PE-CONS 3641/2004 – C5-0156/2004 – 2002/2005(COD));
– A5-0245/2004, do deputado Sterckx, sobre o projecto comum, aprovado pelo Comité de Conciliação, de directiva do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho relativa à segurança dos caminhos-de-ferro da Comunidade e que altera a Directiva 95/18/CE do Conselho relativa às licenças das empresas de transporte ferroviário e a Directiva 2001/14/CE relativa à repartição de capacidade da infra-estrutura ferroviária, à aplicação de taxas de utilização da infra-estrutura ferroviária e à certificação da segurança ("directiva relativa à segurança ferroviária") (PE-CONS 3638/2004 – C5 0153/2004 – 2002/0022(COD));
– A5-0243/2004, da deputada Ainardi, sobre o projecto comum, aprovado pelo Comité de Conciliação, de directiva do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho que altera a Directiva 96/48/CE do Conselho relativa à interoperabilidade do sistema ferroviário transeuropeu de alta velocidade e a Directiva 2001/16/CE do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho relativa à interoperabilidade do sistema ferroviário transeuropeu convencional (PE-CONS 3639/2004 – C5-0154/2004 – 2002/0023(COD)); e
– A5-0244/2004, do deputado Savary, sobre o projecto comum, aprovado pelo Comité de Conciliação, de regulamento do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho que institui a Agência Ferroviária Europeia (Regulamento relativo à Agência) (PE-CONS 3640/2004 – C5-0155/2004 – 2002/0024(COD)).
Reding,
Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, com o segundo pacote ferroviário, pretendemos dar um impulso decisivo à construção de um espaço ferroviário europeu integrado, competitivo e seguro.
Chegamos agora ao fim de um período de mais de dois anos de trabalhos intensivos, e considero o resultado extremamente positivo. Gostaria de salientar o contributo, fundamental, que o Parlamento Europeu deu aos quatro textos que compõem este segundo pacote ferroviário. Quero agradecer em especial aos quatro relatores, a senhora deputada Ainardi e os senhores deputados Jarzembowski, Sterckx e Savary, pelo importante trabalho realizado e também aos seus colegas da Comissão da Política Regional, dos Transportes e do Turismo, que acompanharam de perto este . Os meus agradecimentos vão também para a delegação do Parlamento no Comité de Conciliação e, muito especialmente, para a sua Presidente, a senhora deputada Cederschiöld, que alcançou um acordo com o Conselho, aquando da reunião final de conciliação, a 16 de Março último, que se traduz num compromisso que consideramos ser extremamente equilibrado.
Este segundo pacote de medidas abre novas possibilidades de desenvolvimento para o transporte ferroviário na União Europeia alargada, pelo que espero que o vosso Parlamento aprove os resultados da conciliação e dê pois luz verde à implementação destes textos. A partir daí, posso assegurar-lhes que a Comissão tudo fará para instituir a Agência Ferroviária Europeia, o mais rapidamente possível.
Permitam-me que faça alguns comentários sobre os trabalhos futuros no sector ferroviário. Por ocasião da análise destes textos relativos ao segundo pacote ferroviário, o Parlamento manifestou vontade de sublinhar a importância que atribui à questão da abertura do mercado dos transportes de passageiros.
A própria Comissão indicara no Livro Branco de Setembro de 2001 que seriam apresentadas propostas. Razão por que adoptou, a 7 de Março último, uma série de propostas sobre a abertura do mercado dos serviços internacionais de transportes de passageiros por via ferroviária, a partir de 2010, e também sobre os direitos dos passageiros. Estes textos são acompanhados de uma importante proposta de directiva sobre a certificação dos condutores de comboios, bem como do pessoal de bordo, e de uma proposta de regulamento sobre as cláusulas contratuais de qualidade para o transporte de mercadorias por via ferroviária.
Caberá certamente ao novo Parlamento eleito em Junho analisar estas novas propostas.
Jarzembowski (PPE-DE ),
. – Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária – Viviane – Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, dado que é um pouco tarde e, praticamente, já não temos assistência – tirando um conhecido representante de uma companhia de caminhos-de-ferro –, serei breve.
Penso que o Parlamento pode orgulhar-se do facto de ter superado as hesitações do Conselho, com os resultados do processo de conciliação relativo ao segundo “pacote”, e criado uma nova dimensão europeia, de carácter prático, para o desenvolvimento das companhias de caminhos-de-ferro na União. Com a alteração da Directiva 91/440/CEE, todas as empresas beneficiarão do direito de acesso em condições não discriminatórias à infra-estrutura ferroviária de todos os Estados-Membros para os serviços internacionais de transporte de mercadorias a partir de 1 de Janeiro de 2006 e – e isso deve-se ao Parlamento – para os serviços nacionais de transporte de mercadorias já em 1 de Janeiro de 2007. Ao mesmo tempo, Comissão, Parlamento e Conselho recomendam a abertura do mercado dos serviços internacionais de transporte de passageiros no ano 2010.
Senhora Comissária, estamos-lhe gratos pelo terceiro “pacote ferroviário” que nos foi submetido pela Comissão. Pessoalmente, não estou convencido da necessidade de regular o controlo de qualidade em matéria de transporte de mercadorias – que entendo dever ser deixado a cargo do mercado –, a obrigação de indemnização por atrasos, etc. – o transporte ferroviário é bastante distinto do aéreo. Mas isso ficará para a próxima ronda. Seja como for, somos a favor da abertura do mercado de transporte de passageiros, ponto em que estamos de acordo, Senhora Comissária, tal como quanto à necessidade de uma licença de condução europeia, para que possamos ter um mercado europeu de trabalho também para os trabalhadores dos caminhos-de-ferro.
Queria acrescentar que, com a nova directiva relativa à segurança dos caminhos-de-ferro comunitários, pela primeira vez, vamos desenvolver uma norma europeia de segurança para os caminhos-de-ferro, superando a abordagem à escala reduzida dos estados no domínio das questões de segurança e adoptando, de facto, em toda a União, preceitos que garantam um nível uniforme de segurança elevado, aplicável às companhias de caminho-de-ferro, tanto privadas como públicas. Acredito que esta medida constituirá um passo de vulto no sentido da criação de um mercado interno europeu.
Considero relevante a alteração da senhora deputada Ainardi referente à interoperabilidade, precisamente porque nos habilitará a coordenar de modo mais célere e capaz o trabalho de especificação técnica do material circulante noutras partes do sistema ferroviário. Finalmente, considero ainda que, com o regulamento que institui a Agência Ferroviária Europeia, criaremos uma importante instituição, que se empenhará na prática nas áreas quer dos padrões europeus de segurança, quer da definição rápida das especificações técnicas essenciais à interoperabilidade.
Permitam-me que conclua com esta nota. Acredito que, em sede de processo de conciliação, estabelecemos parâmetros adequados – isto é, favoráveis – a garantir que também no sector dos caminhos-de-ferro passe a existir um mercado interno europeu, e que, agora que estabelecemos tais parâmetros, cabe às empresas ferroviárias – quer públicas quer privadas, nesse ponto somos imparciais – explorar, na observância de um elevado padrão de segurança, as oportunidades oferecidas pelo mercado e, em última análise, concretizar o nosso objectivo comum de revitalizar o transporte ferroviário na União Europeia e transferir uma quota tão grande quanto possível do tráfego de mercadorias das estradas para os caminhos-de-ferro, para que a nossa política faça sentido quer do ponto de vista ambiental, quer do comercial. Deste modo, demos um passo de grande importância em direcção a uma repartição modal razoável do tráfego entre os operadores de transportes e criámos uma boa oportunidade para as companhias de caminhos-de-ferro da União.
Pohjamo (ELDR ),
. – Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, o senhor deputado Sterckx não pôde permanecer em Estrasburgo esta noite e eu estou a falar em seu nome.
O objectivo da nova directiva relativa à segurança ferroviária consiste na harmonização do quadro regulamentar nos Estados-Membros e no desenvolvimento de objectivos e métodos de segurança comuns na Europa. A harmonização visa reduzir o número de entraves a um sistema ferroviário à escala da União Europeia. A proposta define os principais elementos dos sistemas de segurança comuns, cria um sistema comum para a emissão de certificados de segurança e introduz o princípio das investigações técnicas independentes em caso de acidente.
Em 10 de Março, chegou-se a um acordo na conciliação, que foi confirmado pela delegação do Parlamento e pelo Comité de Conciliação em 16 de Março. Nos termos do acordo, os Estados-Membros aceitam limitar ao máximo a introdução das normas de segurança nacionais. Deste modo, o objectivo relativo à aplicação de normas exclusivamente europeias ganha profundidade.
Os poderes da Comissão em matéria de apreciação das novas normas de segurança nacionais foram reforçados. Foi-lhe dado o poder de suspender a aplicação de uma norma nacional caso existam suspeitas fundamentadas sobre a compatibilidade dos projectos de norma nacional de segurança com as normas europeias. A Comissão também pode actuar caso considere que uma norma constitui um meio de discriminação arbitrária ou uma restrição encoberta das operações de transporte ferroviário entre Estados-Membros.
Os Estados-Membros deverão garantir o acesso a acções de formação por parte dos condutores de comboios e do pessoal de bordo responsável pela segurança. A fim de permitir a mobilidade deste pessoal entre as companhias ferroviárias, foi acordado que os condutores de comboios, o pessoal de bordo responsável pela segurança e os gestores de infra-estruturas em terra têm o direito de aceder e obter cópias da documentação que ateste as suas qualificações.
Esta nova directiva representa um passo importante rumo à criação de um sistema ferroviário europeu seguro definindo uma estrutura regulamentar clara para a sua consecução gradual. A Agência Ferroviária Europeia, que representa outro elemento fundamental deste pacote ferroviário, desempenhará um papel-chave na execução, no controlo e no desenvolvimento futuro, bem como na harmonização do sistema. O acordo alcançado no âmbito do Comité de Conciliação reflecte plenamente a posição do Parlamento em segunda leitura.
Tudo considerado, o presente pacote ferroviário constitui um importante passo para a desobstrução do tráfego por meio dos caminhos-de-ferro. Necessitamos que os nossos caminhos-de-ferro sejam eficientes e seguros, e que prestem um serviço de qualidade elevada. De outro modo, não conseguirão concorrer em pé de igualdade com outras formas de transporte. Um sistema ferroviário funcional trará benefícios cada vez maiores para o consumidor e também nos permitirá alcançar um desenvolvimento sustentável no sector dos transportes.
Ainardi (GUE/NGL ),
Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, com o debate de hoje à noite, chegámos ao termo de uma série de discussões e encontros sobre o futuro dos caminhos-de-ferro na Europa. Concluiu-se efectivamente um pacote ferroviário, mas também é verdade que a necessária revitalização do sector do transporte ferroviário não está ainda concluída. Gostaria, no final deste longo e instrutivo percurso, de agradecer a todos os meus colegas relatores que, apesar das divergências, diria mesmo de opiniões francamente opostas, permitiram um trabalho respeitador dos pontos de vista de cada um.
Uma vez que esta discussão vem no seguimento de muitas outras e encerra este pacote, gostaria de dar uma panorâmica de conjunto das propostas. A meu ver, este segundo pacote está na linha da dupla realidade da construção europeia de hoje. É simultaneamente uma prova do que a Europa pode trazer de positivo aos seus cidadãos, a fim de reforçar os laços e desenvolver a solidariedade. O mesmo se aplica aos relatórios sobre a interoperabilidade e a criação da Agência de Segurança Ferroviária.
O objectivo da directiva relativa à interoperabilidade, para a qual sou relatora, era harmonizar as redes nacionais forjadas pela história para conseguir transportes mais rápidos, mais eficazes e mais harmoniosos. Este é um aspecto essencial para revitalizar o transporte ferroviário e ajudar o comércio internacional a processar-se com mais facilidade. Isto requer uma harmonização ao nível das técnicas e a garantia de que a diversidade das redes não constitui um obstáculo ao tráfego ou não é a causa de atrasos. Realizaram-se progressos consideráveis neste domínio e também em relação ao método utilizado para a consecução destes mesmos objectivos. Para dar só um exemplo, a proposta da caixa negra, que todos nós saudamos, foi-me sugerida logo no início dos debates pelos próprios funcionários dos caminhos-de-ferro, o que mostra que temos tudo a ganhar com a participação dos principais interessados.
Motivo por que, como relatora, gostaria de agradecer muito em particular aos colegas da Comissão da Política Regional, dos Transportes e do Turismo por me terem ajudado a concluir esta tarefa, assim como agradeço a todos aqueles que dentro deste Parlamento ou fora dele, profissionais e associações, me ajudaram a inteirar-me destas questões e a compreender melhor o que está em jogo. É também um dos principais motivos por que me regozijo com o relatório sobre a criação da Agência Ferroviária. Quer isto dizer que representantes da profissão e, nomeadamente, das organizações de assalariados estarão presentes no Conselho de Administração da Agência. Terão também a possibilidade de participar nos grupos de trabalho sobre as TSI (Especificações Técnicas para a Interoperabilidade) que lhes digam respeito. Muito embora eu desejasse outras melhorias, estes dois pontos mostram, a meu ver, o que a Europa pode ganhar se confiar e der voz àqueles que a fazem viver no dia-a-dia. Merecem, pois, um apoio forte deste Parlamento na votação de amanhã.
Debruço-me agora sobre o outro aspecto da dupla realidade de que falava no início. Na minha opinião, este pacote revela também as ideias preconcebidas em relação à abertura aos mercados e às liberalizações. A corrida desenfreada rumo a mais e mais liberalização é uma das fontes de descontentamento face à Europa. A directiva relativa à abertura das redes propõe a liberalização total do transporte de mercadorias, se bem que o primeiro pacote tenha acabado de ser transposto e não se tenha procedido a qualquer avaliação séria, transparente e equilibrada sobre os seus efeitos. Mais ainda, a data para a liberalização total do transporte ferroviário para passageiros foi anunciada, antecipando-se ao debate, que ainda não começou, sobre o terceiro pacote. Penso que é preciso deixar de fazer ouvidos de mercador à oposição expressa por todos sindicatos dos assalariados do sector ferroviário na Europa.
Assim, mesmo tratando-se de uma matéria tão importante e decisiva como é a segurança, é-nos proposto uma modificação do artigo 1º que visa colocar a abertura à concorrência ao mesmo nível da segurança. Trata-se, penso eu, de um sinal negativo. Não gostaria de repetir o que já disse por várias vezes, como os meus colegas sabem, a propósito desta matéria. Direi muito simplesmente que, no que toca a questões desta importância e com as experiências que temos tido na Europa, vale a pena adoptar o princípio de precaução.
Savary (PSE ),
Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, gostaria, antes de mais, de agradecer a todos os colegas, em primeiro lugar aos relatores destes quatro importantes relatórios, mas também a todos os colegas da Comissão da Política Regional, dos Transportes e do Turismo pelo trabalho notável que foi levado a cabo nestes quatro textos. Creio tratar-se de um bom exemplo da mais-valia parlamentar face às propostas iniciais da Comissão. Considero que o nosso contributo enriqueceu consideravelmente as propostas, o que é positivo; em resposta, recebemos grande compreensão da parte da Comissão e do Conselho, o que, em última análise, faz com que estes textos sejam extremamente gratificantes para nós como eurodeputados.
Gostaria de voltar a este pacote para dizer que o mesmo, no seu conjunto, nos proporciona grande satisfação, nomeadamente, graças ao trabalho desenvolvido pela senhora deputada Charlotte Cederschiöld no Comité de Conciliação, com destaque para o pacote “segurança”, um pacote absolutamente necessário como um sinal político forte antes do alargamento. Creio que a data em que chegámos ao termo deste trabalho não é indiferente. Numa altura em que queremos acolher dez novos países, há que renovar uma exigência de segurança extremamente forte num domínio, o sector ferroviário, em que a questão fundamental acaba por ser a segurança.
No que se refere à interoperabilidade, sabemos que se trata de uma das condições essenciais para a abertura das redes. Com efeito, a abertura à concorrência não poderá superar as barreiras técnicas que ainda existem hoje e que fazem com que, por exemplo, a locomotiva Thalys tenha de ter a bordo equipamento informático capaz de ler os vários sistemas operativos e de controlo relativos à pequena rede Thalys. Por conseguinte, regulamentar tudo isto e iniciar este grande projecto é essencial para o futuro do sector ferroviário.
No que diz respeito à Agência, penso que a criação de um instrumento que permita à Comissão trabalhar, praticamente no dia-a-dia, na implementação desta grande política e desta grande ambição para o sector ferroviário se reveste de toda a importância. Pessoalmente, considero uma grande honra ter tido a possibilidade de fechar este com inovações extremamente significativas. Estas incluem, pela primeira vez, a presença de todos os parceiros sociais – em especial, mas não exclusivamente, os sindicatos – nos grupos de trabalho e no conselho de administração.
Gostaríamos também de ter sido exemplares num outro domínio, pois entendemos que em relação à Agência, o Conselho deveria deixar de exigir um representante por país, o que agora implica uma representação do Conselho de 25 membros, dos quais dois não têm rede ferroviária. Isto mostra o quão absurdo é o sistema, um sistema que cria mecanismos que muito em breve deixarão de ser funcionais, em especial quando quisermos ir mais longe no alargamento, até aos Balcãs e talvez além dos Balcãs.
Espero, por conseguinte, que o compromisso assumido pelo Conselho e pela Comissão de adoptar, nos próximos anos, uma directiva que permita o bom funcionamento das agências e estabeleça um modelo padrão para todas elas, por forma a pôr termo às disparidades existentes, seja respeitado a bem da boa governança.
Por fim, no que se refere ao acesso à rede, o meu colega Jarzembowski conhece as minhas reticências, não à abertura à concorrência, mas ao facto de a mesma implicar uma série de requisitos. Considero que em relação ao texto, um texto aceitável no que toca ao transporte de mercadorias, haverá que ser mais cauteloso quanto à abertura ao tráfego internacional de passageiros. O que me incomoda especialmente neste texto é que o mesmo afirma que se procederá a uma avaliação a 1 de Janeiro de 2006, quando o dia 1 de Janeiro de 2006 é a data de abertura. Na verdade, não vejo como avaliar um texto cuja implementação será simultânea ao relatório de avaliação.
Uma nota de carácter mais geral e para concluir, Senhoras e Senhores deputados, gostaria de tecer alguns comentários sobre o nosso grande objectivo, a saber, o objectivo da mobilidade sustentável, por conseguinte, do desenvolvimento do sector ferroviário e dos canais navegáveis, em vez de ceder ao aumento do tráfego rodoviário que, um dia, nos colocará problemas políticos graves. Creio que a abertura, no sentido em que a concebemos, ou seja, a abertura puramente liberal, criando concorrência ao nível das redes, não é a panaceia. Hoje em dia, avançamos às cegas para essa meta. Na realidade, sabemos perfeitamente que a interoperabilidade não é financiada. Sabemos perfeitamente que há investimentos colossais a fazer e que as perspectivas financeiras não respondem à exigência dos recursos financeiros apresentada pela própria Senhora Comissária Loyola de Palacio para financiar as redes transeuropeias de transporte e, em especial, as redes ferroviárias.
Em suma, não creio que se chegue a fazer alguma coisa. Hoje dá-se um passo em frente sem os funcionários dos caminhos-de-ferro, uma vez que há culturas nacionais extremamente fortes – as coisas são assim –, que estão implantadas nestas empresas, na medida em que elas têm por base a mão-de-obra. Devemos, na minha opinião, promover o diálogo sectorial antes de avançar com directivas, o que aliás fizemos desta vez. Há que continuar neste caminho, mas espero também que um dia avancemos para uma convenção colectiva dos funcionários dos caminhos-de-ferro, quer sejam assalariados de empresas públicas ou privadas, de modo a que se apropriem deste prodigioso renascimento do sector ferroviário, que é do interesse de todos aqueles que aspiram a que tenhamos um modo de transporte menos poluente.
Cederschiöld (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhor Comissário, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, a última conciliação da presente legislatura pretendia estabelecer um mercado comum dos transportes ferroviários e constituiu um grande êxito, especialmente para o Parlamento. É, no entanto, aborrecido que o Conselho se tenha recusado a reduzir o número de membros do conselho de administração da nova Agência Ferroviária Europeia, como o Parlamento desejava. Esta situação induzirá, sem dúvida, uma burocracia desnecessária, como o senhor deputado Savary explicou tão eloquentemente aqui na Assembleia e, principalmente, durante as negociações.
Do lado do Parlamento Europeu, conseguimos, todavia, introduzir um documento juridicamente vinculativo que obriga a Comissão a realizar uma análise minuciosa da estrutura e da composição de todas as autoridades. Uma gestão eficiente deve ser baseada no interesse geral europeu. Seria um passo atrás adoptar-se o ponto de vista de que o maior mérito dos órgãos de tomada de decisão é serem constituídos numa base nacional, porque isso reduziria as possibilidades de alcançar a maior eficiência que é necessária. Os interesses nacionais podem ter, certamente, o seu lugar, mas não devem, definitivamente, ter a supremacia.
O Parlamento conseguiu antecipar a liberalização dos serviços de transporte de mercadorias para 2007, graças ao senhor deputado Jarzembowski. O seu texto significa que a Comissão também deverá procurar liberalizar os serviços de transportes de passageiros após 2010. Para garantir a segurança ferroviária, todos os trabalhadores dos caminhos-de-ferro, como os condutores dos comboios, que afectam a segurança ferroviária devem, a partir de agora, utilizar um vocabulário e um sistema de ordens de todos conhecidos, a fim de eliminar quaisquer riscos de equívoco. Todos os comboios devem estar, além disso, munidos de caixas negras semelhantes às existentes nos aviões.
Os quatro relatores do pacote ferroviário – senhor deputado Jarzembowski, responsável pelo relatório sobre o desenvolvimento dos caminhos-de-ferro comunitários, senhor deputado Savary, relator do relatório sobre a Agência Ferroviária Europeia, senhor deputado Dirk Sterckx, responsável pelo relatório sobre a segurança dos caminhos-de-ferro da Comunidade, e senhora deputada Ainardi, responsável pelo relatório sobre a interoperabilidade do sistema ferroviário transeuropeu – contribuíram, todos eles, para insuflar nova vida no sector ferroviário europeu.
É necessário desenvolver a infra-estrutura ferroviária para reduzir o congestionamento das nossas auto-estradas e permitir-nos satisfazer os requisitos ambientais. Desejo agradecer ao Parlamento Europeu e aos relatores, senhores deputados Jarzembowski, Savary, Sterckx e Ainardi, por este importante passo em frente.
Um avanço particularmente meritório foi o facto de termos conseguido unir os diversos partidos. Apenas houve uma divergência de importância secundária entre os partidos. Conseguimos manter uma frente mais ou menos unida contra o Conselho, facto que justifica, em grande medida, os resultados obtidos. A conciliação realizou-se com uma atitude construtiva, e o estado de espírito inteiramente novo que sentimos existir actualmente entre o Parlamento e o Conselho teve aqui a sua melhor expressão.
Swoboda (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, desejo igualmente, em nome do Grupo Socialista no Parlamento Europeu, apresentar à relatora os nossos calorosos agradecimentos pelo seu trabalho. Em muitos sentidos, foi uma tarefa fácil desde o início, porque, de parte a parte, as propostas eram semelhantes e paralelas, ao passo que, noutros aspectos, foi ligeiramente mais difícil, mas, quando se está acostumado a debater partindo de pontos de vista diferentes e se está disposto a chegar a um compromisso, acaba-se por se chegar de facto a um bom compromisso.
Por que motivo considero eu, como social-democrata, que estamos perante um bom compromisso? Pelo mesmo motivo que me leva a repetir constantemente aos meus amigos que nos anos e décadas mais recentes, por não ter havido qualquer liberalização ou abertura do mercado, o caminho-de-ferro perdeu quota de mercado. O que houve não foi liberalização, mas sim desmantelamento. A realidade é que, de um lado, temos veículos pesados de mercadorias percorrendo praticamente toda a Europa, sem fronteiras. Os motoristas não têm de ser rendidos, nem o tractor trocado, nas fronteiras; é certo que há diferenças de pormenor em matéria de sinalização de trânsito, mas são de compreensão relativamente fácil. E do outro lado, infelizmente, continuamos a ter sistemas ferroviários nacionais independentes entre si, o que cria obstáculos e, naturalmente, torna o caminho-de-ferro um modo de transporte pouco flexível. Por essa razão, numerosas empresas que, por muito que isso nos desagrade, se foram voltando cada vez mais para um regime de produção , viram-se muitas vezes obrigadas a optar pelo camião, em detrimento do comboio. Sendo, como sou, de um país sobrecarregado por um tráfego intensíssimo de veículos pesados, não posso deixar de aspirar por um meio de transporte eficiente, virado para o mercado, mas que, não obstante isso, como é óbvio, tenha em conta também o ambiente, e, para mim, tal meio é, indubitavelmente, o caminho-de-ferro.
O senhor deputado Jarzembowski tem razão quando afirma que é altura de as empresas ferroviárias fazerem alguma coisa em relação a esta situação. Critiquei incessantemente o facto de as empresas terem levado imenso tempo a começar a raciocinar em termos internacionais e europeus. No entanto, penso que hoje – e o trabalho desenvolvido por esta Câmara não foi o menor dos factores que contribuíram para isso – elas, e mesmo os representantes dos trabalhadores, os sindicatos, têm uma orientação europeia. Não deve haver muitos sindicatos tão virados para a Europa como os sindicatos do sector ferroviário, que sabem que o seu futuro depende do respectivo envolvimento a nível europeu. Penso que esta evolução se deve também, em larga medida, a eles. Os tempos em que ainda havia fogueiros nos comboios ingleses, apesar de já não haver caldeiras para alimentar, graças a Deus, já lá vão, e os representantes dos trabalhadores, actualmente, trabalham de modo muito construtivo, como aliás os maquinistas, para possibilitar um ressurgimento dos caminhos-de-ferro à escala europeia e para os habilitar a fazer concorrência às estradas.
Naturalmente, muita coisa está ainda por fazer. Esta semana mesmo, votámos o relatório Cocilovo. Não é ainda a solução ideal, mas fizeram-se alguns progressos. O senhor deputado Jarzembowski não o considera um progresso, mas, felizmente, até ele, em Hamburgo, no Norte da Alemanha, tem por vezes de fazer cedências. Portanto, com um pouco de sorte, poderemos chegar a uma boa solução para a questão da compensação dos custos externos. Isto, porque acredito que qualquer pessoa razoável, qualquer perito em transportes dirá que precisamos tanto dos transportes ferroviários como dos rodoviários. O que está em questão é atingir o equilíbrio adequado entre ambos. Acredito que se chegou a bom compromisso, nesta fase. Quanto aos serviços de transporte de passageiros, ver-se-á o que se há-de fazer. Concordo com a senhora deputada Ainardi, que precisamos de reavaliar as medidas que foram tomadas. Mas, até aqui, não se viu uma grande abertura do mercado, nem grande disponibilidade por parte das companhias de caminho-de-ferro para aceitar o mercado. Espero que se veja em maior grau, doravante.
Queria agradecer calorosamente, mais uma vez, à relatora pelo seu trabalho. Queria agradecer-lhe muito também a si, senhora deputada Cederschiöld, pelo modo objectivo e prudente como presidiu ao comité de conciliação. Ele permitiu-nos tratar com o Conselho e a Comissão em pé de igualdade. Creio que isso representa, por si só, um importante marco no desenvolvimento do sistema ferroviário europeu.
Caudron (GUE/NGL ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, a minha primeira intervenção nesta Assembleia – lembro-me bem – teve lugar há quinze anos atrás, também à noite, cerca das 23H45. A minha última intervenção, quinze anos mais tarde, tem de novo lugar à noite, perante uma assistência quase igualmente reduzida. Regozijo-me no entanto por poder usar da palavra sobre uma matéria tão importante como é o pacote ferroviário e tudo o que implica.
Gostaria, mais uma vez, de dizer, em nome do meu grupo e em meu nome, que atribuímos a maior das importâncias à manutenção e, sobretudo, ao desenvolvimento de uma rede ferroviária europeia de qualidade, densa, diversificada e segura, uma rede que preste um serviço público a todos os cidadãos da Europa e que contribua para um ordenamento equilibrado do território europeu.
Na nossa opinião, o pacote ferroviário e os pressupostos em que assenta são um exemplo de uma Europa que não queremos mais, uma Europa que privilegia a livre concorrência, passando por cima, muito frequentemente, de quaisquer outras considerações. É verdade que graças à luta dos sindicatos do sector e de uma parte deste Parlamento, sem esquecer a pressão concreta que constitui a opinião pública, cada vez mais sensível aos nossos argumentos, os pontos mais perigosos para o futuro do sector ferroviário foram eliminados ou adiados. Porém, na nossa opinião, e na minha também, o resultado continua a não ser aceitável, em especial no que se refere aos relatórios Jarzembowski e Sterckx, ainda que consideramos os relatórios Savary e Ainardi positivos.
Feitas as contas, o resultado global continua a ser, na nossa opinião, demasiado negativo. Para terminar, gostaria de dizer que tenho esperança de que, no futuro, existam outras forças dispostas a construir esta outra Europa a que nós aspiramos, uma Europa social e dos cidadãos, que pensamos estar bem mais próxima do sonho dos pais fundadores da Europa do que esta Europa de um grande mercado liberal a que nos conduziram anos de decisões tendentes à liberalização.
Queiró (UEN ).
Senhor Presidente, ao contrário do que se passa com outros modos de transporte, a liberalização dos mercados apenas aflorou o sector dos transportes ferroviários. Por esse motivo, este modo de transporte tem vindo a sofrer uma acentuada perda de influência em favor dos sectores concorrentes, especialmente o rodoviário.
É por esta razão que saudamos a apresentação deste segundo pacote ferroviário no qual a Comissão vem propor novas medidas que permitem prosseguir na via da liberalização, mantendo simultaneamente os padrões de segurança exigíveis para o sector. Aproveitamos para saudar igualmente o excelente trabalho realizado pelos colegas relatores.
Do nosso ponto de vista o compromisso a que foi possível chegar com o Conselho é aceitável relativamente aos pontos que estiveram em conflito. A questão mais complexa era, sem dúvida, a do âmbito do processo de liberalização, pois este colide com interesses fortemente consolidados nos diferentes Estados-Membros face ao especial papel que o sector ferroviário desempenha na economia de cada um deles.
Nesta perspectiva, a conciliação obtida modera as propostas mais radicais sem, todavia, perder de vista a futura abertura do mercado ao transporte ferroviário de passageiros. Outro ponto que mais se destaca traduz-se no acordo obtido relativamente à composição do Conselho de Administração da futura Agência Europeia. Felizmente foi possível aceitar o princípio, aliás já aplicado noutras agências, da inclusão de um representante de cada Estado-Membro no referido Conselho.
Uma palavra final relativamente à necessidade de incrementar uma estratégia comum de segurança ferroviária, afinal um dos aspectos que mais interessa aos utentes deste sector de transporte. Estamos inteiramente de acordo com a necessidade de harmonização das normas mínimas de segurança nesta matéria, bem como das disposições em vigor nos diversos Estados-Membros. Ainda de realçar o conjunto de propostas da Comissão dos Transportes relativamente à introdução de um certificado de segurança, à formação e credenciação do pessoal ferroviário e à introdução de uma língua veicular comum para os transportes internacionais, à semelhança do que acontece no sector da aviação. Em suma, o compromisso a que se chegou revela a visão corajosa e de futuro que todos devemos partilhar neste importante sector dos transportes.
Van Dam (EDD ).
– Senhor Presidente, podemos aguardar o renascimento dos caminhos-de-ferro como uma perspectiva maravilhosa. Infelizmente, a realidade está ainda longe disso. A concretização dessas elevadas expectativas depende de um forte incentivo europeu. Congratulamo-nos, pois, com os progressos que foram realizados sob a supervisão da senhora deputada Ainardi, do senhor deputado Savary, do senhor deputado Jarzembowski e do senhor deputado Sterckx. Todos eles contribuíram para a criação e para o desenvolvimento complementar de um quadro jurídico sólido, dentro do qual os caminhos-de-ferro europeus poderão desenvolver-se durante os próximos anos como um meio de transporte de mercadorias competitivo.
Uma importante questão foi a do transporte de passageiros. Apoio a recente noção de que o transporte de passageiros, enquanto mercado, é totalmente diferente do transporte de mercadorias e que o conceito de um não pode ser exactamente aplicado ao outro. O desenvolvimento deste mercado requer uma abordagem prudente.
O Conselho falou; o Parlamento falou; eu falei também. Cabe agora ao sector aceitar o desafio.
Lisi (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, julgo que faríamos bem em estar satisfeitos - diria muito satisfeitos - com o resultado alcançado. Os deputados que seguiram o desenvolvimento do pacote ferroviário recordarão que houve momentos em que duvidámos se iríamos ter êxito nos nossos esforços para concluir um capítulo tão complexo.
O primeiro resultado de que devemos orgulhar-nos é, por isso, o de termos atingido a meta e de termos alcançado o resultado. O segundo é que, objectivamente, exceptuando alguns aspectos que podem não convencer todas as facções políticas - como ouvimos aqui esta noite -, temos de reconhecer que alcançámos um resultado equilibrado. Nestas quatro propostas - a cujos relatores devemos, naturalmente, agradecer o grande trabalho que realizaram - temos uma mistura equilibrada de, por um lado, a necessidade urgente de abrir este mercado e de o modernizar e, por outro, a necessidade de termos garantias, tanto em termos de segurança como em termos de capacidade e experiência dos trabalhadores deste sector, que queremos salvaguardar.
Acima de tudo, o que pretendo é exprimir os meus agradecimentos. Gostaria simplesmente de fazer uma observação, porque ouvi alguns comentários que tenho dificuldade em entender. Quando se fala desta liberalização, que alguns demonizam, gostaria de pedir que nunca nos esquecêssemos de que o nosso ponto de vista e o nosso objectivo são os utentes deste serviço. Ninguém detém a chave da liberalização enquanto tal. Devemos, por um lado, assegurar que, aproveitando as oportunidades da concorrência, melhoramos efectivamente o serviço para muitos utentes que, antes de mais, são trabalhadores - aqueles que utilizam este serviço para se deslocarem para o seu trabalho - e, por outro lado, assegurar que isto se processa em condições de segurança aproveitando também as capacidades profissionais dos trabalhadores. Penso que alcançámos este objectivo.
Dado que esta é a minha última intervenção nesta legislatura, aproveito esta oportunidade para agradecer aos meus colegas. Esta foi a minha primeira experiência parlamentar, e ter sido nesta comissão ajudou-me a compreender muitas vezes que se faz mais para construir a Europa através deste trabalho difícil, normativo, que tem um efeito directo na vida das pessoas, do que em numerosos debates, frequentemente estéreis, sobre o futuro e o significado da Europa.
Ribeiro (GUE/NGL ).
Senhor Presidente, as redes transeuropeias trouxeram de volta o transporte ferroviário, símbolo do investimento e do serviço públicos que caracterizaram décadas e ilustraram epopeias de conquistas de acessibilidades para espaços assim humanizados.
A deriva liberalizadora, de classe, como outras colaterais, teria de chegar ao caminho-de-ferro, como à educação, como à saúde e à água, erigindo a economia de mercado em ideologia única e fundamentalista. Não que, saudosos, queiramos que o tempo volte para trás. Mas queremos contribuir para que os caminhos-de-ferro, e com eles os serviços públicos, entrem nos carris do futuro em benefício das populações, não exclusivamente movidos por interesses financeiros, servindo poucas terras e passando a altas velocidades. Redes interoperacionais, articulação multimodal, efectiva segurança, salvaguarda ambiental, participação e responsabilização real de Estados-Membros como parte essencial de uma estrutura ferroviária são condições para que assim possa ser. Pelo que agradeço aos relatores o seu trabalho.
Presidente.
Está encerrada a discussão conjunta.
A votação terá lugar amanhã, às 11H00.
Presidente.
Segue-se na ordem do dia o relatório (A5-0237/2004) do deputado Rübig, em nome da Comissão da Indústria, do Comércio Externo, da Investigação e da Energia, sobre a proposta de decisão do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho que altera a Decisão 2000/819/CE relativa a um programa plurianual para a empresa e o espírito empresarial, em especial para as pequenas e médias empresas (PME) (2001-2005) (COM(2003) 758 – C5-0628/2003 – 2003/0292(COD)).
Reding,
Senhor Presidente, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, em primeiro lugar, gostaria de agradecer ao relator, o senhor deputado Rübig, o seu excelente trabalho, que nos permitirá aprovar a presente proposta em primeira leitura. Estamos perante um bom exemplo de cooperação eficaz e construtiva entre as Instituições.
A proposta da Comissão comporta dois vectores principais. Por um lado, considera a supressão do programa Empresa Comum Europeia (JEV) e, por outro, faz algumas mudanças ao mecanismo europeu de apoio ao capital de arranque para empresas do sector das tecnologias, chamado o MET - Apoio ao Arranque. Este mecanismo fornece capital de risco para o lançamento de empresas no sector das tecnologias.
A supressão proposta do programa JEV é o resultado de uma avaliação que conclui que o mesmo não alcançou os seus objectivos. A procura diminui e o impacto em termos de criação de emprego é limitado. Creio que esta proposta envia uma mensagem clara, a saber, que tanto o Parlamento como a Comissão estão dispostos a suprimir os programas que se revelem ineficazes, que não tenham atingido os seus objectivos.
É preferível que a Comissão consagre os seus recursos financeiros e humanos a instrumentos financeiros destinados a pequenas e médias empresas que têm um maior impacto, por exemplo o Mecanismo de garantia às PME e o mecanismo MET - Apoio ao Arranque.
No que diz respeito às mudanças propostas para este mecanismo de apoio, elas permitir-lhe-ão transformar-se num instrumento flexível. Estas mudanças melhorarão a disponibilidade de financiamento e capital de arranque para empresas que tenham até dez anos de idade, comparado com os cinco anos até agora previstos, se forem activas em sectores específicos como as ciências da vida. Isso reflecte o facto de o desenvolvimento do produto e a fase experimental poderem ser particularmente longas para estas empresas e de, durante esse tempo, verem-se na necessidade de aceder a capitais de risco, a fim de prosseguir as suas actividades.
A proposta da Comissão faz também uma referência mais explícita à elegibilidade dos fundos investidos em empresas que se dedicam a actividades de investigação e desenvolvimento. Isto permite salientar que o mecanismo europeu de apoio ao capital de arranque é aberto a fundos que se destinam a pequenas e médias empresas particularmente activas no domínio da investigação e desenvolvimento.
Termino dizendo que estas alterações ao mecanismo de apoio ao capital de arranque deverão contribuir para a consecução, quer dos objectivos de Lisboa, quer do objectivo que estabelece 3 % do PIB para as despesas em matéria de investigação e desenvolvimento. Congratulo-me pois por ver que o Parlamento apoia a proposta da Comissão. Será portanto escusado dizer, Senhor Deputado Rübig, que a Comissão pode aceitar todas as alterações do Parlamento Europeu, as alterações de 1 a 5.
Rübig (PPE-DE ),
. Senhor Presidente Vidal-Quadras Roca, Senhora Comissária Reding, Senhoras e Senhores Deputados, trabalhar no duro e apontar a alvos precisos foi a receita que aprendi no decurso da minha experiência como ferreiro, e regozijo-me pelo facto de as três Instituições – o Parlamento, o Conselho e, também, a Comissão – terem demonstrado quão rápido e eficiente pode ser o processo legislativo, quando estão em causa matérias importantes e quando há consenso sobre elas. A proposta foi apresentada em Dezembro de 2003. Em Janeiro, estava entregue a três comissões e a um relator. A 21 de Abril – hoje –, concluímos no trílogo que o presente projecto legislativo tinha o acordo de todos, de modo que, entre a primeira proposta e a entrada em vigor desta importante decisão relativa às pequenas e médias empresas, transcorreram apenas quatro meses.
Com este programa, pretendemos simplesmente promover o investimento em novas tecnologias e, acima de tudo, em formação – o que faz com que a presença da senhora comissária Reding me deixe particularmente satisfeito – , porque entendemos que a formação, a educação e a formação contínua são uma base absolutamente crucial para o sucesso das empresas e, por conseguinte, em última análise, o respectivo crédito e as garantias que lhes são exigidas para a concessão de empréstimos são, também, favorecidos de modo determinante por elas.
O nosso objectivo é, muito simplesmente, assegurar a preservação dos postos de trabalho e das empresas existentes e criar outros novos. Acredito que o presente programa nos permitirá concretizar esse objectivo de modo assaz eficiente. Reconhecemos igualmente querer fomentar a colaboração, especialmente entre empresas – sobretudo as de menores dimensões – e, em última análise, não só das empresas entre si, como também com as organizações promotoras.
Pensamos ainda que a Comissão deveria manter-nos informados dos progressos realizados, começando obviamente pelos efeitos financeiros, mas interessam-nos também os padrões de desempenho fixados, e as melhores práticas, na aplicação efectiva destes programas, na sua execução, as lições que podemos retirar da respectiva aplicação nos vários países, com vista a tirar o máximo partido possível deles e a garantir que, no seu âmbito, não sejam incluídas despesas administrativas e que todo o dinheiro previsto – 100% – reverta directamente para as empresas através do Banco Europeu de Investimento.
Estamos cientes de que num dos três programas, designadamente o programa JEV, não atingimos esses objectivos. Queria agradecer de modo bem explícito à Comissão por ter tido a coragem de o reconhecer oficialmente, e de dizer que o dito programa não está a ser cabalmente aproveitado. Contudo, gostaríamos de dar uma utilização apropriada aos fundos que foram libertados aí e sabemos que as matérias de Basileia II – garantias, empréstimos participativos e capital de risco –, de futuro, serão objecto de menor atenção ainda. Por isso queria solicitar, hoje mesmo, a esta Assembleia – e vamos, na realidade, resolver provisoriamente todas estas questões em sessão plenária, amanhã – que o dossier de Basileia II seja também levado a sério.
Neste ponto concluímos que, embora venha de ser apresentado um estudo que já foi registado pelos peritos internos competentes, e cujos resultados, aparentemente, não são, todavia, satisfatórios para nós, gostaríamos também que se promovesse um estudo de impacto, que mostrasse que problemas esperamos superar com a legislação de Basileia II, e gostaríamos de dispor hoje de um estudo de impacto feito pela Comissão, e o Conselho insistiu igualmente em que nos muníssemos de um. Gostaríamos de saber o que os nossos ministros das finanças, os nossos Estados nacionais, na contagem decrescente para a introdução das regras do segundo Acordo de Basileia, desejariam fazer ou terão de fazer, que propostas estão os vários Estados a desenvolver neste domínio, e, acima de tudo, tem de haver um programa para a reestruturação de empresas. Contudo, os custos da introdução do Basileia II não podem importar em milhares de milhões de euros. Desejaríamos o contrário disso. Desejaríamos um projecto de racionalização. Os custos para as empresas, e para os bancos, devem ser drasticamente reduzidos, e aqui toda a gente vai estar de olhos postos nos supervisores dos mercados financeiros, nos ministérios das finanças e na Comissão. O Parlamento fará também tudo o que estiver ao seu alcance para que Basileia II seja um sucesso. Gostaríamos que o Pacto de Estabilidade, que aceitámos para a nossa Europa, na sua configuração, tivesse em conta também as nossas pequenas empresas, garantindo-lhes assim, também a elas, um futuro seguro.
Montfort (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, o relatório Rübig não coloca qualquer problema. Propõe ajustar as medidas financeiras relativas às empresas e modificar o programa plurianual para a empresa e o espírito empresarial de que fui relatora. Espero que este relatório traduza finalmente a vontade da Comissão de ter em conta as necessidades das PME no que diz respeito ao capital de risco, ao apoio ao arranque e à transferência de empresas, como disse a Senhora Comissária. Todos estes programas são ainda insuficientes para responder aos objectivos de Lisboa, porém reafirmados todos os anos na Cimeira da Primavera. Não me alongarei mais nesta questão. Contudo, como se trata da nossa última sessão e eu não estarei, de certeza, na próxima Assembleia, infelizmente, gostaria de voltar a dizer, com toda a veemência, o que os meus colegas no Grupo do Partido Popular Europeu (Democratas-Cristãos) e dos Democratas Europeus e eu sempre defendemos na Comissão da Indústria, do Comércio Externo, da Investigação e da Energia.
Em primeiro lugar, espero que a Carta Europeia das Pequenas Empresas adquira finalmente um estatuto jurídico. As nossas empresas têm necessidade da sua implementação, como se afirmou na Cimeira de Barcelona. Qual é a sua opinião, Senhora Comissária? Em segundo lugar, as nossas empresas, sejam elas pequenas ou médias, e seja qual for o seu sector de actividade, inovador, tradicional ou artesanal, precisam de ter acesso a programas de investigação e de desenvolvimento. Não se trata de uma opção, mas sim de uma obrigação a fim de se manterem competitivas, dinâmicas e eficazes, como o referiu há pouco, Senhora Comissária. Por último, estas empresas têm necessidade de aconselhamento, de cooperação, de diálogo. Ora, existem organizações profissionais que dão apoio a estas pequenas e médias empresas. Será que a Comissão tenciona considerá-las como verdadeiros parceiros na elaboração de novos programas?
É assim que as nossas empresas poderão responder ao desafio do crescimento e do emprego, que os nossos jovens poderão adquirir a cultura e o espírito empresarial e que a Europa, finalmente reunificada, passará a ser esse espaço mais dinâmico do mundo, no qual todos os cidadãos poderão encontrar o seu lugar.
Rübig (PPE-DE ).
Senhor Presidente, queria apenas declarar, para que fique registado, que o senhor deputado Hans-Peter Martin, que está sempre tão preocupado com as pessoas que assinam a lista de presenças sem estarem presentes, brilha pela ausência nesta sessão nocturna.
Presidente.
Dado não se encontrarem presentes os senhores deputados que deveriam usar da palavra, está encerrado o debate.
A votação terá lugar amanhã, às 11H00.
Presidente.
Segue-se na ordem do dia o relatório (A5-0235/2004) do deputado van Velzen, em nome da Comissão da Indústria, do Comércio Externo, da Investigação e da Energia, sobre a proposta de decisão do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho que estabelece um programa comunitário plurianual destinado a tornar os conteúdos digitais na Europa mais acessíveis, utilizáveis e exploráveis (COM(2004) 96 - C5-0082/2004 - 2004/0025(COD)).
Van Velzen (PPE-DE ),
. Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, este momento tem algo de histórico, uma vez que é quarta-feira à noite e se trata do último relatório da ordem do dia. É também o último relatório que faço nesta Câmara, porque, ao fim de dez anos, vou retirar-me.
Não há muito tempo, a importância do processo de Lisboa foi debatida uma vez mais, na Cimeira de Bruxelas. Se queremos tornar a Europa a sociedade baseada no conhecimento mais competitiva e dinâmica do mundo até 2010, temos, naturalmente, muito que fazer ainda. Como pudemos já verificar com o “Europe 2005”, o sucesso na introdução do acesso à banda larga depende em grande medida da disponibilidade de conteúdos digitais. Com efeito, se se dispuser de banda larga mas ela não tiver nada dentro, o público não adere propriamente com entusiasmo. O mesmo vale para os serviços avançados para utilizadores da telefonia móvel, e refiro-me, por exemplo, à terceira geração.
Recentemente, passei algumas semanas na China e notei que os chineses, à semelhança dos japoneses e sul-coreanos, já estão a vibrar com a quarta geração da telefonia móvel. O que isso significa é que, incluindo no campo da telefonia móvel de terceira geração, a Europa vai continuar a perder terreno, como os números da Nokia comprovam. A esta luz, o relatório sobre conteúdos digitais assume enorme relevância, porque promove o incremento da produtividade e da inovação, e melhores produtos e serviços de informação; tem um impacto positivo sobre a administração em linha, outro domínio em que nos encontramos seriamente atrasados, e gera novos projectos nas áreas da saúde em linha, do comércio electrónico e do ensino electrónico.
Por consequência, regozijo-me pela presença da senhora comissária aqui esta noite. A proposta da Comissão em apreço sobre conteúdos digitais identifica os obstáculos, particularmente nos domínios de interesse público na Europa, assim como áreas em que o mercado não tem promovido o investimento adequado. O mercado não pode fazer tudo e os governos têm um papel a desempenhar, na justa medida. A actual proposta cria condições para um melhor acesso, e uma melhor utilização, dos conteúdos digitais e, nos casos em que tal é necessário, para um maior retorno económico no campo dos serviços baseados no acesso a, e reutilização de, conteúdos digitais.
A Comissão da Indústria, do Comércio Externo, da Investigação e da Energia apresentou 16 alterações à proposta da Comissão. Com as alterações em causa visamos assegurar que o relatório incida sobre o sector público, que sejam tidas em consideração as perspectivas financeiras para além de 2007, que haja lugar à afectação de um orçamento de 55 milhões de euros para os anos 2005 e 2006, e que o orçamento total do programa ascenda a 163 milhões de euros. A este propósito, gostaria de aproveitar a oportunidade para agradecer às minhas relatoras-sombra, senhoras deputadas Gil e Plooij-Van Gorsel, pela excelente relação de trabalho que mantivemos.
As perspectivas pareciam animadoras, porque o Conselho, com quem negociámos, também beneficiaria com a conclusão do processo à primeira leitura, para evitar atrasos. O nosso orçamento de base era de 163 milhões de euros. O Conselho, e a Presidência irlandesa em particular, fizeram-nos crer que seria possível chegar a acordo se reduzíssemos o valor para 145 milhões de euros. Como bons parlamentares, esperávamos obter uma quantia da ordem dos 150 milhões, mas, em trílogo informal, a Presidência irlandesa respondeu que o orçamento não deveria ultrapassar os 120 milhões, acrescentando que, fazendo alguma pressão, provavelmente acabaríamos por conseguir 138 milhões. Nós comunicámos que isso era insuficiente para nós e que o mínimo absoluto era 140 milhões. Subsequentemente, solicitámos à Presidência do Conselho que declarasse por escrito a sua anuência à verba de 140 milhões. A proposta caducou à 13h30 de hoje. É típico do Conselho ter-me feito chegar a seguinte mensagem às 5h11. Cito textualmente, porque vai soar bem nos registos para a posteridade.
É a terceira vez que recebemos a mesma mensagem do Conselho e, de cada vez que pedimos que passem aos actos, é-nos dito que não estão em condições de o fazer. Com tal – como lhe hei-de chamar? - incerteza no Conselho, somos forçados a concluir que temos uma campanha eleitoral para lançar. Que diremos aos cidadãos que o Conselho faz promessas muito bonitas em Bruxelas a respeito do processo de Lisboa, mas assim que toca a cumpri-las, também em termos de meios financeiros destinados a concretizar o processo de Lisboa, falha à chamada e deixa-nos de mãos a abanar.
É muitíssimo lamentável que nós, que pretendemos ter em 2010 a economia baseada no conhecimento mais dinâmica e competitiva do mundo, e nós, nesta Casa, sejamos tratados desta forma pelo Conselho. Ainda bem que vem aí a campanha eleitoral. Não deixarei em caso algum de participar nela e de denunciar a ambivalência do Conselho. Espera-nos um futuro risonho.
Reding,
Senhor Presidente, permita-me, antes de entrar no cerne da questão, que dirija uma palavra pessoal de agradecimento ao senhor deputado Wim van Velzen, relator e meu amigo, pelo trabalho que desenvolveu ao longo destes últimos dez anos a favor do bem comum e da melhoria da vida de todos os europeus, independentemente de quem sejam ou das suas posições, e não só europeus: refiro-me também ao seu trabalho a nível internacional, e até global. A meu ver, o senhor deputado Wim van Velzen mostrou o que é ser um bom deputado.
Passo agora ao programa content. A Comissão tenciona lançar este programa, como o relator explicou, no início de 2005, praticamente a meio caminho da meta fixada para a agenda de Lisboa: 2010. Precisamos de melhorar as condições de inovação por parte das empresas – nomeadamente em certos sectores do mercado dos produtos e serviços de conteúdos digitais – razão por que este programa é extremamente relevante para a estratégia de Lisboa.
O mercado de conteúdos digitais oferece um potencial significativo de crescimento, mas providencia igualmente uma plataforma ideal para produtos e serviços de conteúdo digital inovador, que vão além das fronteiras nacionais. Imaginem, por exemplo, se todas as nossas administrações públicas na Europa recolhessem e armazenassem dados e informação da mesma maneira e se, para além disso, os nossos cidadãos tivessem um bom conhecimento de todas as línguas da União. Tentei despertar as pessoas para essa possibilidade com o Ano Europeu das Línguas, e a verdade é que o processo está em curso: cada vez mais, as pessoas aprendem outras línguas, muito embora tenhamos ainda um longo caminho a percorrer para alcançar essa meta. Não obstante, contamos ver na Internet muitos mais mapas das auto-estradas transeuropeias, de cursos de água navegáveis e de outros recursos naturais e também produzidos pelo Homem e, a seguir, veremos grandes bibliotecas digitais europeias de dimensão escolar e cultural. Veremos muito mais material digital europeu destinado ao ensino e ao conhecimento.
A realidade é que, em Maio de 2004, a União Europeia compreenderá 25 Estados-Membros, 20 línguas, mais culturas ainda, uma multiplicidade de regiões e um mercado verdadeiramente fragmentado para qualquer empresa que pretenda desenvolver produtos e serviços transfronteiriços de conteúdo digital inovador. Esta é uma situação que deverá ser tomada em conta quando o programa content arrancar, em Janeiro de 2005.
A perspectiva poderá não ser tão desoladora como parece. A Directiva recentemente adoptada relativa à informação do sector público alinha os quadros jurídicos nos Estados-Membros com respeito à reutilização da informação obtida pelo sector público. As dificuldades em combinar formatos e línguas podem ser contornadas utilizando as tecnologias de informação de hoje, de acordo com a proposta eContent. Razão por que, - e concordo absolutamente com o relator – é tão importante que este programa content deva ser considerado em conjugação com o programa , uma vez que as pessoas têm primeiro de aprender a utilizar o conteúdo antes de retiraram verdadeiros benefícios do mesmo.
O programa proposto recomenda que nos concentremos em partes claramente fragmentadas do mercado de conteúdos digitais na Europa, em que as forças de mercado, por si só, têm sido insuficientes para promover o crescimento, como muito bem disse o relator. O programa visa três domínios: informação geográfica ou espacial, material educacional e conteúdo cultural.
É pois com prazer que a Comissão constata que as alterações à sua proposta apresentadas pelo relator, o senhor deputado van Velzen, melhoram a proposta. Gostaríamos de lhe agradecer, bem como às relatoras-sombra, as senhoras deputadas Gill e Plooij-van Gorsel, pelos esforços despendidos na procura de uma solução de compromisso com o Conselho e na tentativa de concluir os procedimentos em primeira leitura. Ainda que o relator possa ter questões a resolver com o Conselho, não terá nenhumas com a Comissão, atendendo a que esta pode aceitar todas as alterações apresentadas pelo Parlamento.
Gill (PSE ).
Senhor Presidente, o senhor deputado van Velzen merece ser felicitado, pois fez um trabalho fantástico e produziu de facto um excelente relatório. Fui relatora do primeiro relatório sobre conteúdos digitais, pelo que estou em posição de avaliar o quão arduamente o senhor deputado van Velzen trabalhou para tentar garantir a possibilidade de proporcionarmos à Europa uma vantagem no domínio dos conteúdos digitais. Tal como o relator afirmou, os EUA possuem a economia digital mais avançada do mundo, sendo que a Europa, com os seus mercados fragmentados e as suas empresas, comparativamente pequenas, de telecomunicações e de meios de comunicação procura agora alcançá-los em termos de qualidade de conteúdo e de produtos.
Em vez de falar sobre o conteúdo do seu relatório, que foi eloquentemente sintetizado quer pelo relator, quer pela Comissão, gostaria de falar sobre o Conselho. Estou extremamente preocupada com o tipo de atitude e abordagem que o Conselho adoptou. Afirma uma e outra vez que quer alcançar os objectivos de Lisboa, entre os quais o principal é a criação de oportunidades para a Europa na era electrónica. Contudo, quando se trata de fazer acompanhar as suas palavras de actos, nada acontece.
Como disse o relator, o Conselho tratou o Parlamento com total indiferença. Temos andado a regatear valores - 20 milhões, 30 milhões, 50 milhões – porque o Conselho não está disposto a providenciar recursos suficientes para tornar este programa exequível. Numa Europa de 25 Estados-Membros, há que dispor de recursos suficientes, se pretendemos ganhar alguma vantagem competitiva sobre o nosso grande concorrente nesta área, os EUA. Muitos postos de trabalho que requerem funcionários altamente qualificados assentam na nossa capacidade de progredir neste campo, bem como de lançar este programa e chegar até às PME e a outros fornecedores.
É absolutamente lamentável que, devido à atitude do Conselho, não tenhamos podido finalizar esta iniciativa. Era fundamental para esta legislatura fazê-lo e dar início à execução deste programa em 2005; o facto é que, da parte do Parlamento, havia verdadeira vontade de levar por diante este projecto. É em detrimento da UE que não o foi, e isso fica a dever-se à falta de vontade do Conselho em disponibilizar os recursos suficientes. Os montantes que está a oferecer neste momento são extremamente magros numa União a 25.
Gostaria de felicitar o relator, que fez tudo por tudo para chegar a uma situação de convergência, pois alguns de nós, noutros grupos, pretendiam manter a proposta original da Comissão, que era de 165 milhões de euros. Esta era a verba necessária se quiséssemos verdadeiramente levar à prática a proposta Content.
O fracasso não se deve à falta de esforço da parte do relator. Espero que, numa segunda leitura, o Conselho entenda a mensagem de que o Parlamento não está disposto a apoiar programas que não passam de esforços fraccionados.
Presidente.
Está encerrado o debate.
A votação terá lugar amanhã, às 11H00(1).
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Introduction {#Sec1}
============
Growth hormone (GH)-releasing hormone (GHRH) is a neurosecretory peptide produced by hypothalamic neurons which stimulates synthesis and release of GH in the anterior pituitary gland^[@CR1],[@CR2]^. In addition to its recognized metabolic and endocrine effects, GHRH exerts also various effects on central and peripheral tissues such as brain, gastrointestinal tract, heart, kidney and retina^[@CR3]--[@CR5]^. In the pituitary, as well as in peripheral tissues, GHRH binds to pituitary-type GHRH-receptor (P GHRH-R), a G protein-coupled receptor which stimulates the adenylyl cyclase, cAMP and protein kinase A (PKA) cascade^[@CR6]^, and to its splice variant (SV1)^[@CR1],[@CR7]--[@CR9]^.
Various GHRH receptor agonist and antagonist peptides have been synthesized by us and other groups and studied for their biological activity^[@CR1],[@CR10]--[@CR16]^. In particular, the novel GHRH antagonists of the Miami (MIA) series, MIA-690 and MIA-602, were found to inhibit growth of different human cancer lines and xenografted into nude mice in microgram doses after subcutaneous administration^[@CR15],[@CR17],[@CR18]^. The most potent antitumor analogs, MIA-690 and MIA-602 also showed antinflammatory activities^[@CR15]^. However the MIA-series of GHRH analogs with increased GHRH-R binding affinity have a weak GH inhibitory activity on pituitary somatotrophs^[@CR15]^. GHRH agonists of MR series, such as MR-409, exhibit higher potency upon subcutaneous administration and binding activity than the parent hormone^[@CR14],[@CR17]^. Recently, MR-409, a GHRH agonist, was found to inhibit *in vivo* growth of lung cancer xenografted into nude mice^[@CR14],[@CR16]^. The antinflammatory and antioxidant properties of MR-409 could be implicated in these effects. In addition, a GHRH agonist, JI-34, was found to induce anxiety and depression whereas MZ-4-71, a GHRH antagonist, elicited anxiolytic and anti-depressant effects^[@CR19],[@CR20]^. In addition, we previously found that mice with GH deficiency due to removal of GHRH gene (GHRHKO) had decreased anxiety- and depression-related behaviour^[@CR21]^. The aim of our work was to investigate the potential anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of GHRH antagonist MIA-690 and agonist MR-409 in the brain, and the role of both classes of analogs on emotional behavior in adult mice.
Results {#Sec2}
=======
Inhibitory effects of MIA-690 and MR-409 on LPS-induced prostaglandin (PG)E~2~ and 8-iso-PGF~2α~ levels in prefrontal cortex specimens {#Sec3}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tissue supernatants PGE~2~ and 8-iso-PGF~2α~ levels were determined by radioimmunoassay (RIA), after treatment of prefrontal cortex specimens with LPS + MIA-690 (1--5 μM), LPS + MR-409 (1--5 μM), LPS or vehicle. Treatment with LPS induced a significant increase of PGE~2~ and 8-iso-PGF~2α~ levels in prefrontal cortex specimens, as compared to vehicle treated controls. The GHRH antagonist MIA-690 (1--5 μM) and GHRH agonist MR-409 (1--5 μM) were found to inhibit LPS-induced PGE~2~ and 8-iso-PGF~2α~ levels in a dose-dependent manner \[Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"} panel A and B; F~2/12~ = 3.11, p \< 0.05 and F~2/12~ = 6.93, p \< 0.01 (for MIA-690); F~2/12~ = 5.10, p \< 0.005 and F~2/12~ = 12.97, p \< 0.001 (for MR-409)\]. In this context, MR-409 (1--5 μM) was more effective than MIA-690 in decreasing LPS-induced PGE~2~ and 8-iso-PGF~2α~ levels \[Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"} panel A and B; F~2/12~ = 3.11, p \< 0.05\].Figure 1Inhibitory effects of MIA-690 (1--5 μM) and MR-409 (1--5 μM) on PGE~2~ and 8-iso-PGF~2α~ levels, *ex vivo* (n = 5 for each group of treatment). Data are expressed as means ± S.E.M. and analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni *post-hoc* test \*p \< 0.05, \*\*p \< 0.01,\*\*\*p \< 0.005; \*\*\*\*p \< 0.001 vs. LPS group; ^\#^p \< 0.05 vs. co-respective treatment with MIA-690.
Inhibitory effects of MIA-690 and MR-409 on LPS-induced lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and nitrite production in prefrontal cortex specimens {#Sec4}
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In order to evaluate potential effects of MIA-690 (1--5 μM) and MR-409 (1--5 μM) on oxidative stress biomarkers, we measured LPS-induced LDH and nitrite production in prefrontal cortex specimens treated with the peptides. LPS treatment induced a significant increase of LDH and nitrite production in prefrontal cortex specimens, as compared to vehicle treated controls. MIA-690 (1--5 μM) decreased LDH activity and nitrite levels in a dose-dependent manner \[Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"} panel A and B; F~4/14~ = 5.04, p \< 0.01 and F~4/14~ = 3.89, p \< 0.005\]. Similarly, MR-409 (1--5 μM) inhibited LPS-induced LDH activity and nitrite levels, without showing a dose-dependent effect \[Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"} panel A and B; F~4/12~ = 4.47, p \< 0.05 and F~4/12~ = 5.41, p \< 0.01\]. MIA-690 (1--5 μM) was more effective in decreasing LPS-induced LDH and nitrite production compared to MR-409 \[Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"} panel A and B; F~4/14~ = 3.11, p \< 0.05 and F~4/14~ = 3.89, p \< 0.005\].Figure 2Inhibitory effects of MIA-690 (1--5 μM) and MR-409 (1--5 μM) on LDH and nitrite production, *ex vivo* (n = 5 for each group of treatment). Data are expressed as means ± S.E.M. and analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni *post-hoc* test \*p \< 0.05, \*\*p \< 0.01,\*\*\*p \< 0.005 vs LPS group; ^\#^p \< 0.05 and ^\#\#^p \< 0.005 vs. co-respective treatment with MR-409.
MIA-690 and MR-409 decrease LPS- induced cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene expression in prefrontal cortex specimens {#Sec5}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Real-time polymerase chain-reaction (PCR) revealed a significantly increase in COX-2, NF-kB and iNOS gene expression in prefrontal cortex specimens after LPS treatment, as compared to vehicle treated controls. The GHRH antagonist MIA-690 (1--5 μM) inhibited LPS-induced inflammatory markers in a dose-dependent manner in prefrontal cortex specimens \[Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"} panel A, B and C; F~6/18~ = 2.66, p \< 0.05 and F~6/18~ = 6.01, p \< 0.01\]. Our findings also showed that the GHRH agonist MR-409 (1--5 μM) inhibited LPS-induced COX-2, NF-kB and iNOS gene expression in prefrontal cortex specimens, without a dose-dependent effect \[Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"} panel A, B and C; F~5/15~ = 2.90, p \< 0.05\]. MIA-690 (5 μM) was more effective than MR-409 in decreasing all the markers tested \[Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"} panel A, B and C; F~6/18~ = 2.66, p \< 0.05\].Figure 3Relative quantification of COX-2, NF-kB and iNOS gene expression in mouse prefrontal cortex specimens treated with MIA-690 (1--5 μM) and MR-409 (1--5 μM), *ex vivo* (n = 5 for each group of treatment). Data were calculated using the 2^−ΔΔCt^ method, normalized to β-actin mRNA levels, and expressed relative to control (calibrator sample, defined as 1.00). Data are expressed as means ± S.E.M. and analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni *post-hoc* test \*p \< 0.05, \*\*p \< 0.01 vs. LPS group; ^\#^p \< 0.05 vs. co-respective treatment with MR-409.
Exploration behavioral analysis {#Sec6}
-------------------------------
Horizontal and vertical activity was recorded in the home cage over 10 min. MIA-690 (5 μg) or MR-409 (5 μg) was s.c. injected daily for 4 weeks in mice. Control animals received s.c. injection of vehicle \[0.1% DMSO (Sigma) and 10% propylene glycol\]. As shown in Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}, s.c. administration of MIA-690 (5 μg) and MR-409 (5 μg) did not modify locomotor activity respect to vehicle injected animals. Two-way ANOVA did not show significant differences in horizontal (Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"} panel A; 2 wk F~2/27~ = 3.27, p = 0.57; 4 wk F~2/27~ = 0.11, p = 0.89) and vertical activity (Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"} panel B; 2 wk F~2/27~ = 3.15, p = 0.058; 4 wk F~2/27~ = 0.57, p = 0.56) at 2 and 4 weeks of treatment, with respect to controls.Figure 4Locomotor activity in mice treated with MIA 690 (5 μg) and MR 409 (5 μg) (n = 18 for each group of treatment). Compared to vehicle, MIA-690 and MR-409 treatment did not change locomotor activity. Horizontal activity (**A**) and vertical activity (**B**) were recorded for 10 min. Data are expressed as means ± S.E.M. and analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni *post-hoc* test.
### Anxiety-like behavior {#Sec7}
To evaluate the possible effects of MIA-690 (5 μg) and MR-409 (5 μg) on anxiety-like behavior, light-dark box and elevated plus maze test were used. The evaluations were performed at 2 and 4 weeks of treatment. We found that s.c. injection of MIA-690 (5 μg) or MR-409 (5 μg) decreased anxiety related behavior (Figs. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"} and [6](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"}) at 2 and 4 weeks of treatment, for MIA-690, and at 4 weeks of treatment for MR-409. Compared to vehicle, treatment with MIA-690 and MR-409 increased time spent in the light area \[Fig. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"} panel A; 2 wk F~9/9~ = 2.73, p \< 0.005; 4 wk F~9/9~ = 3.33, p \< 0.005 (for MIA-690); 4 wk F~9/9~ = 1.64 p \< 0.01 (for MR-409)\] and open arms \[Fig. [6](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"} panel A; 2 wk F~9/9~ = 3.30, p \< 0.005; 4 wk F~9/9~ = 2.56, p \< 0.005 (for MIA-690); 4 wk F~9/9~ = 1.47, p \< 0.05 (for MR-409)\] in light-dark and elevated plus maze, respectively. Both peptides decreased latencies to emerge from enclosed dark compartment in the light-dark box \[Fig. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"} panel B; 2 wk F~9/9~ = 2.21, p \< 0.005; 4 wk F~9/9~ = 1.76 p \< 0.005(for MIA-690); 4 wk F~9/9~ = 1.11, p \< 0.01 (for MR-409)\] and from the central zone in the elevated plus maze \[Fig. [6](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"} panel B; 2 wk F~9/9~ = 3.46, p \< 0.005; 4 wk F~9/9~ = 23.61, p \< 0.005 (for MIA-690); 4 wk F~9/9~ = 6.35, p \< 0.01 (for MR-409)\]. General activity, measured as the number of the total transitions, was not changed in both tests \[Fig. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"} panel C; 2 wk F~9/9~ = 2.53, p = 0.18; 4 wk F~9/9~ = 3.61, p = 0.6 (for MIA-690); 2 wk F~9/9~ = 2.33, p = 0.22; 4 wk F~9/9~ = 1.45, p = 0.58 (for MR-409); Fig. [6](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"} panel C; 2 wk F~9/9~ = 1.45, p = 0.58; 4 wk F~9/9~ = 3.61, p = 0.6 (for MIA-690); 2 wk F~9/9~ = 1.34, p = 0.6; 4 wk F~9/9~ = 1.58, p = 0.51 (for MR-409)\].Figure 5Analysis of anxiety-related behavior in mice treated with MIA-690 (5 μg) or MR-409 (5 μg) (n = 18 for each group of treatment). Compared to vehicle, MIA-690 (2--4 wk) and MR-409 (4 wk) decreased anxiety-like behavior in light-dark box. MIA-690 was more effective than MR-409 (2--4 wk). Data are expressed as means ± S.E.M. and analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni *post-hoc* test \*\*p \< 0.01,\*\*\*p \< 0.005 vs. control; ^\#^p \< 0.05 and ^\#\#^p \< 0.005 vs. MR-409 treated mice.Figure 6Analysis of anxiety-related behavior in mice treated with 5 μg MIA-690 or 5 μg MR-409 (n = 18 for each group of treatment). Compared to the vehicle, MIA-690 (2--4 wk) and MR-409 (4 wk) decreased anxiety-like behavior in elevated plus maze test. MIA-690 was more effective than MR-409 (2--4 wk). Data are expressed as means ± S.E.M. and analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni *post-hoc* test \*p \< 0.05, \*\*\*p \< 0.005 vs. control; ^\#^p \< 0.05, ^\#\#^p \< 0.005 and ^\#\#\#^p \< 0.001 vs. MR-409 treated mice.
In both tests, MIA-690 was more effective than MR-409 in decreasing anxiety related behavior \[Fig. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}; 2 wk F~2/27~ = 26.87, p \< 0.005; 4 wk F~2/27~ = 23.31, p \< 0.05 (light area) and 2 wk F~2/27~ = 76.75, p \< 0.005; 4 wk F~2/27~ = 23.31, p \< 0.05 (latency to first exit) for light-dark exploration test\] \[Fig. [6](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"}; 2 wk F~2/27~ = 28.88, p = 0.001; 4 wk F~2/27~ = 30.59, p = 0.05 (open arms) and 2 wk F~2/27~ = 40.17, p \< 0.005; 4 wk F~2/27~ = 76.64, p \< 0.05 (latency to first exit) for elevated plus maze test\].
### Behavioral despair {#Sec8}
To evaluate the possible effects of MIA-690 (5 μg) and MR-409 (5 μg) on behavioral despair, the tail suspension test was used. The evaluations were performed at 2 and 4 weeks of treatment. Figure [7](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"} shows total immobility time in tail suspension test. MIA-690 (5 μg) and MR-409 (5 μg) s.c. injection induced a significant decrease of total immobility (Fig. [7](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}) at 2 and 4 weeks of treatment, for MIA-690, and at 4 weeks of treatment for MR-409 \[Fig. [7](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}; 2 wk F~9/7~ = 11.10, p \< 0.005; 4 wk F~9/7~ = 2.01, p \< 0.005 (for MIA-690); 4 wk F~9/7~ = 16.14, p = 0.01 (for MR-409)\]. In the tail suspension test, MIA-690 was more effective than MR-409 on inducing immobility (Fig. [7](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}; 2 wk F~2/23~ = 52.48, p \< 0.005; 4 wk F~0/0~ = 51.59, p = 0.05).Figure 7Behavioral despair measured in tail suspension test in mice treated with 5 μg MIA-690 and 5 μg MR-409 (n = 18 for each group of treatment). Compared to vehicle, MIA-690 (2--4 wk) and MR-409 (4 wk) decreased behavioral despair. MIA-690 was more effective than MR-409 (2--4 wk). Data are expressed as means ± S.E.M. and analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni *post-hoc* test \*\*p \< 0.01, \*\*\*p \< 0.005 vs. control; ^\#^p \< 0.05 and ^\#\#^p \< 0.005 vs. MR-409 treated mice.
### Monoamine levels in prefrontal cortex {#Sec9}
To further evaluate the possible mechanisms involved in emotional behavior, we measured monoamine levels in prefrontal cortex by HPLC. Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"} shows an increase in norepinephrine (NE) and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) levels in prefrontal cortex of mice treated with MIA-690 (5 μg) and MR-409 (5 μg), \[F~3/9~ = 6.99, p \< 0.005 and F~3/9~ = 13.90, p \< 0.001\] without any affect on dopamine (DA) levels, as compared to controls \[F~2/27~ = 3.27, p = 0.57\]. In addition, the increase in NE and 5-HT levels was greater with MIA-690 respect to MR-409 \[F~3/9~ = 3.86, p \< 0.005\].Table 1Aminergic neurotransmitter levels (ng/mg wet tissue) in prefrontal cortex.NEDA5-HTVehicle0.09 ± 0.020.70 ± 0.180.34 ± 0.02MIA-6900.85 ± 0.05^\*\*\*,\#\#^0.72 ± 0.006.38 ± 1.32^\*\*\*,\#\#^MR-4090.32 ± 0.50^\*\*^0.77 ± 0.114.19 ± 0.23^\*\*^Data are expressed as means ± S.E.M. and subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni *post-hoc* test \*\*p \< 0.005,\*\*\*p \< 0.001 vs. vehicle; ^\#\#^p \< 0.005 vs. MR-409 treated mice.
MIA-690 and MR-409 decreased NF-kB, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-6 gene expression in mice prefrontal cortex {#Sec10}
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Real-time polymerase chain-reaction (PCR) revealed a significant decrease in NF-kB, TNF-α and IL-6 gene expression after MIA-690 (5 μg) and MR-409 (5 μg) treatment in prefrontal cortex, in mice \[F~2/16~ = 2.85, p \< 0.05 and F~2/16~ = 10.97, p \< 0.001\]. MIA-690 was more effective than MR-409 in decreasing NF-kB, TNF-α and IL-6 \[Fig. [8](#Fig8){ref-type="fig"} panel A, B and C; F~5/16~ = 2.85, p \< 0.05\].Figure 8Relative quantification of gene expression of NF-kB, TNF-α and IL-6 (n = 9 for each group of treatment) in prefrontal cortex. Data were calculated using the 2^−ΔΔCt^ method, normalized to β-actin mRNA levels, and expressed relative to control (calibrator sample, defined as 1.00). Data are expressed as means ± S.E.M. and analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni *post-hoc* test \*p \< 0.05 \*\*p \< 0.01 vs. vehicle group; ^\#^p \< 0.05 vs. MR-409 treated mice.
Haematoxylin-eosin staining and immunohistochemical analysis of nuclear factor erythroid 2--related factor 2 (Nrf2) in mouse prefrontal cortex {#Sec11}
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Morphological features and detection of Nrf2 in prefrontal cortex have been analyzed by hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining and immunohistochemistry, respectively. H&E stained sections of the (a) control (ctrl), (b) MIA-690 and (c) MR-409 mice showed the normal histological structure of prefrontal cortex. The frontal cortex appeared laminated with six different layers of variable thickness that are blended with each other (Fig. [9](#Fig9){ref-type="fig"}, panel A: a, b and c).Figure 9Haematoxylin-eosin staining and immunohistochemical analysis of Nrf2 expression in mouse prefrontal cortex exposed to subcutaneous chronic treatment for 4 weeks (n = 9 for each group of treatment). (**A**) Haematoxylin-eosin staining (a) positive control (ctrl); (b) mice treated with MIA-690; (c) mice treated with MR-409. Scale bar: 100 µm, magnification 20x. (**B**) Immunohistochemical detection of Nrf2 expression in mice exposed to subcutaneous chronic treatment (a) positive control (ctrl); (b) mice treated with MIA-690; (c) mice treated with MR 409; (d) negative ctrl; Insert shows Nrf2 nuclear staining; arrows indicate Nfr2 positive area. Scale bar: 100 µm, magnification 20x. (**C**) Graphic representation of the percentage of Nrf2 positive area ( ± SD); densitometric analysis determined by direct visual counting of ten fields for each of three slides per sample. \*p \< 0.05 and \*\*p \< 0.01 vs. ctrl; ^\#^p \< 0.01 vs. MR-409.
Immunohistochemical examination revealed positive immunostaining for Nrf2 expression in mice exposed for 4 weeks to subcutaneous chronic treatment (a) positive vehicle (ctrl); (b) mice treated with MIA-690; (c) mice treated with MR-409 (Fig. [9](#Fig9){ref-type="fig"}, panel B: a, b, c and d). As compared to the control, increased Nrf2 immunostaining was detected in mice treated with MIA-690 or MR-409 \[Fig. [9](#Fig9){ref-type="fig"} panel C; F~2/15~ = 2.79, p \< 0.05 and F~2/15~ = 11.34, p \< 0.01\]. Our findings also showed that MIA-690 increased immunoreactivity for Nrf2 respect to MR-409 \[Fig. [9](#Fig9){ref-type="fig"} panel C; F~2/15~ = 6.36, p \< 0.01\].
MR-409 induced down regulation of P GHRH-R gene and protein expression in prefrontal cortex {#Sec12}
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We finally evaluated the effects of MIA-690 (5 μg) and MR-409 (5 μg) treatment on P GHRH-R gene and protein expression in prefrontal cortex. Compared to vehicle treated mice, subcutaneous injection of MR-409 induced a significant reduction in P GHRH-R gene and protein expression in prefrontal cortex after 4 weeks of treatment \[Fig. [10](#Fig10){ref-type="fig"}; F~2/15~ = 2.79, p \< 0.005; Fig. [11](#Fig11){ref-type="fig"}; F~2/6~ = 0.79, p \< 0.05\] (Supplementary Figs. [S1](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"} and [S2](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"}).Figure 10Relative quantification of P GHRH-R gene expression (n = 9 for each group of treatment). Data were calculated using the 2^−ΔΔCt^ method, normalized to β-actin mRNA levels, and expressed as relative to control (calibrator sample, defined as 1.00). Data are expressed as means ± S.E.M. and analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni *post-hoc* test \*\*p \< 0.005 vs. vehicle and MIA-690 treated mice.Figure 11Protein expression for P GHRH-R in mouse prefrontal cortex exposed to subcutaneous chronic treatment for 4 weeks (n = 3 for each group of treatment), assessed by Western blot. Actin served as internal control. Data are expressed as means ± S.E.M. and analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni *post-hoc* test.\*p \< 0.05 vs vehicle. The grouping of gels is cropped from different parts from different gels.
Discussion {#Sec13}
==========
GHRH and mRNAs for GHRH-R have been found in rat cortex and brain stem^[@CR22],[@CR23]^, and various reports suggested that GHRH might play a key role in cognitive and mood disorders^[@CR20],[@CR24]--[@CR28]^. GHRH-antagonists compounds can exert powerful antitumor effects, possibly related in part to their antinflammatory and antioxidant properties^[@CR17],[@CR29]--[@CR33]^. In the present study we show that MIA-690, a GHRH antagonist, and MR-409, a GHRH analog, exhibit antinflammatory and antioxidant effects on prefrontal cortex specimens, *ex vivo* (Figs. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}, [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"} and [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}). Accordingly, various studies showed that GHRH and GHRH antagonists can influence the inflammatory and reduction/oxidation (redox) status in cancer and other tissues^[@CR29],[@CR33]^.
In particular, MIA 690 decreased inflammation by reducing the infiltration of macrophages and leucocytes, the production of TNF-α, IL-1β, and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) in tissue after insult with lipopolisaccaride (LPS) and the production of the pro-inflammatory markers in carrageenan-induced chronic prostatis^[@CR31],[@CR32]^. In addition, MIA-690 showed antioxidant and neuroprotective properties^[@CR28]^. In a model of Alzheimer's disease as well as in cancer and other tissues, MR-409 has been described to exert antinflammatory and antioxidant effects, as well as in early experimental diabetic retinopathy^[@CR31]^. In this context, the authors suggested that the protective effects of the MR-409 could be mediated by its direct and/or GH-mediated action.
In the present study, MIA-690 and MR-409 have been also able to modulate emotional behaviors, in mice. We observed that both peptides induced anxiolytic and antidepressant-like effects following chronic treatment, without affecting locomotor activity (Figs. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}--[7](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}). The role of GH in regulation of mood is somewhat contradictory and little is known about the action of GHRH on brain functions. Human studies indicate that in adults with childhood onset GH deficiency, long term treatment with GH improves mood and memory^[@CR34]^. On the other hand, somatostatin, which inhibits the release of several hormones, including GH, reduces anxiety-like behavior^[@CR35],[@CR36]^. Mood disorders might be related to GH deficiency^[@CR37],[@CR38]^, however the anxiolytic-antidepressant effects of a GHRH antagonist, MZ-4-71, suggests that GHRH itself may be involved in control of behavior^[@CR20],[@CR25]--[@CR27]^. Similarly, our research group described anxiolytic and antidepressant-like behavior in both young and old mice with generalized ablation of the GHRH gene^[@CR21],[@CR39],[@CR40]^. Thus, we can hypothesize that the beneficial behavioral effects of MIA-690 and MR-409 could be at least in part related to their antinflammatory and antioxidant effects (Figs. [8](#Fig8){ref-type="fig"}, [9](#Fig9){ref-type="fig"}), also described in different reports^[@CR14],[@CR30]--[@CR33]^. On the other hand, inflammation and oxidative stress are linked to a number of chronic diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, aging, neurodegenerative, and psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety and depression^[@CR40]--[@CR43]^. The activation of the inflammatory and oxidative stress response leads to the release of inflammatory cytokines and mobilization of immune cells that can get access to brain^[@CR42],[@CR43]^. In particular, some studies have demonstrated an increase in pro-inflammatory markers, such as NF-kB, IL-1 and IL-6, in anxiety- and depression-related conditions^[@CR44]--[@CR46]^. In addition, major depression and posttraumatic stress disorder are characterized by an increased activity of pro-oxidants over antioxidants^[@CR47],[@CR48]^. Cytokines and their signaling pathways have significant effect on the metabolism of multiple neurotransmitters such as 5-HT and DA through impact on their synthesis, release and reuptake. Through their effects on neurotransmitter systems, cytokines lead to significant changes in motor activity and motivation as well as anxiety, arousal and alarm^[@CR49]^. In this context, we also evaluated monoamine levels and NF-kB, TNF-α and IL-6 gene expression in prefrontal cortex of mice, after chronic administration with MIA-690 and MR-409. We observed an increase of NE and 5-HT levels, paralleled by a decrease of inflammatory markers in both MIA-690 and MR-409 treated mice (Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"}; Fig. [8](#Fig8){ref-type="fig"}, panel A, B and C). In agreement, the anxiolytic-antidepressant activity of MZ-4-71 was previously suggested to be mediated by α1/α2-adrenergic and 5-HT1/5-HT2 serotonergic receptors^[@CR25],[@CR26]^. Because several studies established a link between oxidative stress, anxiety and depression, we investigated the expression of Nrf2 in prefrontal cortex by immunohistochemistry. Nrf2 is a key transcription factor controlling various homoeostatic processes, at cellular level, in response to oxidative stress and toxic stimuli^[@CR50]^ and regulating oxidative/xenobiotic stress response, also repressing inflammation^[@CR51]^. Activation of Nrf2 results in up-regulation of cytoprotective and antioxidant enzymes-proteins in brain, by protecting against oxidative stress, in the brain^[@CR50],[@CR51]^. Less Nfr2 signaling could reflect a "normalization" of oxidative parameters also evidenced from the molecular markers.
We found a significant increase of positive area percentage for Nrf2 in MIA-690 or MR-409 treated mice, suggesting an evident Nrf2 activation (Fig. [9](#Fig9){ref-type="fig"}). Surprisingly, both the agonist and the antagonist peptides induced similar effects in all experimental paradigms. However, we observed a higher efficacy of MIA-690 compared to MR-409. An accurate behavior analysis showed that MIA-690 was able to modulate emotional behavior beginning from week 2 of treatment, while MR-409 induced significant behavioral change only at week 4 of treatment. At the end of treatment, we found a reduction of P GHRH-R gene and protein expression in MR-409 treated mice (Figs. [10](#Fig10){ref-type="fig"}, [11](#Fig11){ref-type="fig"}) (Supplementary Figs. [S1](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"} and [S2](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"}). As previously observed by Schally *et al*.^16^, our results confirmed that chronic administration of MR-409 results in a down-regulation of P GHRH-R, which could justify the effects of MR-409 on emotional behavior. On the other hand, we can not rule out the possible involvement of other mechanisms in emotional behavior induced by the peptide.
In conclusion, both MIA-690 and MR-409 exhibit antinflammatory and antioxidant effects in *ex vivo* and *in vivo* experimental models. Surprisingly, both agonist and antagonist peptides induce anxiolytic and antidepressant-like behavior, which could be related to increased cortical NE and 5-HT levels, along with modulatory effects on the inflammatory and oxidative status. Further investigations are needed to confirm a role for GHRH analogs in mood disorders.
Methods {#Sec14}
=======
Peptides and chemicals {#Sec15}
----------------------
The GHRH antagonist MIA-690 and agonist MR-409 were synthesized by R.C. and W.S. in the laboratory of one of us (A.V.S.). For *ex vivo* studies, the peptides were dissolved in DMSO to form a 5 mM solution, and then further diluted to the concentration indicated. For *in vivo* studies, the peptides were dissolved in an aqueous solution of 0.1% DMSO (Sigma) and 10% propylene glycol (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO)^[@CR16],[@CR28]^.
Animals {#Sec16}
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Adult C57/BL6 male mice (3 month- old, weight 20--25 g, n = 48) were housed in plexiglas cages (2--4 animals per cage; 55 × 33 × 19 cm) and maintained under standard laboratory (21 ± 2 °C; 55 ± 5% humidity) on a 14/10 h light/dark cycle, with ad libitum access to water and food. Only male mice were used to avoid any possible involvement of hormonal changes in adult female mice. Mice were fed with a standard rodent chow (Prolab RMH2500, PMI Nutrition International, Brentwood, MO). Housing conditions and experimentation procedures were strictly in agreement with the European Community ethical regulations (EU Directive n. 26/2014) on the care of animals for scientific research. In agreement with the recognized principles of "Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research", prefrontal cortex specimens were obtained as residual material from vehicle-treated mice randomized in our previous experiments approved by Local Ethical Committee ('G. d'Annunzio' University, Chieti-Pescara) and Italian Health Ministry (Project n. 885/2018-PR).
*Ex vivo* studies {#Sec17}
-----------------
Mice were sacrificed by CO~2~ inhalation (100%CO~2~ at a flow rate of 20% of the chamber volume per min), then brains were rapidly removed. The brains were cut into blocks containing the entire prefrontal cortex, frozen on dry ice, and stored at −80 °C before serial cryosectioning at a section thickness of 100 *μ*m. A stereotaxic atlas of the mouse brain (Paxinos and Watson) was used during the cryosectioning procedure^[@CR52]^. Tissue slices were maintained in a humidified incubator with 5% CO~2~ at 37 °C for 4 h (incubation period), in RPMI buffer with added bacterial LPS (10 μg/mL), as previously described^[@CR53]^. During the incubation period, the tissues were treated with MR-409 or MIA-690 (1--5 μM). Tissue supernatants were collected and PGE~2~ and 8-iso-PGF~2α~ levels (pg/mg wet tissue) were measured by RIA, as previously reported^[@CR54]^. Briefly, specific anti-PGE~2~ and anti-8-iso-PGF~2α~ were developed in the rabbit; the cross-reactivity against other prostanoids was \<0.3%. One hundred microliters of prostaglandin standard or sample was incubated overnight at 4 °C with the ^3^H-prostaglandin (3000 cpm/tube; NEN) and antibody (final dilution: 1:120 000; kindly provided by the late prof. G. Ciabattoni), in a volume of 1.5 mL of 0.025 M phosphate buffer. Free and antibody-bound prostaglandins were separated by the addition of 100 μL 5% bovine serum albumin and 100 μL 3% charcoal suspension, followed by centrifugation for 10 min at 4000 *g* at 5 °C and decanting off the supernatants into scintillation fluid (UltimaGold™, Perkin Elmer) for β emission counting. The detection limit of the assay method was 0.6 pg/mL.
Tissue supernatants were also assayed for nitrite determination by Griess assay, as previously described^[@CR55]^. Briefly, nitrite production was determined by mixing 50 μL of the assay buffer with 50 μL of Griess reagent (1.5% sulfanilamide in 1 M HCl plus 0.15% N-(1-naphthyl) ethylenediamine dihydrochloride in distilled water, v/v). After incubation for 10 min, at room temperature, the absorbance at 540 nm was determined and nitrite concentrations were calculated from a standard curve for sodium nitrite.
Tissue supernatants were also assayed for lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity^[@CR55]^. LDH activity was measured by evaluating the consumption of NADH in 20 mM HEPES-K + (pH 7.2), 0.05% bovine serum albumin, 20 μM NADH and 2 mM pyruvate using a microplate reader (excitation 340 nm, emission 460 nm) according to manufacturer's protocol (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO). LDH activity was measured by evaluating the consumption of NADH in 20 mM HEPES-K + (pH 7.2), 0.05% bovine serum albumin, 20 μM NADH and 2 mM pyruvate using a microplate reader (excitation 340 nm, emission 460 nm) according to manufacturer's protocol. Nitrite and LDH production data were expressed as relative variations compared to vehicle-treated specimens. Immediately after sacrifice, prefrontal cortex was rapidly removed, dissected and stored in RNAlater solution (Ambion, Austin, TX) at −20 °C until further processed. Total RNA was extracted from the prefrontal cortex using TRI Reagent (Sigma-Aldrich), according to the manufacturer's protocol. One microgram of total RNA extracted from each sample in a 20 μl reaction volume was reverse transcribed using High Capacity cDNA Reverse Transcription Kit (Applied Biosystems). The samples were incubated in a 2720 Thermal Cycler (Applied Biosystems) initially at 25 °C for 10 min, then at 37 °C for 120 min, and finally at 85 °C for 5 s. Gene expression of COX-2, NF-kB and iNOS was determined by quantitative real-time PCR using TaqMan probe-based chemistry (Applied Biosystems), as previously described^[@CR56],[@CR57]^. PCR primers and TaqMan probes were obtained from Applied Biosystems (Assays-on-Demand Gene Expression Products, Mm00478374_m1 for COX-2 gene, Mm00476361_m1 for NF-kB gene, Mm00440502_m1 for iNOS gene, Mm00607939_s1 for β-actin gene. β-actin was used as the housekeeping gene. Gene expression data were calculated as previously reported^[@CR58]^.
*In vivo* studies {#Sec18}
-----------------
After 2-week acclimation, mice were randomized into three groups and treated daily for 4 weeks by subcutaneous administration of GHRH antagonist MIA 690 (5 μg), GHRH agonist MR 409 (5 μg) or vehicle solution^[@CR18]^. All solutions were prepared freshly before use.The doses were selected based on previous studies including oncology. Injection volume was 0.1 ml for s.c. injection^[@CR16],[@CR18]^. The animals were brought into the experimental room 30 min prior to the test in order to acclimate to the environment, and were kept in the testing chamber for 5 min prior to each test.
All treatments were administered at 09:00 am, and the experiments performed between 10:00 and 12:00 am. Each test session was recorded by a video camera connected to a computer; a single video frame was acquired with a highly accurate, programmable, monochrome frame grabber board (Data TranslationTM, type DT3153). The intelligent software Smart version 2.5 (Panlab, sl Bioresearch and Technology, Barcelona, Spain) was used for data processing. The apparatuses were purchased from 2 Biological Instruments (Besozzo VA, Italy)^[@CR21],[@CR39]^. At the end of each test, the animals were returned to their home cages, and the apparatus was cleaned with 75% ethanol and dried before the next procedure. The behavioral parameters were recorded at 2 and then 4 weeks after the first treatment. Each test was conducted on the same group of animals (n = 18 animals for each group of treatment), after a 2 weeks rest period to avoid any interference on behavioral test performance, as previously reported^[@CR21]^.
Locomotor activity {#Sec19}
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Locomotor activity was recorded in the home cage over 10 min. The activity monitor consisted of a black and white video camera, mounted in the top-centre of a cage (35 × 20 × 13 cm), positioned in the enclosure. Measurements used to assess locomotor activity were horizontal activity and vertical activity^[@CR59]^.
Light--dark exploration test {#Sec20}
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The light--dark box test assesses bright-space related anxiety^[@CR59],[@CR60]^ and consists of two compartments (10 × 15 × 20 cm, each), dark and light ones, separated by a wall pierced with an open door. The dark compartment has opaque black walls, while the light compartment is transparent to light. Mice were placed in the black compartment, and time spent by the animal in the light compartment, latency of first exit from dark compartment, and number of transitions between compartments were recorded during a 10 min interval.
Elevated plus maze test {#Sec21}
-----------------------
The apparatus consisted of two open arms and two closed arms that extended from a common central platform, elevated to a height of 45 cm above floor level and mice were individually placed in the centre of the maze facing an open arm^[@CR40],[@CR61]^. The time spent on open arms, the latency to first exit and the number of transitions between the arms were recorded during a 10 min test period.
Tail suspension test {#Sec22}
--------------------
This test is well characterized for assessing antidepressant-like activity. Mice were individually suspended by the tail to a horizontal bar (at the height of 30 cm from floor) using adhesive tape. Immobility time was recorded during a 6 min period. Mice were considered immobile only when they hung passively and completely motionless^[@CR21],[@CR39]^.
Prefrontal cortex monoamine extraction and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) determination {#Sec23}
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Immediately after sacrifice, brains were rapidly removed and prefrontal cortex were dissected and subjected to biogenic amine extractive procedures. Thereafter, samples were analyzed by HPLC coupled to electrochemical detection consisting of ESA Coulochem III detector equipped with ESA 5014 B analytical cell (selected potentials: electrode 1:−150 mV; electrode 2: +300 mV), as previously reported^[@CR40],[@CR59]^. Monoamine levels were expressed as ng/mg wet tissue.
RNA extraction, reverse transcription and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR-RT) {#Sec24}
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prefrontal cortex was rapidly removed, dissected and stored in RNAlater solution (Ambion, Austin, TX) at −20 °C until further processed as previously described. Gene expression of NF-kB, TNF-α, IL-6 and P GHRH-R was determined by quantitative real-time PCR using TaqMan probe-based chemistry (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). PCR primers and TaqMan probes were obtained from Applied Biosystems (Assays-on-Demand Gene Expression Products, Mm00476361_m1 for NF-kB gene, Mm00443258_m1 for TNF-α gene, Mm00446190_m1 for IL-6 gene, Mm01326479_m1 for P GHRH-R gene, Mm00607939_s1 for β-actin gene. β-actin was used as the housekeeping gene. Gene expression data were calculated as previously reported^[@CR58]^.
Light microscopy analysis and immunohistochemistry {#Sec25}
--------------------------------------------------
Prefrontal cortex was fixed in 10% phosphate-buffered formalin for 2.5 hours. Each tissue block was dehydrated in a series of alcohol solutions of 50%, 70%, 96% and 99% and then in Bioclear. Samples were then paraffin-embedded and cut into 7 μm-thick sections. Sections were de-waxed (Bioclear and alcohol in progressively lower concentrations), rehydrated and processed for haematoxylin-eosin and for anti-Nrf2 immunohistochemical analysis according to manufacturer protocol. Primary antibody anti-Nfr2 (rabbit polyclonal, sc-722, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, CA, USA) was applied for 2 hours at room temperature and diluted 1:200 in PBS. The immunohistochemical reactions was revealed with Rabbit specific HRP/DAB detection IHC kit (ab236469). Peroxidase reaction was developed using diaminobenzidine (DAB) chromogen and nuclei were counterstained with haematoxylin. Lastly, sections were dehydrated, cleared with xylene and mounted in Bio Mount (Bio Optica, Milano, Italy). Negative control was performed by omitting the primary antibody. Samples were then observe by means of LEICA DM 4000 light microscopy (Leica Cambridge Ltd., Cambridge, UK) equipped with a Leica DFC 320 camera (Leica Cambridge Ltd.) for computerized images^[@CR62],[@CR63]^.
Western blot analysis {#Sec26}
---------------------
Cortex samples obtained from mice treated or not with MIA-690 or MR-409 were homogenized in RIPA buffer (Sigma-Aldrich), sonicated and centrifuged at 14,000 rpm (4 °C for 15 min). Total protein lysates were quantified with Bicinchoninic Acid kit (BCA) from Sigma-Aldrich. Proteins (35 μg) were separated by 10% SDS-PAGE, transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane and incubated overnight at 4 °C with the specific P GHRH-R antibody (dilution 1:500, rabbit polyclonal P GHRH-R antibody, Abcam, ab76263). Blots were reprobed with actin (dilution 1:500, mouse monoclonal actin antibody, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, sc-376421) for protein normalization. Immunoreactive proteins were visualized using horseradish peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-mouse, goat anti-rabbit or mouse anti-goat (1:4000) secondary antibodies by enhanced chemiluminescence substrate (ECL) using ChemiDoc XRS (Bio-Rad), densitometric analysis was performed with Quantity One software (Bio-Rad)^[@CR18]^.
Statistical analysis {#Sec27}
--------------------
Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism version 5.01 for Windows (GraphPad Software, San Diego, CA, USA). All data were collected from each of the animals used in the experimental procedure and means ± SEM were determined for each experimental group and analyzed by two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni post-hoc test. F values are referring to repeated measure 2-way ANOVA. As for gene expression analysis, 1.00 (calibrator sample) was considered the theoretical mean for the comparison. Statistical significance was accepted at p \< 0.05. As regards gene expression analysis, the comparative 2^−ΔΔCt^ method was used to quantify the relative abundance of mRNA and then to determine the relative changes in individual gene expression (relative quantification)^[@CR58]^. Finally, as regards the animals randomized for each experimental group, the number was calculated on the basis of the 'Resource Equation' N = (E + T)/T (10 ≤ E ≤ 20)^[@CR64]^ according to the guidelines suggested by the 'National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research' (NC3RS) and reported on the following web site: <https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/experimental-designstatistics>.
Supplementary information
=========================
{#Sec28}
Supplementary Information
**Publisher's note** Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
=========================
is available for this paper at 10.1038/s41598-019-57292-z.
This work was supported by the University G. d'Annunzio of Chieti FAR 2019 (to Sheila Leone). Work in Miami was supported by the Medical Research Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs and by the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
L.R., A.C., L.B., A.V.S. and S.L. conceived and coordinated the study and wrote the paper. R.C., W.S., and A.V.S. contributed new reagents. L.R., A.C., G.O., C.F., G.D.M., I.G., R.G. and S.L. performed the experiments and analyzed the data. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.
A.V.S. and R.C. work has been funded by Medical Research Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs and by the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. A.V.S. and R.C. are listed as co-inventors on patents for GHRH agonists and GHRH antagonists, assigned to the University of Miami, Miami, FL, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Miami, FL. L.R., A.C., G.O., C.F., G.D.M., I.G., R.G., W.S., L.B. and S.L. declare no potential conflict of interest.
| {
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} | 0.000046 |
Fire safety officer
In the United Kingdom fire and rescue services a fire safety officer (sometimes referred to as a fire officer) is a firefighter who has attained the rank of sub-officer (also known as a watch commander) or above, and transferred from front line operational service into the Fire Safety Department.
The term "fire officer" may also refer to a fire safety inspector who is of equivalent rank in the fire safety section of the fire service.
Duties and powers
Fire officers inspect all manner of commercial premises to ensure that they comply with current fire safety legislation. A fire safety officer can work anywhere local. If premises are found to be unsafe a fire officer may prosecute the offending organization or even issue a prohibition notice closing the premises until such time that they are made safe.
Fire officers also have the power to place anyone committing an offence under caution.
While a fire officer is employed by a fire service, any action they undertake is done under the auspices of the local fire and rescue authority.
Career structure
Most fire officers choose to transfer into the department because it offers the opportunity of working normal office hours as opposed to the shift system operational firefighters have to work. Others transfer because it is an alternative way to climb the promotional ladder or because it is an opportunity to experience another aspect of the fire service's role.
In some fire services a fire officer may be a civilian.
Fire and Safety Forum
FSF is an independent awarding body founded in 2009. India-based independent examination board delivering vocational qualifications in health, safety and environmental practice and management. FSF qualifications are highly regarded throughout the world, setting the standards for those working in or looking to work in the Health & Safety Industry
See also
Women in firefighting
Category:Titles
Category:Firefighting | {
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
} | 0 |
The present invention relates generally to the set up of an alarm system, and more particularly, to a portable alarm system for use in a residence, boat, office, or any other location which may benefit from security monitoring.
Alarm systems of various types have been in existence for many years. In known home alarm systems, the components are usually hard-wired throughout the home with the wiring generally terminating at a control panel located somewhere therein. These alarm systems are often connected to the home""s telephone wiring for placement of a call to a monitoring station if an illegal entry is detected. One of the chief drawbacks of such an alarm system is that the installation process may be very labor intensive and, therefore, costly. Another drawback of this type of alarm system is that the cutting of the home""s telephone wiring effectively paralyzes the alarm system.
Additionally, the present day security alarm market offers few alternatives for the many people that live in apartments or hotel rooms, lease office space or short term warehousing, or wish to protect motor homes, boats, construction trailers, or a multitude of other environments wherein the installation of a permanent alarm system may be physically impossible or would be economically impractical. Ironically, it is often these environments where the crime rate is the highest. Therefore a need exists for an alarm system that is portable, which is relatively inexpensive, which is easy to set up and use, and which does not have to rely on a building""s installed telephone or power lines.
The present invention discloses a method of alarm system set up that can be fully accomplished in minimal time by the user of the alarm system. The method utilizes a portable alarm system that incorporates wireless technology along with wireless transmission service. The alarm system is highly portable, as virtually all of the necessary components are housed within a single enclosure. The alarm system is designed to communicate with an automated call station or central monitoring station of a security monitoring company. The security monitoring company may be contacted at any time from any location. This allows monitoring to be initiated at new locations by simply contacting the security monitoring company and providing the phone number and location.
With the method and device of the present invention, door and window entries may be monitored, motion within a room may be detected with a preferred motion detector, and smoke may be identified with a smoke detector - all without the intrusive, labor intensive process typically required to install a comparable hard-wire system. Additionally, although the above description is directed toward indoor use, the portable alarm system of the present invention is equally useful for protecting outdoor areas as well. In short, the method and device of the present invention enables the user to protect practically anything, practically anywhere, practically anytime, by simply connecting the portable alarm system to an appropriate power source and contacting the security monitoring company.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, a user contacts or visits a provider to purchase a portable alarm system. During the purchase, certain information may be obtained from the user for providing to the security monitoring company. The alarm system is then shipped to the user, or alternatively, is taken home by the user if purchased in a store. The only task required of the user is connection of the portable alarm to an appropriate power source. The user may also mount optional, self-adhesive door and window sensors. In one preferred embodiment, the provider of the alarm system will have contacted the security monitoring company and supplied the necessary information to initiate service, before the user of the alarm system completes its set up. Thus, upon connection of the portable alarm to an appropriate power source, the user will have a functional home security system.
Alternatively, the user may contact the security monitoring company to initiate monitoring service. In this case, the user does not need to supply the provider with all of the information necessary to initiate monitoring service. A user may wish to contact the security monitoring company at the outset, especially if the user does not intend to set up the alarm system immediately. The user will also be able to initiate monitoring service at any location to which the alarm system is transported by simply contacting the security monitoring company and updating the information.
The present invention also contemplates an improved method for assuring that a call placed by the alarm system to the call station or central monitoring station of the security monitoring company is received. The method of the present invention utilizes a redundant system to ensure that once the alarm system places a call, the call will be held and resent by an off-premise wireless transport station should the first attempt not result in an answer. If, after multiple resends the call has still not been answered, the call may be rerouted to another call or monitoring station. In this manner, there can be reasonable assurance that the call will be received and processed, and the proper authorities dispatched, even if the alarm system is destroyed after an initial call has been made.
It can be seen from the above description that the present invention provides a simple, cost effective and efficient method of providing alarm based wireless security monitoring. The present invention also discloses an improved method of ensuring that a call from the alarm system is received an acted on by the security monitoring company. The method of the present invention may be particularly useful in environments where the installation of a permanent alarm system would be physically impossible or economically impractical. | {
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#include <QtScript/QScriptEngine>
#include <QVariant>
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#include <qwidget.h>
#define QTSCRIPT_IS_GENERATED_FUNCTION(fun) ((fun.data().toUInt32() & 0xFFFF0000) == 0xBABE0000)
QtScriptShell_QStyleOptionComboBox::QtScriptShell_QStyleOptionComboBox()
: QStyleOptionComboBox() {}
QtScriptShell_QStyleOptionComboBox::QtScriptShell_QStyleOptionComboBox(const QStyleOptionComboBox& other)
: QStyleOptionComboBox(other) {}
QtScriptShell_QStyleOptionComboBox::QtScriptShell_QStyleOptionComboBox(int version)
: QStyleOptionComboBox(version) {}
QtScriptShell_QStyleOptionComboBox::~QtScriptShell_QStyleOptionComboBox() {}
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The development of ego identity at adolescence among Israeli Jews and Arabs.
The objective of this study was to investigate the development of ego identity (EI; E. H. Erikson [1968]Identity: Youth and Crisis, Norton, New York) among Israeli Jewish and Arab adolescents. The main hypothesis was that the discordant group membership of Israeli-Arabs is detrimental to the development of EI. Subjects were Israeli-Jewish (n=1329) and Israeli-Arab (n=780) students in Grades 10-12, randomly drawn from nine schools. The Adolescent Ego Identity Scale (AEIS; Tzuriel [1984] "Sex Role Typing, Religiousness, and Ego Identity of Israeli Jewish and Arab Teenagers, Unpublished manuscript, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel; [1990] "Ego Identity Versus Identity Diffusion: Developmental and Educational Perspectives," Megamot:Behavior Research Quarterly, Vol. 32, pp. 484-509) was administered during regular classes time. A multivariate analysis of variance of Ethnic Group × Sex × Grade (2×2×3) performed on the six EI factors revealed that Arabs were higher than Jews on Solidity and Continuity, Commitment and Purposefulness, and Genuineness, but lower on Social Recognition, Meaningfulness-Alienation, and Physical Identity. Significant interactions of Ethnic Group × Sex on EI factors revealed that Arab girls were much higher than Arab boys on Commitment and Purposefulness, and on Solidity and Continuity, whereas in the Jewish group the sex differences were slighter or reversed. On Social Recognition, boys were higher than girls in both ethnic groups, but the gap was substantially higher among Arabs. On EI-Total Jewish boys were higher than the other subgroups, who scored almost equally. Significant interactions of Ethnic Group × Grade on two EI factors revealed a different developmental pattern for Jews and Arabs. Jews showed a gradual and slow increase from one grade to another on Solidity and Continuity with a steep decrease on Social Recognition. Arabs, in contrast showed relatively higher scores in Grades 10 and 12 than in Grade 11 on both factors. Sociocultural and situational interpretations were suggested to explain the results and suggestions for further research are discussed. | {
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Q:
I have no cousins in Antarctica. Who am I?
I have no cousins in Antarctica.
I have no skeleton but have exoskeleton.
I glow like the moon.
I prefer night to day.
I can turn my prey into liquid.
I can spend in a freezer overnight.
I have more eyes but useless.
I am venomous.
Hint:
One of my parts is used as security software.
Who am I?
A:
I have no cousins in Antarctica.
Hurricanes are named like people, but do not go to Antartica.
I have a similarity with moon.
A full moon can make effects of a hurricane worsen, especially with lunar high tides.
I prefer night than day.
Jim Sweeney, a meteorologist with National Weather Service in Lake Charles, La., said storms generally strengthen at night because of what he called "latent heat release." It's at night when the upper and middle part of the atmosphere cools (because the sun is not there to heat it up) and that releases energy in the storms, which turns into winds and moisture.
I like only liquids.
Hurricanes "grow" by the amount of water they pick up (consume/eat).
I am very strong in fasting.
A hurricane can remain strong while 'fasting' as they cross over land.
I have useless eyes.
Hurricanes have eyes that are known for being unusually calm. And as wikipedia states, "Small/minuscule eyes—those less than 10 nmi (19 km, 12 mi) across—often trigger eyewall replacement cycles, where a new eyewall begins to form outside the original eyewall."
A:
It's just a guess but are you a
Bat
I have no cousins in Antarctica.
No bats in Antarctica
I have a similarity with moon.
I prefer night than day.
Moon and bats, both are active in night
I like only liquids.
most bats feed on liquids like blood or nectar
I am very strong in fasting.
Not sure about that, but probably 2-3 days fasting is good I suppose.
I have useless eyes.
It is proven that bats have eyes but almost as decorative
A:
Sounds like the Olm (http://io9.gizmodo.com/this-animal-can-go-over-a-decade-without-food-1723304968) - a blind water dwelling salamander (no relatives in antartica), which can go without food for a decade.
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Darth Vader became the face of interstellar evil as the ultimate villain of the Star Wars universe. Now his infamous helmet has been modded by 100 artists, serving as a blank slate for interpretations that turn the Sith Lord into a clown, a rat fink, the Statue of Liberty, a psychedelic creature and even his real-world kindred spirit, Dick Cheney.
The wild mods, which are part of The Vader Project, go on sale Saturday at Freeman’s Auction House in Philadelphia.
“ Star Wars is something we all relate to, understand and grew up with,” Dov Kelemer and Sarah Jo Marks, owners of DKE Toys and producers and curators of The Vader Project, told Wired.com in an e-mail. “Darth Vader is not only an essential pop-culture icon, but also the all-time most evil movie villain. Using the helmet as a 3-D canvas allowed for playing with or against Darth Vader’s inherent themes.”
The goal? To show off Vader’s thematic and artistic diversity, and deliver lightsaber shine to some of the Jedis of the art world. And to get the artists paid, mostly starting at bids of $1,500. “People hear the word auction and think it’s for charity,” said Kelemer and Marks. “If artists being paid for their work is considered charity, then that’s what this is. In our culture, art is pushed aside when it comes to funds.”
Bidding for Freeman’s auction kicks off Saturday at noon Eastern online and in Philadelphia. Serious Star Wars and art geeks can watch it live online, or pick up a copy of The Vader Project’s eye-popping catalog. We rounded up some of the best Vader Project selections below, from distinctive artists including Winston Smith, Peter Kuper and rockers The Melvins.
Praise the Lord by Plasticgod (Above)
Doug Murphy, aka Plasticgod, has notably deconstructed celebrity and pop culture before. But his Darth Vader is a thematic mash of precious metals, spiked nightmares and Anakin Skywalker’s blinding hubris. No wonder Anakin couldn’t see that his inevitably bright future was darker than deep space. He was too hypnotized by Palpatine’s bling.
Darth Fink by David S. Krys
David S. Krys’ DSK Designs specializes in the same kind of car-pop culture and Americana bleed that helped make George Lucas’ American Graffiti a warm, fuzzy blockbuster. Without which, one should note, the director might not have been able to make Star Wars at all.
Krys’ vision of Vader is a dirty, deliberate homage to Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s Rat Fink, which itself was a deliberate perversion of Mickey Mouse that helped popularize the hot-rod antiheroics of the ’50s and ’60s. We imagine Vader made this face while revving up his TIE Fighter.
Carmen Mirandarth by Girls Drawin Girls
Speaking of delightful perversions, this acrylic pink Vader noggin, resplendent with fake fruit, is a crack-up, and a clever way to filter out the Sith Lord’s feminine side. Bonus points for the little birdies hiding in his fruit basket. It’s a great fuck-you to the fanboys.
No wonder: Girls Drawin Girls was founded by The Simpsons artists Melody Severns and Anne Walker to break through art and animation’s masculine ceiling.
Everything and Nothing by The Melvins
One of Wired.com’s favorite ferocious headbanger bands, The Melvins, or just Melvins for the purists, has been bleeding eardrums dry since the early ’80s. The deafening jesters were variously influenced by Black Flag and Black Sabbath, but have gone on to influence equally towering artists like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Tool.
The Melvins’ dark humor is evident in this spray-painted gold skull, in which the word father is laconically written across Vader’s brow in ornate script. Same goes for the grim, skeletal sun and butterfly that respectively adorn its helmet and neck, as well as the cartoonish dragons locked in an Ouroboros-like struggle.
Spy Vader Spy by Peter Kuper
He co-founded the politically minded World War 3 Illustrated at the end of the ’70s, and has taken over Mad magazine’s storied Spy vs. Spy strip since the end of the ’90s. So it makes sense that illustrator Peter Kuper‘s Vader would draw from both touchstone comics, and deliver the martial art.
Respectively armed with a gun and a bomb, Mad ‘s memorable black-and-white spies chase each other around Vader’s helmet. But unlike other Vader Project productions, Kuper’s villain can remove his helmet and show off the spies battling alongside his head. As usual, no one wins besides the richest bidder.
I Have You Now! by Winston Smith
Darth Vader’s classic line from Star Wars , exclaimed when he thought he was about to blow his own son out of the Death Star, brings to decontextualized life all of Winston Smith‘s surreal collage art. Lifted imagery of satellites, robots and hazmat suits situate Darth Vader’s cyborg villainy in sci-fi’s overall continuum, while allowing him to serve as the canvas by which it is all measured. Unlike many of Vader Project helmets, Smith’s Sith Lord features terrified eyes that speak to the horror of what he’s done and what he’s become.
Meanwhile, the recognizable letters on Vader’s brow are a nod to the Dead Kennedys, whom Winston Smith — born James Patrick Shannon Morey but named for the doomed protagonist of George Orwell’s 1984 — has collaborated with since the ’80s. His dense, dizzying work has also been appropriated by artists like George Carlin, Green Day and Ben Harper.
Join the Happy Side by Yoko D’Holbachie
Those in search of J-popcult horror shows should dig this multicolored bizarro helmet from Japanese artist Yoko D’Holbachie. Like much of her commercial and artistic work, D’Holbachie’s Darth Vader veers between innocent iconography and psychedelic monstrosity.
She’s one of the few artists from The Vader Project to literally think outside Darth’s head: She added cute but splotchy ears, which look nasty. We think.
Full Metal Vader by Eelus
An early discovery of astounding street artist Banksy, Eelus has since exhibited alongside hotshots like Shepard Fairey. His camouflaged Vader helmet is an obvious nod to Stanley Kubrick’s war satire Full Metal Jacket .
Eelus’ Vader helmet says “Born to Kill Jedi Scum,” rather than the film poster’s more general “Born to Kill.” The helmet is strapped with several full-metal jacket bullets, with two tongue-in-cheek additions: a can of Vader gun polish (“Brightening the Dark Side Since a Long Time Ago”) and a picture of Darth with his two Jedi kids, Luke and Leia, vacationing at the beach. Aww, what a sentimental butcher.
Hanus by Jim Koch
Straight outta Spokane, Washington, Jim Koch‘s eponymous design shop has crafted up cool illustrations and installations for straight-edge corporations like Hasbro and Hard Rock Cafe. But his fearsome incarnation of Darth Vader is among The Vader Project’s most arresting skulls.
While other helmets use Vader’s sleek, fearsome design as a point of departure, Koch’s clown gives the Sith Lord a perverted makeover. From its haphazard clothes and fat red nose to its buck teeth and purposefully misspelled name, Hanus is a carnivalesque mess. Which is what Darth Vader really is on the inside. Creepy.
A Disturbance in the Force by Robbie Conal
Los Angeles artist Robbie Conal has been routinely plastering up grotesque guerrilla posters of revered and hated political and cultural figures since the ’80s. His profane art attacks have landed him in the mainstream, from the pages of Time and Newsweek to films like The Insider .
It’s a no-brainer that two of his favorite targets, George Bush and Dick Cheney, would garishly pwn the sides of his Vader helmet. Conal’s art has compared Cheney, who has been equated with Vader for years, to everything from the Energizer Bunny to Big Brother. But this marks the first time he’s actually been able to post up Cheney’s mug on the side of Vader’s skull.
Untitled by T9G
This is easily the most hilarious head in The Vader Project. We’re not sure if Tokyo figure artist T9G is trying to say that the villainous Vader has rudely imprisoned adorable moppet Anakin Skywalker beneath his legendary mask, or if, for all his perceived menace, the Sith Lord is just another toy clogging up the malls. Maybe T9G is simply telling us it takes a youngling to slay a youngling.
Whatever its message, T9G’s untitled goof is a cackle-inducing blast. Juxtaposing the jolly and horrific is always a tough balancing act. But I’ll be honest: If we weren’t mired in a recession, I’d be the first in line to buy this deadly humorous Darth Vader homage.
Thunder Vader by Tristan Eaton and AZK One
Ominously outfitted with a gas mask and emblazoned with a blitzkrieg logo, this arresting Vader iteration from Tristan Eaton’s Thunderdog Studios restores the original terror of the term stormtrooper. Unlike the stark white blaster fodder of the Star Wars universe, Germany’s World War I stormtroopers were literally “shock troops” that would gas and infiltrate enemy pressure points without mercy.
It’s a stark reminder that Star Wars ‘ adult-approved military sci-fi has a bloodier, more visceral precedent. Sure, geeks love it when their kids play with kickass Star Wars toys and watch every episode of The Clone Wars . But how many of us want our kids to become shock troops?
Untitled by Wade Lageose
A handful of Vader Project artists redesigned Vader’s helmet altogether, but visual effects artist Wade Lageose — who has designed logos, posters and DVD menus for Lucasfilm, Walt Disney and other high-profile clientele — decided to house Vader’s thick skull with America’s most recognizable headdress. The fact that he didn’t add a title to the piece says it all.
We know that Darth Vader is as famous, and salable, as the Statue of Liberty. We also know he is a timeless American creation. And if we stretch hard enough, we can admit that he is a beacon of liberty to the universe. After all, Emperor Palpatine sure wasn’t going to throw himself to his own death.
But what the conflation truly means is up to you, which is the beauty of Star Wars , and of art at large. Let us know in the comments section below what you think of this head, or any of the others from The Vader Project. And definitely let us know if you decide to buy one.
See Also: | {
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Smooth Transitionshttps://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com
addressing the Legal issues arising from the departure of employees & Business breakupsMon, 27 Nov 2017 23:28:01 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.8Subscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesEmployment Transitions – The College Football Coach Wayhttp://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/SmoothTransitions/~3/70qmXdkHalo/
https://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/2017/11/articles/uncategorized/employment-transitions-the-college-football-coach-way/#respondMon, 27 Nov 2017 23:28:01 +0000https://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/?p=2476Continue Reading]]>This time of year is usually interesting from a college football coach perspective. Most teams that intend to fire their coach have done so and are now in the coaching market. Of course once those hires are made that creates additional openings for others. There seem to be a lot of vacancies for very good programs this year with many in the South Eastern Conference. The thing about these jobs is most of these coaches have a buyout provision in their contract – meaning they get paid by the university if they get fired! What a deal.
Texas A&M fired its coach, Kevin Sumlin, yesterday afternoon. According to reports, Sumlin gets paid $10 million for being fired. Not too bad. Some of these buyout provisions contain offset provisions where if the coach goes on to coach somewhere else in the same year the school that fires them gets a credit for the buyout and pays less. It all comes down to what the coach can negotiate. Rumor has it Sumlin will wind up coaching somewhere else so he’ll get $10 million + his new contract. Not a horrible proposition from a financial standpoint.
The reasons these coaches are able to negotiate such great deals is because they are limited commodity – supply and demand. Plus, there is an overall frenzy right now that defies common sense. It’s hard to feel too bad for the universities. They are making millions of dollars off of these coaches and more importantly players they don’t pay. But that’s for another discussion.
Here’s a link to some interesting college coach contractual clauses. My favorite is my Alma Mater’s coach’s tuition clause. All of his children get to go to the University of Utah for free. His grandchildren and great grandchildren only have to pay half in-state tuition. The only stipulation is you have to be under the age of 26 and not married so no professional students.
What if I told you that it was possible to get a general feeling as to what a jury would do with your case in the space of a day or two prior to dedicating several weeks and lots of money to a trial? You’d probably want to know more. Lawyers use mock trials or focus groups to consider what a jury would do, but I’ve never had a judge make a summary jury trial a prerequisite to a trial – kind of like mediation in most cases here in Texas.
How’d it work? This particular court requires that any case with a prospective trial that will take over 5 days submit to a summary trial. Each side was given two hours each and we were able to work out the parameters of the presentation. In our case we summarized the evidence, presented key exhibits, expert reports, and some testimony. The plaintiff opened followed by the defendant and there was a brief rebuttal by the plaintiff. No evidence went back with the jury members. The parties paid a former judge to preside over the trial – that judge then mediated the case the next day.
This all took place at the courthouse and the judge brought in about 2o jurors. We didn’t have to pay the jurors – this was their jury duty. We struck two of them by agreement. The judge then informed them they would participate in a shortened trial and they would be finished by the end of the day. The lawyers proceeded with summations. Then we broke up the jury into two panels of 9 that deliberated separately. The panels were presented with a straightforward jury charge and went to work. The juries deliberated for about an hour or so each and even had some questions. They eventually concluded their deliberations and we were able to talk with them about their findings. They were pretty consistent with one another and generally had the same rationale in their decision making process. Both panels were candid with their evaluations of the case.
The following day we mediated with the judge that presided and we eventually reached a resolution.
Was it perfect? No. It is very difficult to present a case in that amount of time but both parties face the same time constraints. That said an hour is a pretty good amount of time to get through a lot of information.
Using two panels is key. That way you avoid the argument of a runaway jury – especially if their findings are consistent.
The other key is having a lawyer on the other side that you can work with. If you’re playing games over evidence or using evidence that won’t come in at trial it won’t work. The objective has to be to get a sense from the jury on how they would rule. Luckily I had a lawyer on the other side I could work with.
From an outcome perspective the summary jury trial worked. We resolved the case. The judge was able to avoid giving up a week of court time for a trial and the parties were able to talk to a jury for a fraction of the cost.
Yesterday’s Dallas Morning News homepage had not 1 but 2 employment related cases. Texas icon Whataburger has been sued for alleged discriminatory hiring practices and CBS 11 has been sued for violating the ADEA when it chose to hire a younger female traffic reporter over 44 year old Tammy Dombeck. Both cases were filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. We’ll keep an eye on both cases.
]]>https://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/2017/09/articles/uncategorized/circumstantial-evidence-employment-claims-alive-and-well-in-texas/feed/0https://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/2017/09/articles/uncategorized/circumstantial-evidence-employment-claims-alive-and-well-in-texas/PIP TIPS (Performance Improvement Plans)http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/SmoothTransitions/~3/YfRFbSLGhIY/
https://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/2017/09/articles/uncategorized/pip-tips-performance-improvement-plans/#respondSun, 24 Sep 2017 21:02:18 +0000http://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/?p=2405Continue Reading]]>The purpose of the performance improvement plan or “PIP” is to give an employee the opportunity to make certain changes in their work performance so as to merit ongoing employment. Put another way satisfy the PIP and you keep your job. Of course, there are all sorts of statements in the PIP (or there should be) that satisfaction of the PIP does not mean an employee will keep their job, but that’s the intent. Or is it?
Often times I end up looking at employment situations and I’m asked to evaluate what types of claims might be filed and the strength and merits of such claims. The tough part of that evaluation is trying to figure out if the company has handled the situation “fairly”. In some circumstances the employer will have attempted to use PIP before they ever talk to me – that is generally good news. As a rule of thumb, if an employer is talking to me about implementing a PIP it’s probably too late in the employment progression. Why do I say that? For a PIP to work there needs to be “buy in” from the folks implementing it. Some times I’ll see situations where the PIP is almost viewed as a box to check before a firing. They don’t work that way and if that is the approach from the outset they are most likely going to fail. If the person needs to be let go, the PIP may not make sense and that’s okay.
When the PIP is constructed the goals associated with PIP have to be reasonable. Part of the PIP will usually have fuzzy goals like “getting along with others” or working on communication skills. That will come down to a subjective evaluation. Then we have the objective items like billable hours or sales goals. There are objective numbers that can be tied to a goal, some of which may already exist pre-PIP. The numbers have to be reasonable and there has to be enough time to give the employee an honest shot at satisfying the PIP. A month isn’t always enough time. If the employer doesn’t want to do that – don’t do the PIP. Finally, make sure the employee understands the PIP. It should be easy to read and the goals clear. Interim evaluations during the PIP period usually make sense.
If done correctly a successful PIP could mean salvaging the employment relationship. If the employee doesn’t perform, so be it, yet another example of the employer trying to work with the employee. I have also seen the situation where the employee quits rather than go through the PIP. Bottom line is to seriously consider whether the PIP is appropriate before going that route.
The usual gamut of post-employment covenants includes non-compete restrictions, non-solicitation of customer restrictions, confidentiality restrictions, and in many cases the anti-raid provision designed to keep a departing employee from hiring away a former employer’s employees and contractors. The anti-raid is not always given a lot of thought, but it should be. Why? Because when there is an orchestrated departure, the odds are a departing employee will attempt to hire away the top lieutenants. In most cases, the departing employee would rather use the same team as opposed to staring from scratch.
An anti-raid provision is a restraint of trade and subject to the Texas non-compete statute. In the 2011 Marsh opinion that we have previously discussed, the Texas Supreme Court confronted this very issue. The non-compete agreement in that case contained a clause stating that the departing employee could not “solicit any employee of [former employer] who reported to [departing employee] directly or indirectly to terminate his employment with [former employer] for the purpose of competing with [former employer].” In the section of the opinion where the court was laying out general rules for evaluating enforceability of non-competes, the Court reasoned: “Covenants that place limits on former employees’ professional mobility or restrict their solicitation of the former employers’ customers and employees are restraints on trade and are governed by the [Covenants Not to Compete Act].” See Marsh USA, Inc. v. Cook, 354 S.W.3d 764, 768 (Tex. 2011). Other courts have made similar rulings relying on Marsh.
So, like a non-compete agreement, generally the anti-raid must be ancillary to and otherwise enforceable agreement and reasonable in time and scope to satisfy the non-compete statute. In most situations the anti-raid will accompany a non-compete agreement and non-solicit agreement because they are held to the same standard. That said, a court may be more likely to enforce an anti-raid provision as opposed to the non-compete. Why? Because a court would rather keep a former employee from hiring folks away as opposed to putting them out of work.
What are some things to consider when drafting an anti-raid? (1) Should the agreement apply to individuals the departing employee actually worked with? (Yes, the narrower the better and the odds are the departing employee isn’t going to hire folks they don’t know or haven’t worked with.) (2) Try to use language that is broad in terms of the actions the former employee can use to hire someone one away but narrow enough to be enforceable (not always easy). (Usually we see the use of the phrase “direct or indirect” but there are other ways to deal with this issue. (3) Make sure you consistently use the anti-raid provision for all employees as appropriate. (Often times an orchestrated raid may involve multiple former employees trying to take customers away.) (4) Include a reasonable time period. (Usually this is the same length as the non-compete or non-solicit.) (5) Remember Texas is an at-will state and employees can leave. Try to keep them happy.
]]>https://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/2017/09/articles/uncategorized/dont-steal-my-employees-when-you-quit-the-anti-raid-provision/feed/0https://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/2017/09/articles/uncategorized/dont-steal-my-employees-when-you-quit-the-anti-raid-provision/Overtime Rules Deadhttp://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/SmoothTransitions/~3/YrTm3w-VRpQ/
https://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/2017/09/articles/uncategorized/overtime-rules-dead/#respondThu, 07 Sep 2017 21:36:52 +0000http://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/?p=2393Continue Reading]]>Last year I worked with a number of employers to address the Obama administrations’ new overtime rules. Here are some posts on the subject. Eventually a judge here in Texas (the same judge that is handling the Ezekiel Elliot lawsuit) entered an order preventing implementation of the new rules. Then President Trump was elected and the lawsuit over the rules was delayed. In late June, the Trump administration dropped the lawsuit indicating it wanted to revisit the rules. That is not a big surprise, but does put a book end on the issue. We’ll continue to monitor the situation for any developments.
]]>https://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/2017/09/articles/uncategorized/overtime-rules-dead/feed/0https://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/2017/09/articles/uncategorized/overtime-rules-dead/Recruiter Tipshttp://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/SmoothTransitions/~3/lbNCTvmqQ94/
https://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/2017/08/articles/uncategorized/recruiter-tips-2/#respondMon, 07 Aug 2017 18:57:11 +0000http://www.smoothtransitionslawblog.com/?p=2391Continue Reading]]>This week, I have the privilege of speaking to the Executive Search Owners Association. Over the years I have had the privilege of representing placement professionals in a number of circumstances. Some tips:
Make sure your engagement agreements/contracts make sense and are enforceable;
Remember that non-competes and non-solicitation agreements in Texas can be enforceable;
Screen your candidates to determine if they have entered into a non-compete or non-solicit;
Remember that if someone you placed is sued it is likely that their new employer will be as well;
Protect your candidate and client information – that information can be a trade secret;
Make sure you are in compliance with the Texas Occupations Code;
A little money spent on an attorney up front can save a lot of money down the road;
Be factual when you talk about a potential employer;
Don’t give legal advice; and
If you sign an agreement prepare to have to comply with it.
Below are some resources and previous writings placement professionals might find of use:
Caught this story here in Dallas where a now defunct medical lab had “gropening day” every other Friday. Here is a link to the story. Basically employees were free to grope one another every other Friday – no joke. It’s hard to believe something like this occurs in 2017. Unfortunately it does. A former female employee sued the lab after she was subjected to ongoing harassment at the lab and quit after six month. Here is a link to her interview. Apparently her story has been substantiated by a former supervisor at the lab who says the story is not embellished.
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, the lab is out of business so a civil suit recovery may be difficult. Stories like these are a reminder that we still have a long way to go when it comes to workplace harassment.
Over the years we’ve been building a list to consider when putting together an arbitration provision.
A requirement that the case be disposed of within a certain time period. (i.e. 6 months from filing);
A limitation on the number of witnesses that can be called, the amount of time each side has to put on their case, basically anything that would set parameters on how long the hearing will take;
Statute of Limitations – is a provision necessary that spells out how long a party has to bring a claim;
A provision that either adopts and references the Texas arbitration statute or Federal Arbitration Act;
A provision that specifically states there is no appeal;
Can witnesses appear by phone or some form of video, or can affidavits be submitted in lieu of live testimony?;
A provision that requires some form of mediation before an arbitration can be filed (another way to try and short circuit the process);
If the provision dispenses with using AAA or some other group, specific details about arbitrator selection and the process of the hearing.
A fee provision that provides for attorneys’ fees, expert fees, arbitration fees, other arbitration costs, and maybe anticipated fees to confirm an arbitration award;A provision that permits the depositions of corporate representatives; and
A provision that is broad enough to encompass any potential dispute between the parties. | {
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Town Confirm Walters Return
Thursday, 30th Aug 2018 17:05 Town have confirmed the re-signing of former skipper Jon Walters on loan from Burnley. Yesterday, TWTD was first to reveal that the Blues were closing in on the addition of the Republic of Ireland international. The 34-year-old, who was previously at Portman Road between January 2007 and August 2010, will be with Town until January. Walters, who will wear the number 39 shirt, initially joined the Blues from Chester City and made 132 starts and 14 sub appearances, scoring 31 goals before moving on to Stoke for £2.75 million after falling out with then-manager Roy Keane. After a successful seven-year spell with the Potters, Walters moved on to Burnley for £3 million a year ago but the Birkenhead-born frontman has made only two starts - one in the Carabao Cup and one in the Europa League - and four sub appearances for the Clarets. Walters is likely to go straight into the squad for Sunday's home derby against Norwich City. The forward has previously been on the winning side in an East Anglian derby, the 2-1 home win in April 2008 but missed the 3-2 victory a year later, the last time the Blues beat their greatest rivals. Photo: ITFC
Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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JackSted added 17:05 - Aug 30
Well slap my arse and call me Sally 27
bugledog123 added 17:06 - Aug 30
Good news! 7
CraigEdwards added 17:07 - Aug 30
Welcome back Jonny
Excellent bit of business .
7
Bluearmy_81 added 17:07 - Aug 30
Get in!! 5
Green_Army added 17:07 - Aug 30
Welcome back Jonny! 4
Reuserscurtains added 17:08 - Aug 30
I love Jon walters and am happy he’s back but what does it say about our transfer business that we are getting a 35 (next month) striker in on emergency loan. Jackson, Harrison and Roberts not up to it.
Oh well, let’s beat the Norwich! -9
unknown100 added 17:08 - Aug 30
Bring back Wilnis! Great signing! 1
WarkTheWarkITFC added 17:08 - Aug 30
I have no idea what's going on. I haven't even taken my Viagra yet but I have the same result! 15
Edmundo added 17:09 - Aug 30
Best news all day. Hell of a player. A real leader and good all round fella to have in the dressing room. Welcome back, Johnny Walters! 19
Bluefish11 added 17:10 - Aug 30
Welcome home, land running on Sunday, score the winner and you will become an Ipswich legend... and we have not had many lately! 7
suffolkref added 17:10 - Aug 30
New Era or back to the future?
5
Nazemariner added 17:10 - Aug 30
Kumbaya!
1
WaffleMan added 17:11 - Aug 30
Love this 1
Pumpee1980 added 17:11 - Aug 30
This gives me tingles and it ain't the pre workout kicking in..... 2
blue86 added 17:12 - Aug 30
great news! loved Walters when he was here the first time. I really think this is exactly what need at the mo, with jackson and harrison with little experience at this level. score the winner against norwich and you will be a legend!! coyb 4
happybeingblue added 17:13 - Aug 30
go johnny go go go great to see this guy back 3
tractorboybig added 17:14 - Aug 30
so walters and sears up front...may score a few goals. 4
colonel added 17:16 - Aug 30
6
Kirbmeister added 17:16 - Aug 30
Good news. I wouldn’t expect him to be staring yet though, he surely isn’t match fit. 0
1966 added 17:16 - Aug 30
Finidi Next 😏 3
LWNR2013 added 17:17 - Aug 30
Astute signing. Wonder if he kept the photo he sent RK? 3
muccletonjoe added 17:18 - Aug 30
Fantastic signing 1
JoHnNnY added 17:19 - Aug 30
Stoke fans will be slightly miffed.. lol 2
BaddowBlue1 added 17:19 - Aug 30
Welcome back Jon, we now have someone with Premiership experience, that comes back a better all round player than when he left. This guy as always been good fitnesswise so I think this is an excellent acquisition shame we cannot afford a permanent deal. Years ago we signed Paul Goddard and he helped develop our younger forwards (Chris Kiwomya), no reason he cant do the same for our new signings. After all he came from the lower leagues with Chester so will probably help them step up. Now to score the winner against Norwich!!!!!! 7
Knightsy added 17:19 - Aug 30
Welcome Back Jon 😊 3
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You need to login in order to post your comments | {
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The term “Guerbet alcohols” is commonly used to describe alcohols formed by Guerbet reaction, named after Marcel Guerbet, which is an auto condensation converting a primary aliphatic alcohol into its β-alkylated dimer alcohol with loss of one equivalent of water. The Guerbet reaction requires a catalyst and elevated temperatures.
Guerbet alcohols are saturated primary alcohols with a defined branching of the carbon chain. They are well known in the state of the art.
The term Guerbet alcohol as used in this specification is to be understood as a monofunctional, primary alcohol comprising at least one branching at the carbon atom adjacent to the carbon atom carrying the hydroxyl group. Chemically, Guerbet alcohols are described as 2-alkyl-1-alkanols, but in the present specification Guerbet alcohols comprise also multi-branched alcohols (multiple alkyl alcohols).
The reaction mechanism leading to Guerbet alcohols comprises essentially the following steps: First, a primary alcohol of the formula RCH2CH2OH, wherein R may be hydrogen or a straight or branched chain alkyl group, is dehydrogenated (or oxidised) to the respective aldehyde. In the following, two aldehyde molecules undergo an aldol condensation to an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde, which is finally hydrogenated to the “dimer” alcohol. The catalyst used for this reaction may be of alkaline nature (e.g. potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, sodium tert-butoxide, etc.) possibly in the presence of a platinum or palladium catalyst. Usually the reaction takes place under heating and possibly pressurization. An overview of a Guerbet condensation process is given in the illustration below:
A Guerbet alcohol may also have two or more branches, particularly if it is the product of two or more subsequent condensation reactions. For example, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, the Guerbet dimer of 1-butanol, may react with 1-propanol to yield 4-ethyl-2-methyl-1-octanol. This further increases the variety of Guerbet alcohols.
An example of a process for preparing branched dimer alcohols based on the Guerbet reaction is for instance disclosed in the patent specification EP 0 299 720 B1 assigned to Exxon Chemical Patents Inc. The process comprises steps of first combining the primary alcohol mixture with KOH and NaOH and heating the mixture until the base dissolves. Thereafter a platinum catalyst on activated carbon support is added and heated to reflux with water being evolved and removed as it is formed.
Another example of a process for dimerizing alcohols in a manner of Guerbet reaction is disclosed in patent application US 2012/0220806 A1 filed by Cognis IP management GmbH. The process converts one or more starting alcohols having 2 to 72 carbon atoms and one to three OH-groups per molecule in the presence of a base (KOH), a carbonyl compound and a metallic hydrogenation catalyst. The process is limited to the use of alcohols that have at least one primary or secondary OH-group and a carbon atom bearing at least one hydrogen atom as a substituent that is directly adjacent to the carbon atom having the primary or secondary OH-group.
For a large scale production of multi-branched Guerbet alcohols, however, an improved manufacturing process is required that further allows to control the final distribution of Guerbet alcohols with respect to carbon number and branching type and number. | {
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Q:
Oracle Forms toolbar size
When creating a menu in Oracle Forms 6i, you can set a property for each menu option to be visible or not in the horizontal menu toolbar. You can also set the icon for the button on the toolbar and the text to display when hovering your mouse over it.
What I cannot find is the properties for the toolbar itself. It doesn´t seem to be possible to change the size, color or any other property for the toolbar.
I specifically want to change the size of the icons, since being an old tool, it was designed by default to work with 16x16 icons, but with current screen resolutions, the toolbar looks way to small.
Using larger icons doesn´t do the trick, since it just cuts the icon to 16 by 16.
Am I missing something? is it possible to adjust the toolbars properties?
A:
Adjusting the size of the toolbar is a new feature in Forms 12c. It is not available in earlier versions.
"do you have any source for this?"
I saw Michael Ferrante (the Forms Product Manager) talk at UKOUG on Monday. So straight from the horse's mouth :) The Forms 12c New Features guide is here: page 12 is the page which will break your heart.
| {
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public boolean equals(Object obj)
public final native Class getClass()
public native int hashCode()
public final native void notify()
public final native void notifyAll()
public String toString()
public final void wait() throws InterruptedException
public final native void wait(long timeout) throws InterruptedException
public final void wait(long timeout, int nanos) throws InterruptedException
public native int xxx()
| {
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I batteri che vivono sulla Stazione Spaziale Internazionale (iss) non sono diventati degli alieni: hanno imparato a sopravvivere nello spazio senza acquisire caratteristiche pericolose per l'uomo. Lo indica la ricerca pubblicata sulla rivista mSystems dal gruppo dell'americana Northwestern University guidato da Erica Hartmann.
Lo studio ha confrontato il Dna dei batteri isolati sulla Stazione Spaziale con quello della loro controparte terrestre e ha scoperto che i batteri 'spaziali' avevano sviluppato geni diversi, che comunque non li hanno resi più dannosi per la salute umana. Non li hanno cioè trasformati in superbatteri e resistenti agli antibiotici. Secondo i ricercatori i batteri stanno semplicemente rispondendo, e forse si stanno evolvendo, per sopravvivere in un ambiente stressante. In pratica quei geni li hanno aiutati a mangiare e a crescere in un ambiente difficile.
La ricerca è nata con l'obiettivo di comprendere come si comportano i batteri in ambienti chiusi, anche in vista delle future missioni umane su Marte. "Gli astronauti viaggerano in piccole capsule dove non potranno aprire finestre, uscire o far circolare l'aria per lunghi periodi di tempo", ha rilevato Hartmann. "Siamo sinceramente preoccupati - ha proseguito - di come questo possa influenzare i microrganismi".
Poiché la Stazione Spaziale ospita migliaia di microrganismi diversi, trasportati sia dagli astronauti sia dai rifornimenti, è il laboratorio ideale per condurre ricerche tese a scoprirlo. I ricercatori hanno utilizzato la banca dati allestita nel Centro nazionale americano per le informazioni sulle biotecnologie (Ncbi), che contiene molti batteri isolati sulla Stazione Spaziale. Quindi hanno confrontato il Dna di due batteri, lo Staphylococcus aureus che vive sulla pelle umana e che ha un ceppo resistente agli antibiotici, e il Bacillus cereus, che vive nel suolo e ha meno implicazioni per la salute umana. | {
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Getting closer.Played around at Long & McQuade in Ottawa Saturday and smaller music shop with fantastically high prices but very friendly people.
I'm probably going to go with a set of Roland TD3SW. Roland's entry level set but as per lots of advice, upgradeable and even in my newness I could tell that the mesh snare is a valuable feature.
Canadian prices are actually worse than American plus rate conversion. However I have yet to confirm if there are duty on these items. I'm suspecting so.
I was also looking at the next step up in the Roland's but used as per this link.Roland TD6 - UsedIn email inquiries, he has moved down a couple of hundred and it includes a throne and kick pedal that I would otherwise have to add to the price of a new set.
I'm likely shying away though as I have heard from the drummer who agreed to go view them for me that electronic drums rely on a (did he say glass?) sensor in each pad that has a limited lifespan and that it is a given that they eventually fail. Hours of use and the heaviness of the use are the variables. Therefore, he refuses to advise much on any used purchases due so he has me a bit spooked for used electronic drums.
I'm hoping to get this all completed prior to Christmas as my wife has agreed to spend the extra money for an electronics set as a Christmas present but I wonder if it is really more of a present to her to not have the much heavier noise of an enthusiastic beginner on an acoustic set.
_________________________
With great power comes Awesome irresponsibility.
Another word about the TD6 setup, that is using the original (older) TD6 module. The newer one is charcoal colored, not blue, and has some nice improvements. As for the sound library, the TD3 module actually has "newer" sound samples than the TD6, and some argue that it (the TD3) has more usable sounds and drum sets than the TD6 which has more total.
I've never heard of a "glass" sensor before, so I don't think that is correct. There should be piezos in there...
Well, as you can guess by my new Avatar, I'm the very exited owner of a new Roland TD-3sw set. My thanks to the vdrums.com dude whom I mercilessly ripped off the avatar from. Let's hope he is not an Axiom owner.
My wife actually made the call as it is ultimately a Christmas present from her. I was just doing all the leg work. Further research showed that my buddies fears of sensors breaking down were not as well founded according to the e-drumming community at large, especially for the better made Rolands. However, my wife had already gone out and purchased me the new set yesterday after being equally spooked by his advice.
In any case, I'm not disappointed at all as this will be a great kit to get started on and I suspect it will be a good while before I could actually justify any major upgrades. Notice I said, justify, not crave. I fully expect upgraditis to take advantage to this new weakness to my immune system.
Got them set up last night but couldn't find my stereo extension cord for the 1/4 jack required for running a headset so I haven't actually heard what they sound like yet. I know all the pads are working from the LEDs but I can't wait to get home tonight and actually hear how bad I am.
Thanks again for all the advice.
_________________________
With great power comes Awesome irresponsibility.
Of course, the fact that you're setting up your Christmas present may not go over too well with a certain forum member who is sitting on his hands so he doesn't drive to his in-laws to set up a certain Blu-Ray player!
Of course, the fact that you're setting up your Christmas present may not go over too well with a certain forum member who is sitting on his hands so he doesn't drive to his in-laws to set up a certain Blu-Ray player!
Guess we won't be seeing you too much for the next week or two, huh?
AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
I was thinking the same thing reading his post about setting up his Christmas present last night, and then I saw yours! Too funny... I guess... but I am still mad... (about not getting my present, congrats on the drums! )
Murph,Congratulations on your early Christmas present. Did you get a kick pedal and throne as well? Don't worry about how bad you sound, we all started out as beginners. There is a lot information on YouTube about drumming including free lessons etc.Have fun!Cheers,Shaun
There was indeed a kick pedal waiting for me when Christmas struck early. A Pearl, model somethin somethin. Not high end but shouldn't self destruct any time soon. I'm still throneless but hopefully, not for long.
I've been scoping out the amazing amount of free lessons at FreeDrumLessons.com I also have the opportunity to buy this set of 12 instructional DVDs for $30 bucks from a guy at work. http://www.icanplaydrums.com/ I probably would have dismissed this sight as being too cheesy but it actually gets very strong reviews over at vdrums.com. Plus for $30 bucks, I can't really go wrong.
A friend will offer pointers and corrections on technique and I haven't ruled out formal lessons yet but I'm going to go this route for now until I feel I need the personal touch.
I can actually do some basic beats and fills already but I have a long way to go before I could incorporate it into music, but learning is the fun part. I tend to only get bored with things when I reach my max potential and I don't see that happening with a musical instrument....ever.
_________________________
With great power comes Awesome irresponsibility.
Just remember that if you sit down and work on technique every day BEFORE just jamming out, you will be better off in the end. A lot of new drummers (as I would guess would be the case with many instruments) want to just jam out all of the time, and while that is great fun, you need to discipline yourself, even for just 10 minutes, and work on technique... Then jam out, play attention to the technique that you have been working on (stick placement on the heads, wrist/finger movements, proper posture, steady beat, whatever)...
Enjoy!
PS. I've got a Pearl bass drum pedal too. The one I have can add a second pedal for my left foot as well, but I think that in 2 years they discontinued it or something because the price for the 2nd pedal add-on is $200 when it was about $100 a year ago.
Good advice. I'm a bit anal when it comes to training regimes for sports, education, etc. I balance that with a total disregard for order in my leisure time. I'm pretty determined to do this right.
The pedal is the Pearl P-120P. The instructions show how to add on and convert it to a double pedal but I think one will do me for a long time. Besides, if I start into a double bass pedal, I'd have to let my hair grow. I'm OK with that part but spandex pants kind of go against my dress code at work.
_________________________
With great power comes Awesome irresponsibility. | {
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Bangladesh, Myanmar plan Rohingya repatriation in 2 years
17 January 2018
The agreement did not specify when the process would begin but said Myanmar would provide temporary shelter for those returning and later build houses for them.
More than 650,000 ethnic Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since August, when Myanmar's military launched a brutal crackdown in Rakhine state after a militant group attacked police posts. Some 650,000 people fled the violence.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has favoured that Rohingyas' return from Bangladesh to Myanmar should be "voluntary" and that way just moving them from camps in Bangladesh to similar ones in their own country is not desirable. The military denies it was involved in any sexual assaults.
United States Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the UN refugee agency United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was consulted but it's very important the agency is fully involved to guarantee the repatriation adheres to global standards.
"Major challenges have to be overcome", the spokesman said. "These include ensuring they are told about the situation in their areas of origin. and are consulted on their wishes, that their safety is ensured". And the government dismisses the reported abuses, claiming they are overestimated.
Many have questions whether Rohingya would return to Myanmar under the current circumstances, and whether Myanmar would accept them and allow them to live freely. It said they agreed that the process "would be completed preferably within two years from the commencement of repatriation".
The rape of Rohingya women by Myanmar's security forces was widespread, according to interviews with women conducted at displacement camps by United Nations medics and activists.
Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed on a plan to send refugees from Myanmar back to the country within the next two years.
Bangladesh's foreign ministry said the agreement showed Myanmar had demonstrated its "commitment to stop (the) outflow of Myanmar residents to Bangladesh".
Another resident of the Kutupalong camp compared the new transit camps to ones set up near the Rakhine State capital of Sittwe following bouts of violence in previous years "where people are living like prisoners".
"The obfuscation and denials of the Myanmar authorities give no reason to hope that the rights of returning Rohingya would be protected, or that the reasons for their original flight no longer exist", the statement said. | {
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(*
Copyright 2008-2018 Microsoft Research
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
*)
module SL.Effect
open SL.Heap
let pre = memory -> Type0
let post (a:Type) = a -> memory -> Type0
let st_wp (a:Type) = post a -> pre
(* unfold *) let return_wp (a:Type) (x:a) :st_wp a =
fun post m0 -> post x m0
(* unfold *) let frame_wp (#a:Type) (wp:st_wp a) (post:memory -> post a) (m:memory) =
exists (m0 m1:memory). defined (m0 <*> m1) /\ m == (m0 <*> m1) /\ wp (post m1) m0
(* unfold *) let frame_post (#a:Type) (p:post a) (m0:memory) :post a =
fun x m1 -> defined (m1 <*> m0) /\ p x (m1 <*> m0) //m1 is the frame
(* unfold *) let bind_wp (r:range) (a:Type) (b:Type) (wp1:st_wp a) (wp2:a -> st_wp b)
:st_wp b
= fun post m0 -> wp1 (fun x m1 -> wp2 x post m1) m0
// frame_wp wp1 (frame_post (fun x m1 -> frame_wp (wp2 x) (frame_post post) m1)) m0
(* unfold *) let id_wp (a:Type) (x:a) (p:post a) (m:memory) = p x emp
(* unfold *) let st_if_then_else (a:Type) (p:Type) (wp_then:st_wp a) (wp_else:st_wp a) (post:post a) (m0:memory) =
l_ITE p (wp_then post m0) (wp_else post m0)
// l_ITE p ((bind_wp range_0 a a wp_then (id_wp a)) post m0)
// ((bind_wp range_0 a a wp_else (id_wp a)) post m0)
(* unfold *) let st_ite_wp (a:Type) (wp:st_wp a) (p:post a) (m0:memory) = wp p m0
(* unfold *) let st_stronger (a:Type) (wp1:st_wp a) (wp2:st_wp a) =
forall (p:post a) (m:memory). wp1 p m ==> wp2 p m
(* unfold *) let st_close_wp (a:Type) (b:Type) (wp:(b -> GTot (st_wp a))) (p:post a) (m:memory) =
forall (b:b). wp b p m
(* unfold *) let st_trivial (a:Type) (wp:st_wp a) =
forall m0. wp (fun _ _ -> True) m0
new_effect {
STATE : result:Type -> wp:st_wp result -> Effect
with return_wp = return_wp
; bind_wp = bind_wp
; if_then_else = st_if_then_else
; ite_wp = st_ite_wp
; stronger = st_stronger
; close_wp = st_close_wp
; trivial = st_trivial
}
(* unfold *) let lift_div_st (a:Type) (wp:pure_wp a) (p:post a) (m:memory) = wp (fun a -> p a m)
sub_effect DIV ~> STATE = lift_div_st
let read_wp (#a:Type) (r:ref a) : st_wp a =
(fun post m0 -> exists (x:a). m0 == (r |> x) /\ post x m0)
unfold
let frame_read_wp (#a:Type) (r:ref a) : st_wp a =
fun post m0 -> frame_wp (read_wp r) (frame_post post) m0
assume
val ( ! ) (#a:Type) (r:ref a)
:STATE a (frame_read_wp r)
let write_wp (#a:Type) (r:ref a) (v:a) : st_wp unit =
(fun post m0 -> exists (x:a). m0 == (r |> x) /\ post () (r |> v))
unfold
let frame_write_wp (#a:Type) (r:ref a) (v:a) : st_wp unit =
fun post m0 -> frame_wp (write_wp r v) (frame_post post) m0
assume
val ( := ) (#a:Type) (r:ref a) (v:a)
:STATE unit (frame_write_wp r v)
| {
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Q:
Sliding the data of the line highchart
I have a line Highcharts which is receiving real data, and the amount of points is infinite across the time. I need to split this and delete the oldest points after an determinate amount of points. For example, when it arrives to 50 points, the Highcharts deletes the first point drawn and draws the new one, the number 51.
Is there any option to get this? Revising the Highcharts documentation I couldn't find it.
A:
When adding new points you can use the shift parameter to drop off old points when adding the new point. API description:
addPoint (Object options, [Boolean redraw], [Boolean shift], [Mixed animation])
shift: Boolean
Defaults to false. When shift is true, one point is shifted off the start of the series as one is appended to the end. Use this option for live charts monitoring a value over time.
For example:
// attributes: point options, redraw, shift
series.addPoint([value], true, series.data.length >= 10);
Or see this JSFiddle demonstration of it.
| {
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CARACAS (Reuters) - Galvanized by the release from jail of hardline leader Leopoldo Lopez, Venezuelan opposition supporters on Sunday marked 100 days of protests against a socialist government they blame for political repression and economic misery.
Thousands of people gathered in an east Caracas square to hear opposition figures including the wife of Lopez, Lilian Tintori, speak.
Many protests have ended in clashes between masked youths and security forces, with more than 90 killed, hundreds arrested and thousands injured since the unrest began at the start of April.
“We’re not giving up. That Leopoldo is home fills us with the strength to keep fighting,” said Maria Garcia, a 54-year-old homemaker clad in a white T-shirt bearing his image, as she gathered with friends at the rally.
While Lopez was at home with his two young children, Tintori, who has campaigned for him around the world including during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, said she was relieved to have her husband home but the fight was not over.
“I can’t say I’m happy when we know our country is suffering, when there are children eating out of the trash, when there is no medicine in Venezuela,” she said, surrounded by opposition legislators.
She added that former foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez as well as her brother Jorge Rodriguez, another Socialist Party heavyweight, had escorted Lopez to his home at 3 a.m. on Saturday.
Slideshow ( 22 images )
PARALLEL ASSEMBLY
Lopez, 46, was sentenced to nearly 14 years in jail on charges of inciting violence during 2014 protests against President Nicolas Maduro that led to 43 deaths.
But he was surprisingly granted house arrest and sent home due to what the Supreme Court called “irregularities” in his case and for health reasons. Lopez looked robust, however, when he later appeared to supporters.
The government seems to be calculating that his return home may ease domestic protests and international censure, but opposition leaders are viewing it as vindication of their strategy and have vowed to step up their street tactics.
For more than three months, tear gas, rubber bullets, rocks and petrol bombs have flown between protesters and security forces in hotspots around the OPEC member nation.
Four years of brutal recession have underpinned the protests, as millions of Venezuelans suffer food shortages, runaway inflation and long shopping lines.
Slideshow ( 22 images )
While foes slam him for incompetence and failed socialist policies, Maduro blames an “economic war” against him by pro-opposition businessmen and Washington.
The opposition and government are on a political collision course this month.
The opposition is organizing an unofficial referendum on Maduro next weekend, after which they are promising “zero hour”, a presumed reference to an escalation of tactics that could include a general strike or march on the presidential palace.
Maduro, in turn, is seeking to create a new super body called a Constituent Assembly, which would have powers to rewrite the constitution and dismiss the current opposition-controlled legislature, via a July 30 vote.
Campaigning for the parallel assembly began on Sunday, with red-clad supporters cheering on Socialist Party leaders in Caracas.
“It’s the only immediate path we Venezuelans have to overcome violence, hatred and intolerance,” Rodriguez, the former foreign minister who is running for a seat in the constituent body, said on Sunday in a TV interview.
Maduro’s foes are boycotting the July 30 election, saying it is a sham designed to keep an unpopular leader in power. | {
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Laparoscopic sterilization in the supine position using the Ramathibodi uterine manipulator.
To investigate the usefulness of the Ramathibodi uterine manipulator (AMZURA Enterprises, Freeport, NY) in performing laparoscopic sterilization procedures in the supine position under local anesthesia. Descriptive prospective study. Ambulatory surgical unit of university-affiliated hospital. Women presenting for elective sterilization and weighing < 110 kg. The Ramathibodi uterine manipulator was used to provide uterine manipulation in 85 cases of laparoscopic sterilization, all performed in the supine position as local anesthesia-sedation sterilization operations. Because such procedures are becoming more common worldwide, we propose the acronym "LASSO" (Local Anesthesia-Sedation Sterilization Operation) for this class of operations. Although commonly used in minilaparotomy procedures, use of this uterine manipulation device in laparoscopic procedures has not been published previously. Successful tubal occlusion. Among the 85 cases reported here there were no failures to manipulate the uterus successfully, to identify the tubes, and to occlude them. The simplicity of the Ramathibodi uterine manipulator provided several advantages over other means of uterine manipulation, notably [1] constant easy-to-learn maneuvers, [2] no tenaculum or balloon requirement, [3] the procedure could be performed in the supine position, and [4] there are no working parts, screws, or springs that could be lost or broken by operating room staff. Our experience with this device leads us to recommend it to colleagues as an inexpensive, safe, and effective alternative to currently available instruments for providing uterine elevation during laparoscopic sterilization procedures. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
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Make a high-quality decorative statement in your wash room with this round stone bathroom sink. Constructed from one piece of natural travertine stone with its own unique character, this drop-in or undermount vessel bathroom sink adds a high-end, luxurious style to the room. Its understated elegance and neutral tone complement any decor.
I ordered this sink because it said "pop-up drain included" which eliminated the necessity of purchasing the drain separately. It arrived without the drain. I called Overstock and they said they would have another package opened and would remove the drain and send it to me. A few days later, another entire sink arrives (which I never asked for) and wait for it...... this one has no drain either! Do not order this sink if you expect it to include a drain.
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Ok, we needed 2 sinks for a master bath remodel, and so I selected Qty 2 and hit order. Well, these 2 sinks could not be more different. They are the same size and that is about all they have going for them. One sink is such a pale peach color it is almost white, and looks kind of like marble. The other sink is a dark, dark chestnut brown and is more "splotchy" in coloration but beautiful nonetheless. I don't think we are going to return, as we have "his and hers" vanities and so the sinks won't be right next to each other. We're using a marinace granite, which is very different and modern so we think the non-matching sinks will add a modern flair as well. For those of you who want perfectly matching sinks, you may not want to gamble on this.
I ordered this sink to place on top of our expresso brown vanity and it had the effect that I wished for: it popped. I also replaced my faucet with a rubbed bronze one with a porcelain handle and this trio works great. The look is updated but still classic.
Was looking for a bathroom basin for my log home. After on line shopping for three days and sticker shock, I stumbled across this one. More uniform than the natural stone free form ones that I had found, but has beautiful color variation and placed on a rustic reclaimed wood table looks totally custom. Copper faucets added to the look! Definitely a win-win purchase. Great size both in depth and width. I would highly recommend this basin/sink. Can't go wrong with Travertine.
Hi tonit69t, we were able to verify this information with our support team. For a sit above the counter top style the mounting ring sits between the vessel and the granite. For a sit below the counter top style the plastic mount(not included) can serve as a cushion, mounted around the inside of the counter top hole. We hope this helps. Thanks for shopping with us.
"We have this sink; however, its drain does not appear to "pop up," or close in any way. The "umbrella" that covers the drain is polished chrome and is in rough shape. It looks as though the previous homeowners may have used an abrasive on it and removed some of the finish.) That just screws off -- can we purchase a replacement? We'd like it in oil-rubbed bronze, instead, too. :)"
Travertine Sinks should only be cleaned with mild soap and warm water. Harsh abrasives and scrubbing pads should not be used as these products could scratch or dull the finish of your sink. Dropping a large heavy object in or on the sink could cause the sink to fracture or crack. Treat it like the fine piece of stone that it is. Periodically sealing the sink with stone sealer will preserve the natural finish of the stone.
Vessel Sinks vs Traditional Sinks
How to Choose the Right Size Kitchen Sink
Whether you're building a new kitchen or remodeling an existing one, you're probably in the market for a new kitchen sink. In order to find the sink that meets your needs both functionally and aesthetically, it's important to consider placement, style, and kitchen size.
How to Install a Bathtub Drain
How to Install a Bathtub Drain from Overstock.com. Our guides provide customers with information about how to install a bathtub drain.
How to Install an Undermount Kitchen Sink
How to Install an Undermount Kitchen Sink from Overstock.com. Our guides provide customers with information about how to install an undermount kitchen sink.
DIY Bathroom Remodel
An outdated bathroom can feel out of place in an otherwise beautiful home, but making upgrades on your own is simple.
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Shop Overstock™ and find the best online deals on everything for your home and your family. We work every day to bring you discounts on new products across our entire store. Whether you're looking for memorable gifts or everyday essentials, you can buy them here for less. Not just anyone’s mobile outlet, your mobile outlet. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} | 0 |
# Cover
Metal on Ice
Tales from Canada's Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Heroes
Sean Kelly
Metal on Ice
is dedicated to the hard rock faithful,
the friends I've made on the journey,
and the family that has supported me.
# CONTENTS
* [Introduction: Rites of Initiation into Canada's Hard Rock Scene
](../Text/6-intro.xhtml)
* [The Players
](../Text/7-ch1.xhtml)
* [Rock 'n Roll Vocations: The Call to Arms
](../Text/8-ch2.xhtml)
* [The Road
](../Text/9-ch3.xhtml)
* [Big F**kin' Deal (Life in the Big Leagues)
](../Text/10-ch4.xhtml)
* [The Border: Canadians Taking Heavy Metal to the World
](../Text/11-ch5.xhtml)
* [Making the Scene
](../Text/13-ch6.xhtml)
* [Metal Queens: Canada's Female Hard Rock Presence
](../Text/14-ch7.xhtml)
* [The Peaks: Grabbing Rock 'n Roll's Brass Ring
](../Text/15-ch8.xhtml)
* [The Valleys: The Gods' Descent
](../Text/16-ch9.xhtml)
* [Hard Rock of Ages: Standing the Test of Time
](../Text/17-ch10.xhtml)
* [Afterword
](../Text/18-afterword.xhtml)
* [Selected Discography
](../Text/19-discography.xhtml)
* [With Regrets: Bands that Deserved a Mention
](../Text/20-regret.xhtml)
* [Acknowledgements
](../Text/21-acknow.xhtml)
# Introduction
Rites of Initiation into Canada's Hard Rock Scene
In 1984/85 I was a member of the G&P Welding PeeWee A hockey team in my Northern Ontario home town of North Bay, Ontario. As with most young Canadian boys, there was nothing more important than my regular schedule of Tuesday night practices and Friday night games. That all changed with the musical revelations pumping through the speakers of an intimidatingly large ghetto blaster, property of one Scott Dean, the toughest eleven-year-old you'd ever meet. Scott had a penchant for getting into physical altercations with members of the opposing teams, their parents, and sometimes even his own parents. But he also demonstrated a protective sympathy for my own gentle nature, and I could always count on Scott to deliver payback (usually in the form of a crosscheck to the throat or back) to anyone who levelled me on the ice.
The music from Scott's ghetto blaster would pump us up as we rocked out to the strains of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger," Billy Squier's "The Stroke," and Chilliwack's "My Girl." This was the stuff you could count on hearing every time you strapped on your roller skates and hit the Northern Lights Roller Rink, an aluminium-sided monstrosity that was home to many first kisses, first boob-grabs, and first beatings at the hands of moustachioed pre-adults in cut-off tees, hi-top sneakers, and too-tight jeans. But one day Scott threw on something that pushed the pedal down much much harder and a lot heavier. It was a band called Helix, and the song was "Rock You." All the familiar elements that used to exist in the background of the music I'd heard (guitars, drums, vocals) for me all of a sudden came screaming into the foreground. Within the first few measures of the tune's famous call-and-response chorus of "Gimme an R (R!), O (O!), C (C!), K (K!)... whatcha got (ROCK) and whatcha gonna do? ROCK YOU!" a shift in perception happened. Music wasn't just going to be a background soundtrack for my life; it was going to be my life. I was going to learn to play the guitar for real! I was gonna shout at the devil. I sure as hell wasn't gonna take it, and I was gonna rock you.
Thus began my process of discovery of hard rock and heavy metal music. The music was piped into my life in the same way it was for any number of Canadian pre-teens — picked up from the schoolyard and the ever-growing output of music videos airing on the music specialty shows of the day. Shows like Friday Night Videos, Video Hits, and Good Rockin' Tonite played the odd video of the heavy metal I was craving, but my main fix came from the freshly launched MuchMusic channel, and specifically The Power Hour, a sixty-minute blast of metal in all its existing incarnations. Helix loomed large in my mind, but to be honest, they were overshadowed by the metal sounds coming from the U.S. and Europe. These bands just seemed to be more prevalent at the time and certainly had more print space in rock and metal rags like Hit Parader, Circus, Creem and whatever other publication I could pick up at Shoppers Drug Mart. Even though the wheels of establishing our Canadian cultural identity had long been set into motion by the mid-1980s, I believe it is safe to say that as consumers of pop culture product, many of us were still largely informed by content coming from south of the border. We modelled the idyllic view of family life on such shows as The Cosby Show, Family Ties, and Growing Pains, marvelled at the Americanized bravado of Indiana Jones and Rocky Balboa, and most definitely consumed much more American music than Canadian. Canada was willing and ready to mainline American entertainment.
As far as music goes, the ever growing popularity of the cable TV medium bombarded us with images of American and European bands performing to screaming throngs of thousands. In doing so, these artists seemed like rock gods who would never deign to play in arenas that held fewer than 10,000 people. In other words, for those of us Canadians who grew up in smaller locales, simple mathematics seemed to dictate that we would never see these artists in their perfect natural environment, an eighty-foot stage with a full array of speakers piled high, walls of Marshall cabinets, and enough lights to power a small city. Of course, I was aware that there were Canadian bands out there, but they really only existed in my periphery. I heard their songs on the radio and I had seen their videos. Many of them, like Helix, Kick Axe, and Honeymoon Suite, were definitely contenders for my devotion as a fan. Looking back, I doubt I really considered the fact that they were Canadian at all. They just existed in the shadows of the heavyweights whose image, hype, and music I had been consuming via American mass media.
The musical fare of Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, Mötley Crüe, and Def Leppard were doing heavy rotation on my parents' archaic turntable, and my hockey-playing buddy Scott and I would spend hours listening then poking away at the out-of-tune second-hand electric guitars we had acquired for Christmas. There was no Internet guitar tablature or YouTube videos to learn from, so instead we perfected the techniques we could master, posing in front of the mirror and smoking cigarettes in the backyard. Scott had long blond hair and looked like an eleven-year-old rock star. And frankly, faking along to records and sneaking out for a smoke in the backyard with a cool-looking kid was satisfying enough. This was gonna be my "thing." I really wasn't prepared for the new dimension my "thing" would take on after I witnessed my first rock 'n roll concert, nor was I aware until years later of the significance of the venue in which it took place.
Any hockey enthusiast who has grown up in Canada has a deeply ingrained sensory perception of their local arena. We can see vividly the colours of the seats that define the sections, the pennants and photos that honour hometown heroes made good, the rickety huts where the programs are sold. The smell of concession stand French fries and vinegar permeate the building, mixing with the scents of sweat and ice. But perhaps the first thing noticed upon entering a rink are the sounds: the slap-back of children's voices against the brick of the foyers, the rattling of the Plexiglas that keeps the crowd safe from flying pucks and broken sticks, and the reverberant echoes of bone-crushing hits against the boards.
By 1985, Memorial Gardens in North Bay had already been host to many memories for me: Ontario Hockey League games courtesy of the North Bay Centennials, the circus, the Harlem Globetrotters, and the odd time when my house league minor hockey teams would be given the chance to play in the "big room." I was aware that the Gardens hosted myriad events, but in my mind the main purpose for its existence was to house hockey in all its various age groupings. That would change for me on a fall night in 1985. My growing passion for hard rock and heavy metal blossomed into a full-blown obsession when I saw a double bill featuring Helix and Honeymoon Suite.
Everything about that first concert was exciting, even picking up the tickets at the Garden's box office weeks before the actual event. The more I stared at the names of the bands on my ticket, the more attention I would pay to their music as it was piped into my bedroom over the airwaves... Helix's "Rock You" was every bit the anthem "Shout at the Devil" or "Rock of Ages" were — hell, maybe even more! And Honeymoon Suite's "New Girl Now" contained the perfect combination of bubblegum melody and crunching guitars. I purchased the records with money saved from allowances and paper routes and dove deeply into the music. These Canadian bands soon moved up the ranks in my eyes to become the equals of their American and European counterparts. And perhaps more importantly, they were coming to bring the rock 'n roll message directly to me, in the most sacred of Canadian venues: the local hockey arena!
The day of the show I pedalled my ten-speed around the arena all day, hoping to catch a glimpse of these rock gods. Sure enough, two tour buses pulled up behind the arena in the afternoon, and one by one the long-haired, leather-clad members of the bands poured out of their respective buses. As I collected autographs and exchanged high-fives and back slaps, it dawned on me that there was a strange and wonderful dichotomy at work here. These musicians were (in my estimation) miles above me in the scale of human existence, far more than mere mortals, and yet here they were treating me with kindness and respect. And not only that, they were thanking me for buying their albums and coming to their show! I even got to go into the arena early and watch the crew setting up the show, hanging the lighting rig, and tuning the guitars.
As for the show itself... completely mind-blowing. The familiar reverberations of those arena boards as they absorbed and reflected the blows of crushing drums, piercing Marshall stacks, and soaring vocals echoed in my ears and my heart long after the show ended. The memory of rocking out with my childhood buddies Paul Vaillancourt, Jason Turner, and Russell Hunter (and my older sister Pam and cousin Colleen, our chaperones for the evening) is one I have always kept close to my heart. Yet one poignant moment escaped me and was only brought to my memory on a stop in Edmonton on a recent tour of Canada with Nelly Furtado (with whom I currently play guitar). My friend Paul swears that I turned to him at some point during the show, looked him square in the eyes, and shouted over the din of electric guitars: "I'm gonna be on that stage one day!"
Years later, as I was about to perform with Helix at the 2009 Rocklahoma Festival on a bill with Ratt, Night Ranger, and Warrant on a massive festival stage, I reminded lead singer Brian Vollmer of that concert and the kindness the Helix boys showed me. He didn't remember, but he really didn't need to. I did.
These early musical experiences set me on a course from which I could never turn back, a course which has me writing this very chapter from the Andaz Hotel (formerly the old "Riot Hyatt") on Hollywood's Sunset Strip as I make my living as a professional musician. The road to Canadian musical glory is not lined with the palm trees of this fabled strip or the top-down convertibles I am watching pass by. It is a road slick with black ice, obscured by blizzards, and littered with moose and deer that could cause peril for a band strung out from too little sleep and too much excess as they thunder along the Trans-Canada Highway in a cube van.
Metal on Ice is a look at the pursuit of the Canadian rock 'n roll dream as lived and experienced by a number of musicians who rose to some level of prominence during the eighties and early nineties. It is also a story of the realities of the music business, a look at the nuts and bolts of what went into making the music we have come to know and love. The artists share in their own words their experiences of climbing the rock 'n roll ladder and striving to make a mark both domestically and internationally.
I largely focus on the Canadian bands and artists that helped formulate my own dreams to make a living as a guitar player, and in some cases I have worked with these artists. Almost everyone I talked to for this book based their game plan for a career in music on the models of American and European bands. However, I believe there is a distinct identity in Canadian bands that differentiates them from their U.S. and European counterparts. The musical differences are subjective, but hearing them tell their stories just feels Canadian. They also have an edge that comes with a life lived hard in the name of rock 'n roll... kind of like a Tim Hortons coffee spiked with Jack Daniels.
And for purists, don't get too hung up on what constitutes heavy metal in this book. For me, if it was on The Power Hour, the guitars were loud, and the hair was long, it was heavy metal, eh? At the end of the day, it really is only rock 'n roll, and I do like it.
In Metal on Ice, we get first-hand accounts from early to mid- eighties headbangers like Helix, Kick Axe, Coney Hatch, and Anvil, and rockers who made their mark in the second wave of Canada's big hair daze like Killer Dwarfs, Brighton Rock, Harem Scarem, Slik Toxik, Sven Gali, and Syre. Bands like Honeymoon Suite and Haywire were on the more polished, melodic side of the hard rock spectrum, and bands like Sacrifice, Razor, and Voivod represented the power and speed of thrash — but were their struggles and dreams really all that different? And what about the role of Canadian women in a scene that is often perceived as hyper-macho? Lee Aaron, Darby Mills (Headpins), and Holly Woods (Toronto) brought easily as much power and swagger as the boys who made the noise did, and their story is a big part of the narrative of heavy rock in Canada.
Each chapter of the book will deal with a step in the process that these Canadian hard rock and metal bands went through to bring their music to the masses. And for the record, Metal on Ice reads better with some Canadian rock blaring in the background. So turn the page and GIV'ER!
# The Players
Man, I forget who said it, but it sure is true: writing about music is like dancing about architecture. How the hell can you describe the glorious feeling that washes over a teenager when he hears a perfectly voiced power chord coming out of dimed Marshall stack? What words do justice to the pounding of a double bass drum kit soaked in cathedralesque reverb, or the sound of a singer tearing his or her vocal chords apart reaching for notes that exist only in the upper reaches of Heavy Metal Heaven? It's a futile exercise, but I thought it best in this chapter to frame the work of these artists as I saw, heard, and felt them, because as any good rock musician knows, it is all about feel.
When I think about the Canadian heavy metal and hard rock bands that moved me in the eighties, I group them in categories based loosely on era and style. The first group is those influenced by seventies heavy metal and hard rock, British bands like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin; Australia's AC/DC; Germany's Scorpions; American bands like Grand Funk Railroad, Vanilla Fudge, Blue Cheer, and Cactus; and Canadian bands like April Wine and Bachman Turner Overdrive: the key foundation elements. No doubt there were other influences, but this gets us in the sonic ballpark.
Helix, Coney Hatch, Anvil, White Wolf, and Kick Axe best represent this first phase to me. Each of these bands first cut their teeth on the Canadian bar scene in the seventies. There are definitely differences in approach between these bands and many subtleties which define each group's style and sound.
Kitchener, Ontario's Helix was the embodiment of approachable, relatable, head bang-able working class heavy metal. They wrote and performed songs custom-made for hockey arenas. Simple and ear-catching, Helix's recorded works reflected an understanding of the musical foundations of the best heavy rock that came before, no doubt learned from their years of pounding it out on the seventies Ontario bar circuit. With Helix, there was always enough AC/DC to keep it tough, enough Van Halen to keep it fun, enough Priest to keep it metal, and enough Zeppelin to keep it grooving. Helix painted with broad strokes and primary sonic colours, but the colours were always concurrent with what was happening with the best of their peers both domestically and internationally at the time of any given release.
After recording and releasing two albums independently via their own H&S label (a partnership with manager William Seip, a guiding force in the development of Helix's look and sound throughout their career), the band made headway with a string of gold and platinum albums on Capitol Records/EMI. No Rest for the Wicked (1983), Walking the Razor's Edge (1984), Long Way to Heaven (1985), and Wild in the Streets (1987) are chock full of coliseum-ready rockers fuelled by the golden throat of Brian Vollmer. His voice could cut like a razor blade ("Heavy Metal Love," "Rock You," and "Wild in the Streets") or be power ballad-smooth ("Deep Cuts the Knife," "Make Me Do (Anything You Want)," "Dream On"). Helix put on a highly choreographed live show that was equal parts rock spectacle and acrobatics display, with Vollmer executing daring commando rolls after he plummeted from the top of twenty-five-foot speaker column stacks. As Helix entered headline status on the Long Way to Heaven and Wild in the Streets tours, they put on arena-worthy spectacles replete with ego ramps, massive light trusses, and a drum riser high enough for the entire venue to catch a great view of drummer Greg "Fritz" Hinz's famous "full moons." Guitarist Brent "The Doctor" Doerner's Eddie Van Halen-inspired virtuosity was a great complement to co-axeman Paul Hackman's bluesy style, and Belfast-born bassist Daryl Gray brought a strong Irish tenor and considerable bass and keyboard chops to a band that could step into the ring with any world-class hard rock outfit.
I recall a TV commercial for one of those compilation albums that were really raging back in the eighties. I used to love them because I could get a sampler of all the hits at the time, and every once in a while be thrilled when one of my hard rock favourites made the grade. This commercial was running through videos of the various artists that appeared on the compilation and my head spun around when I heard... "and Canada's Coney Hatch with 'Devil's Deck'!" Once I heard the lines "Harlot Christine, just a kid of sixteen" accompanied by that driving beat and those crunching guitars, another band was added to my favourites list.
The hard rock that Coney Hatch was dealing from that devil's deck came from an interesting set of influences and an even more interesting band dynamic. Vocalist and guitarist Carl Dixon was a student of the great classic rock and soul music of the sixties and seventies. Dixon possesses a near-perfect voice for rock radio, soulful and powerful in range. In highly developed and commercial compositions like "Hey Operator," "Devil's Deck," and "Girl from Last Night's Dream," you can hear the time Dixon spent studying and absorbing classic rock song structure. With bassist and co-vocalist Andy Curran, we get a more angular approach to writing and vocal delivery that is a culmination of new wave and New Wave of British Heavy Metal influences. Curran has a darker, almost spoken vocal approach, one that highlights the more abstract nature of his compositions ("Monkey Bars," "Stand Up," "Shake the Stick"). Complementing the duo lead vocalist approach were guitarist Steve Shelski (a graduate of Toronto's prestigious Humber College Jazz program whose star turn in the solo to "Monkey Bars" has confounded cover band guitarists for years!) and drummer Dave "Thumper" Ketchum, a great four-on-the-floor pounder in the classic hard rock style. Their 1982 self-titled debut album, released on Anthem Records and produced by Kim Mitchell, was a gold-certified smash. Subsequent albums Outta Hand (1984) and Friction (1985) saw the band refining its sound, bringing in a more AOR and melodic rock sensibility. For the Friction record, Ketchum was replaced by Barry Connors (a veteran of the Lee Aaron Band and Toronto). Touring with bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest showed Coney Hatch how the big boys did it and in turn helped them establish their own reputation as a live act of the highest order. The Hatch's photogenic good looks kept the girls happy and their heavy duty riffs kept teenage boys dropping their allowance money on Coney Hatch merchandise (you would have been hard pressed to roam the halls of a Canadian high school in the mid-eighties and not run into a few guys sporting Coney Hatch concert jerseys with three-quarter-length sleeves).
Interesting side note: current prog-metal Dream Theater vocalist James Labrie (then known as Kevin) actually replaced Dixon as lead vocalist for a spell during the band's last run in the eighties. I never got to see Coney Hatch back in their heyday, even though I had a ticket to a show at École Secondaire Algonquin, the French high school in North Bay. I can't remember what tour it would have been since I was quite young, and my immaturity only compounded my disappointment when the show was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. I remember the DJ from 600 CFCH, the station sponsoring the show, pleading with the rock community of North Bay to buy a ticket so that the promoters would not be afraid to bring future concerts to the town. I held a grudge against every rock fan in town who didn't buy a ticket. What a bunch of dicks, I thought! I wanted so desperately for these bands to come to town, to soak up some of their musical magic in the concert bowl or high school gym, or wherever the hell I could see them! This wouldn't be the last time this kind of disappointment would enter my life.
I was beyond stoked to see that Belleville, Ontario-born Lee Aaron; Regina, Saskatchewan's Kick Axe; and Edmonton, Alberta's White Wolf were teaming up to come to Memorial Gardens for a heavy metal triple bill! I mean, seeing Helix and Honeymoon Suite on a double bill was pretty crazy in its own right, but to see three bands in one show, well, this was too much. However, my heart sank as I once again heard my local DJ telling me that this concert, too, was going to be cancelled. While I didn't know it at the time, Kick Axe bassist Victor Langen years later informed me it was because all of their gear had been impounded by the RCMP after a gig in Winnipeg, thanks to the less than scrupulous business dealings of their manager (who had also fled the country to avoid criminal prosecution). The band managed to limp through the next night's gig in Thunder Bay with pawn shop gear, but it was later decided they were not doing themselves any favours by sounding like a transistor radio. My disappointment at missing yet another concert was met with blank stares by my circle of friends, shrugged shoulders, and the more than occasional "Who the fuck are Kick Axe and White Wolf?" Knuckleheads.
Kick Axe had a sound that was really easy for me to love. When I first heard their gold-certified album Vices, I was instantly hooked by a familiar sound. It was the production style of Spencer Proffer, who had signed Kick Axe to his Pasha record imprint. Proffer had helmed the boards for Quiet Riot's mega smash Metal Health, the album that really kick-started the appearance of heavy metal and hard rock in the charts. I could hear the trashy, boomy midrange production of that album in Vices, but I thought it had way better songs. "On the Road to Rock" and "Heavy Metal Shuffle" kicked an inordinate amount of ass. Vocalist George Criston (an American who replaced original singer Gary Langen) was a top-notch metal belter, the guitar team of Larry Gillstrom and Ray Harvey had all the technical proficiency needed to shred in a post-Yngwie Malmsteen hard rock world (as well as the taste to know when to use it!), and the rhythm section of Brian Gillstrom and Victor Langen had the pounding groove necessary to take full advantage of Proffer's booming production. The Kick Axe video for "On the Road to Rock" is mandatory viewing, and Langen's custom-made Fury "Bat" bass guitar is still one of the coolest instruments I've ever seen.
White Wolf were cut from a somewhat similar sonic cloth as Kick Axe, but perhaps a little more Euro — highly melodic but with that 1984 razor-like guitar edge. They had two albums that bothered the lower regions of the U.S. Billboard Top 200, 1984's Standing Alone and 1986's Endangered Species. White Wolf was led by lead singer Don Wolf (who would later lend his background vocal talents to Poison's multi-platinum Flesh & Blood album) and lead guitarist/producer Cam MacLeod, and to my mind they are the best representation of the Teutonic influence of Scorpions or Accept in Canadian metal, particularly on the debut. I really dug the video for "She," which had a bit more of an American sound, or maybe a heavier Aldo Nova-type trip. Oh yeah, I didn't talk to Aldo Nova for this book, but I should probably mention that with his smash hit "Fantasy" he pretty much invented the sound that Jon Bon Jovi would co-opt on "Runaway" and then sell to billions of people. So thank him or hate him for that. Anyway, White Wolf was signed in the U.S. to the RCA label, which was kind of notorious for taking great hard rock bands and burying their careers; thus the suggestion that RCA was an acronym for Recording Cemetery of America.
Lee Aaron had turned up on my radar with her Lee Aaron Project and Metal Queen albums. To be honest, it wasn't until her 1987 self-titled album and 1989's Body Rock that I really got into Aaron's music, but I always loved her voice. Her marketing team was playing up the Heavy Metal Siren sexpot stereotypes pretty hard and heavy, and of course that was of considerable interest to a young lad entering his teens. However, I was way more impressed with the power of her vocals. When Lee sings heavy metal, it sounds like a guitarist with an amazing, really wide, controlled vibrato playing through a tube amp that has been warming up for a few hours ... saturated and sweet, with enough dirt and grit to rock and a perfect combination of all the right harmonics. Songs like "Metal Queen," "Whatcha Do to My Body," and "Hands On" (all co-written by Aaron) are undeniably important parts of Canada's heavy rock lexicon.
After watching Sacha Gervasi's documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, you would think that the band had been a long-suffering and tragically ignored joke, only to taste the fame and glory they so desperately longed for in their golden years. And I guess to the mainstream that is what it looks like. To my young metal sensibilities at the time, they were just another pretty cool Canadian metal band. Hell, they had records out, they went on tour, I saw them on TV... what's to pity about that? In fact, I remember watching a video for their classic track "Metal on Metal," a clip that featured the band performing in front of 80,000 screaming Japanese fans during the 1984 Super Rock festival, and thinking that it was pretty damn cool that a band from Canada could even get to Japan, much less play to such a crowd!
Anvil's first three records, particularly the classics Metal on Metal (1982) and Forged in Fire (1983), are highly influential precursors to the American thrash movement, forging classic heavy metal with moments of intense technical proficiency. In retrospect, you can see the influence that Robb Reiner's drumming had on future skin pounders, and guitarist/vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow was a riff-meister par excellence. Rounded out by guitarist Dave Alison and bassist Ian Dickson, Anvil looked like a pretty traditional metal band. However, the overt descriptions of sexual practice and deviance in their lyrics really suggested more of a performance art approach, with Lips even bringing a variety of sex toy props into the live performance (any guy who can play a guitar solo with a vibrator and mean it is surely working on a different artistic plane!).
I have a not-so-fond recollection of going to see Anvil play at a North Bay bar called Wylder's (named after the fact that it was on Wylde Street and things got wild there, I suppose). This would have been later on in their career, the early nineties. I was always a big fan of their song "Mad Dog" from 1987's Strength of Steel album. With a crowd of maybe twenty people in the club, I noticed a band member (not one of the loveable cofounders from the Anvil movie) sitting at the bar. Eager to go talk to someone who was actually involved in the occupation I was hoping to follow, I approached him and asked him if "Mad Dog" was in the set. His response was "If you want to hear that song, go home and listen to the album," and then he turned his back to me. Who knows, maybe the song brought back bad memories for him, or maybe he was having a bad day on the road, but at the time all I could think was You have twenty people in a club and you treat the one who actually gives a shit like that? This was the exact opposite of how I felt when I met the Helix and Honeymoon Suite guys at my first concert. I was all ready to hate every minute of Anvil's performance but was converted back into an admirer after witnessing the conviction with which Lips attacked the stage and his material that night. In front of only a handful of people, he delivered a performance worthy of a stadium, and I will always remember that. And you too, grumpy bass player.
A band that kind of straddles the line between being considered an early-to-mid-eighties band and a mid-to-late-eighties band to me is Killer Dwarfs. The Dwarfs technically came up through the late seventies and eighties cover and touring scene, but their most important contributions came in the latter phase. I had seen the video for "Heavy Metal Breakdown" (from their self-titled debut on Attic Records) in the early days of the Power Hour, and it was most definitely pretty good. But when guitarist Mike Hall and bassist Ronald Mayer joined remaining founding members Russ Graham and Darrell Millar, the sparks really started to fly. The Dwarfs second record, 1986's Stand Tall, is truly art imitating life, a rallying cry from a band hell-bent on bringing their music to the people their way, in the face of record company indifference. The standout tracks on the album were the pounding and groovy title track (the video for which shows the band literally making their own records in the most outrageous and hilarious display of the DIY ethic ever committed to film) and "Keep the Spirit Alive," a song that contains one of the greatest melodic hooks in the recorded history of hard rock, aided in no small part by Graham's emotive delivery and a golden guitar progression courtesy of Hall. It is really hard to explain how good it feels to hear Russ Graham sing. In the same way that Helix's "Rock You" set me on my personal heavy metal journey, "Keep the Spirit Alive" was fuel for the tiger in my tank as I continued on my musical path. I really believed that Russ believed, and meeting him years later, I could see in his eyes that he did. Killer Dwarfs brought a sense of humour to their stage shows, playing up the diminutive stature of their vocalist by having him ride a tricycle around on stage, pop out of a box, and roll around like a demented schoolboy. But just like the best humour, there was always substance and meaning behind the joke, and Killer Dwarfs had that in spades with albums like 1988's Big Deal, 1990's Dirty Weapons, and 1992's Method to the Madness (an album which featured Newfoundland's greatest rock 'n roll export, Gerry Finn, on lead guitar).
Syre was a band I really only knew of from their two videos, "Say Hi to My Girlfriend" and "In Your Eyes." In a pre-Napster world, our version of enjoying music we hadn't officially purchased was to tape videos on our VHS players and watch them over and over until the tapes wore out. I never actually owned their sole A&M Records release, It Ain't Pretty Being Easy, but their reputation as a killer live act on the Canadian bar circuit even made its way to my high school halls. Formed in 1986, this band was one of the best examples of a Canadian hard rock band without pretense or any modus operandi other than to play the shit out of their instruments and have a good time all the time. Those people with a loftier philosophical view of music might find this shallow, but Syre, made up of vocalist Doug Weir, drummer Jamie Constant, guitarists Chip Gall and Rick Mead, and bassist Chris Caron, would probably just tell them to relax and have a beer. Syre built their reputation by bringing a stadium-sized attitude to the small clubs they played across Canada, and an ever-growing fanbase of repeat customers was the reward.
Sword was a mid-to-late-eighties period heavy metal band that caught my ears thanks to a storming track called "FTW (Follow the Wheel)" from their 1986 Aquarius Records debut Metalized. I absolutely loved this track. With a chorus of "Follow the wheel, wheels of fire," what metal-loving teen could resist singing along? To this day, I still don't know if the mix of the singular and plural in that chorus was on purpose, or a result of the Saint-Bruno, Quebec-born and raised Rick Hughes' challenges singing in English, but when it rocks this hard, who cares? Sword was devastatingly tight, and the Metalized album was a fresh take on the classic NWOBHM influences. Hughes, along with brother Dan on drums, guitarist Mike Plant, and bassist Mike Larocque (how perfect!), led Sword down a musical path that married Iron Maiden, Dio, and Deep Purple influences. This "trad" heavy metal approach carried on with the release of 1988's Sweet Dreams. Rick Hughes would later go on to join the hair metal ranks in the early nineties with the band Saints & Sinners, which would release a self-titled album of sleaze rock a-go-go, also on the Aquarius label.
This might be where I lose any credibility I might have had with the metal community, but then again, what could be more metal than not giving a damn?
I have always loved the sounds of keyboards blended with distorted electric guitars. Whether they were used as a special effect, a simple harmonic pad, or a full-on baroque frenzy of notes, I am a big fan of the 88s and the bands that use them. Now, one of the things about keyboards is that the bands that use them tend to lean a little heavier on the melody and a little lighter on the heavy. I argue that when you are watching bands like Haywire, Honeymoon Suite, Brighton Rock, and Harem Scarem pound it out live, there are enough hard rock elements to justify their inclusion in a book on hard rock and metal. Not to mention the fact that they worked the same circuits as most of the other bands in this book anyway!
Niagara Falls-based Honeymoon Suite's hard rock ringer is definitely guitarist Derry Grehan. No matter how poppy an HMS tune might get, Grehan has enough Blackmore and Van Halen-drenched attitude in his playing and his tone to qualify as a genuine hard rock guitar hero. What kid watching the Live Aid broadcast in '85 could forget the Pepsi commercial in which Grehan's searing lead guitar was sooo rocking that it could blow the caps off a line-up of cola bottles? For every summer-soaked radio hit ("Wave Babies") or new wave-flavoured tune ("Stay in the Light") on Honeymoon Suite's 1984 debut, there was a riff-heavy rocker to complement it ("New Girl Now," "Burning In Love"). Ray Coburn is a world-class keysman who has treaded the planks with everyone from Dalbello to Kim Mitchell, and he always concocted cool textures that sat perfectly in the mix. Johnny Dee's vocals were pure AOR class, and the rhythm section of drummer Dave Betts and ex-Toronto (the band) bassist Gary Lalonde kept the affair suitably grounded in classic rock synchronicity.
Subsequent albums like 1986's The Big Prize and 1988's Racing After Midnight kept the pop/hard rock balance going. Racing After Midnight really showcased Grehan's Van Halen-esque approach (hey, the album was produced by Van Halen producer Ted Templeman, after all!).
Knowing that Montreal-based journalist, radio personality, and avowed defender and crusader for all things eighties Mitch Lafon was a big fan of HMS, I asked him for an exclusive perspective on this Canadian melodic rock gem.
"Honeymoon Suite was Canada's answer to Van Halen, but with a greater pop sensibility. Guitarist Derry Grehan had the same flair and showmanship as icon Eddie Van Halen, but there was only room for one 'Eddie.' The songs crafted by singer Johnnie Dee had the hooks and the memorable singalong choruses. How could you deny the infectiousness of songs like 'New Girl Now,' 'Feel It Again,' or the tear-jerking balladry of 'What Does It Take'? The band has maintained a presence in Canada for over thirty years now. Sadly, Canadian and international record label politics have kept the band from achieving world domination, but that's fine. Honeymoon Suite remains Canada's confectionery pop secret with massive guitars, gravel vocals, and foot-stomping tunes."
Brighton Rock was another band from the Niagara region (something in the waterfall?) that could keep it heavy and pompy. When I would see videos for songs like "We Came to Rock" and "Can't Wait for the Night" off their 1986 debut Young, Wild, and Free, I always felt this was a band that wanted to rock much harder than what was coming across on their recorded work. They had a very manicured image, with really big hair and really shiny clothes, but there was something about the way they wielded those pointy guitars on the screen that suggested there was metal underneath the glossy production sheen. Scottish-born screecher par excellence Gerry McGhee had a gruff but highly melodic vocal style that brought to mind Dan McCafferty of Nazareth, and guitarist Greg Fraser was a master of the whammy bar, swooping in, on, over, and around the notes with perfect intonation. Their second album, Take a Deep Breath, went gold thanks to the power ballad "One More Try," but I really dug the single "Hangin' High and Dry." These guys could really rock an anthem, and I always loved their stacked vocal harmonies. By the time Brighton Rock hit 1991's Love Machine album the band had lost the keyboards and had moved on to a drier, guitar-driven sound that was more in line with their live show. But I kinda missed those keyboards!
Okay, let's talk about Prince Edward Island's Haywire. On their 1986 debut Bad Boys they came across as anything but. Videos for the tracks "Bad Bad Boy" and "Standin' In Line" had way too many eighties sweaters hanging off one shoulder, too much band dancing without instruments, and generally too much new wave pop influence to be considered hard rock. But once again, in guitarist Marvin Birt I felt a hard rock guitar hero waiting to bust out of his pop confines and lay down some molten metal licks! He hinted at it in the solo for "Standin' in Line," something in the way he delivered his whammy bar-scooped, palm-muted licks as he stared down the camera.
Haywire's closeted hard rock tendencies were further revealed on 1987's Don't Just Stand There. The tunes were still pretty poppy, and in the case of massive hit "Dance Desire," downright funky. But Birt was pinching the harmonics a little harder on his guitar and the solos were becoming a little more fleet of finger. Lead singer Paul MacAusland's mane was getting a little longer, drummer Sean Kilbride was now rocking a double kick drum set-up, and even the perpetual smiles of keyboardist David Rashed and bassist Ronnie Switzer had a bit more attitude, and there was more leather involved in the look. I saw Haywire open for Helix on the latter's Wild in the Streets tour, and the band came out with fully sanctioned hard rock swagger. I didn't see the band from those early videos who wore pastel sweaters while they danced on cars and shared French fries with their cute teenage girlfriends at some PEI roller rink. I saw a kick-ass rock 'n roll band bringing it down arena-rock style. By the time of 1991's Nuthouse album, Haywire was in my eyes a hard rock band. Check out the down 'n dirty shuffle of the first single, "Short End of a Wishbone," for proof.
I remember getting hipped to the band Harem Scarem by my friend and sometimes bandmate Jeff Van Dusseldorp (a keyboard player, go figure). Jeff was already out on the road, living the rock 'n roll dream in a pro outfit called Down 'n Dirty (named after a song by U.S. band Autograph). He was home from a break in the touring schedule, and as we were driving around in his truck he popped in Harem Scarem's self-titled debut. A glance at the artwork showed an outfit with the requisite look of a band who had come of age in the late eighties: big hair, flowing pirate shirts, etc. I was always so impressed that a band from Ontario could look as slick and polished as the American bands. But it was the music that really blew me away. These songs had more hooks than a tackle box, absolutely huge harmonies, and the lead guitarist Pete Lesperance was (and still is) a monster player. Lead vocalist Harry Hess had one of those voices that just sat perfectly on the radio, really rich and broad-sounding in any range. Jeff and I would drive around in his truck and practise our harmonies to the entire record, picking out choice parts to sing at full blast. Hell, you couldn't help but feel great as you launched into the choruses of "Slowly Slipping Away" and "Hard to Love." When I saw Harem Scarem live in a bar in Oakville, Ontario that summer, I was impressed by how they delivered their polished sound live. The drummer, Darren Smith, just exuded rock star charm and personality, and I would later discover he was also a very talented lead singer and guitar player. He grooved hard with bassist Mike Gionet. They managed to transform the very suburban sports bar they were playing into a real concert experience, with nothing but their music and performance chops. I was going to have to get my shit together as a player if I was going to compete on this level.
When I first moved to Toronto in 1991 to study classical guitar at the University of Toronto (but really to try to become a rock star!), hair metal permeated the Yonge Street strip, and the bands that captured the affections of the ladies, the admiration of the guys, and the jealousy of their unsigned competitors were Slik Toxik, Sven Gali, and Big House. The first cassette I purchased when I moved to Toronto was Slik Toxik's Smooth and Deadly EP, a teaser to their major label debut Doin' the Nasty. This EP, more so than any collection of music I have purchased before or since, really resonated with me as a young musician. Slik Toxik really sounded the way Toronto felt at the time to me. It was loud and fast-moving, but there was also an undercurrent of sleaze. The lead track was "Big Fuckin' Deal," all about the pursuit of a record deal, which was exactly what I hoped to attain, playing music that sounded a lot like Slik Toxik. Mind you, the music I was writing was nowhere near as good as what ST vocalist/writer Nick Walsh was coming up with, but it was where I wanted to go.
In the same year, I heard what I still consider to be the best Canadian hard rock song of all time, "Dollar in My Pocket (Pretty Things)" by Edmonton band Big House. Vocalist Jan Ek had a lot more attitude than technique in his vocal approach, but what an attitude. His tone was so raunchy and authentic, and he just dripped style. I'm sure the fact that Big House started life as a punk band played a huge part in the real rock 'n roll feel in their songs. It was much less precious and perfect than some of their hair metal contemporaries. Guitarist K.B. Broc crafted some of my favourite Canadian rock guitar solos, half Randy Rhoads, half Chuck Berry and 100% awesome! Unfortunately, finding a member of Big House to talk to for this book proved harder than finding a copy of their self-titled album on a record store shelf after 1994!
When Slik Toxik's Doin' The Nasty dropped in 1992, the lead single "Helluvatime" came firing out of the gates with a world-class video and one of the best updates on Aerosmith's Rocks album sound I'd ever heard. I think what really made this album for me was the fact that I could hear how much Walsh loved all types of hard rock and metal. There were elements of Queensrÿche, L.A. Guns, W.A.S.P., and pretty much everything I had in my own record collection. Seeing Slik Toxik play a packed club show at the Spectrum on Danforth Avenue in Toronto made me realize how much better I was going to have to get in order to cut it in this town. The same thing happened later that year when I heard Sven Gali's debut and saw them blow the roof off the RPM club. "Under the Influence" was the first single and video I saw, and I clearly remember revelling in the power riffs punched out by guitarists Dee Cernile and Andy Frank. Vocalist Dave Wanless was an imposing powerhouse of a frontman, not the usual androgynous skin-and-bones rag doll you might associate with lead singers. Each video and single that followed from the album got me more and more excited for the future of Canadian hard rock and heavy metal, because hey, this type of music was here to stay, right?
So these were the bands that I had first-hand, personal experience with, but they are not the only artists I talked to for this book. I wanted to touch on the experiences of thrash metal bands like Razor, Sacrifice, and Voivod. These bands represented the faster, heavier side of metal, and along with Exciter, Annihilator, Varga, and Slaughter made up what my buddy and Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles head honcho Metal Tim Henderson describes "an underground of aggressive, fist-pumping ferociousness." They infused the classic sounds of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands like Diamond Head, Saxon, and Motörhead with punk influences, creating a street-level sound that was perfect for picking gravel out of your skin after a nasty skateboard wipeout. Songs like Razor's "Evil Invaders," Sacrifice's "Reanimation," and Voivod's "Ripping Headaches" fascinated me with their sheer relentlessness, and in recent years I have grown to appreciate the technicality and musical intricacy that these bands evinced.
I also wanted the perspective of pioneers like Toronto and Headpins, specifically from Anne "Holly" Woods and Darby Mills, whose strong female presence was felt by thousands of hard rock fans across Canada.
So now that we know who we are talking about, let's find out why we are talking about them. There was a path they needed to take to get from being in the crowd to being on the stage, from being the one who receives the sound to the one who produces and delivers it. Before you get there, you gotta get inspired....
# Rock 'n Roll Vocations: The Call to Arms
Has there ever been a proper job description for the "rock star" occupation? I have heard a lot of musicians describe themselves as such. I have heard people say they want to sleep with one, and I have heard many young urban professionals and frat boys claim to party like one. But what drives someone to become an actual rock star, someone who can fully commit to the larger-than-life persona and the hours of dedication it takes to be a world-class performer, writer, musician, and road warrior?
Like all childhood career aspirations, the initial motives are pretty pure. It all comes down to the feeling you get when you hear your first power chord or your reaction to a song that drives you to play it over and over again, soaking in every word, every beat, every piece of studio- created affectation. And sure, seeing the rewards (real or imagined) that come with the ability to create the grooves that rock the world is pretty alluring as well. But the commitment required to really understand a musical instrument to the point of being able to make emotions out of sonics requires something a whole lot more substantive than just a lust for a certain lifestyle. It comes from a quest for the sound.
For a kid wanting to be part of making the multi-layered orgasmic roar of a world-class rock band, a few things need to happen. It's kinda like hockey. Some might know exactly which position they want to play right away and others may need to try out a few before finding where they fit. In music, you gotta choose your instrument, which in turn defines your position in the band. For me, it was a thirty-five-dollar second-hand hollowbody electric guitar my dad got me at a flea market for Christmas. I had no doubts I wanted to be a right winger on the ice, and I had no doubts I wanted to rock an electric guitar on the stage!
For St. Catharines, Ontario's Dermot Fergus Grehan, more famously known as "Derry," guitarist and songwriter for Honeymoon Suite, music entered his life through the rigours of classical training at the behest of his father.
"He was a doctor, and he was into classical and played classical piano every night. We had a stiff Irish Catholic upbringing, and he forced us all into piano lessons. We didn't like it at first, but I took the lessons, Conservatory and all that. When I was about ten or eleven years old, I was walking through Kmart and I was going by the record department and heard Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water.' I thought it was the coolest song I ever heard! So I went home and asked my parents if they would let me play guitar, and the deal was, as long as you keep up your piano lessons we'll get you a guitar. I was just coming of age, just becoming aware of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin and Santana and rock and how cool it was to play guitar. You can't jump around with a piano. It's infinitely cooler wearing a guitar, you know? [laughs]"
The next step is to find other people who want to roar in the same way, and for Victor Langen of Regina, Saskatchewan's Kick Axe, it all started with an iconic 1967 television moment.
"I was changed forever seeing The Who perform on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, when Keith Moon used a stick of dynamite to blow up his drums and Pete Townshend pushed over his amp stack. Roger Daltrey was swinging his mic over his head, and all the while John Entwistle just stood there, perfectly still! In that moment, I wanted to be Keith Moon! That started us as kids playing school dances, backyard parties, garages, and basements. We were inspired by Grand Funk Railroad, Mountain, Aerosmith, The Guess Who, April Wine, Rush, Zeppelin, Humble Pie, and Uriah Heep. Kick Axe was initially comprised of classmates and neighbours from Regina. Our goal was to live the rock 'n roll life and do a job we loved in the process."
Nick Walsh from Toronto's Slik Toxik took inspiration from the Canadian artists that arose in the wave before his band stormed the charts in the early nineties.
"Helix was an inspiration, for one. No Rest for the Wicked. When I first heard that song 'Does a Fool Ever Learn,' I was like, 'Who is this?' But one of the bands that really stood out for me that not a lot of people know is Kick Axe. That album Vices, that song 'Heavy Metal Shuffle,' 'Dreaming About You,' this was great songwriting, great musicianship. George Criston was an excellent singer. That band really, really did it for me, but I mean there was a wave before that. There were bands like Prism. When Spaceship Superstar came out when I was only seven or eight years old, that was the coolest thing, and in fact the two things that got me into wanting to be a musician were (a) the KISS Alive album cover, and (b) the band BTO. Their songs were so heavy, you know what I mean? Like [singing] 'ride, ride, ride, won't you let it ride.' That was the heaviest stuff I'd ever heard and I was only, like, four years old, so yeah, Canadian rock really influenced me but in the sixties and the seventies there was [basically] no border between Canada and America. There was no border at all. And it was like, whether it was Neil Young or Rick James or Buffalo Springfield and all these bands and actors and so forth, they all did their thing together, Canadians and Americans. And Canada didn't have CanCon [Canadian content regulations], they actually played Canadian music because it was good [laughs]. It wasn't like something that was an added bonus because we're all weak and inferior."
If you were to do a basic summation and description of what a heavy metal or hard rock band line-up looks like, a clichéd list of points might run down as follows:
Lead Singer: Lion-maned vocalist, cocky, blessed with a vocal range that reaches the stratosphere (perhaps aided by unfailingly tight trousers), possesses an ability to charm even the most volatile of crowds with witty repartee or a unison call to arms (e.g. "I hear there's a rock 'n roll PARTAY going on in Mattawa TOOONIIIIIITE!), has an uncanny ability to access food, shelter, and other comforts on the road thanks to sexual magnetism.
Guitarist(s): Fleet of finger, the frontman's (or woman's) onstage foil, often backlit by the glow of power tubes from a wall of Marshall amplifiers and a refrigerator-sized effects rack. Enjoys many of the same proclivities as the lead singer but sometimes has to compensate for lack of vocal range with wild, shredding guitar solos and sheer volume. Often considered the virtuoso of the group.
Bassist: Not often considered the virtuoso of the group, often viewed as the defenceman on the team, keeping things musically safe with simple, pounding grooves that allow the lead singer and guitarist to hog the musical spotlight. Often has to justify his/her function to listeners in a recording situation ("You can't really hear what I'm doing, but you'd miss it if it wasn't there").
Drummer: Likes to hit things and make loud noises. Provides necessary percussion solos at heavy metal concerts so that patrons can hit the bar and/or concession stands and also provides an opportunity for the lead singer, guitarist, and bassist to take a piss after consuming all that beer during the first half of the concert. A good drummer can transform a mediocre band into a grinding, driving metal machine that keeps the fists pumping in the air all night long. A bad drummer usually has a van, a PA, or lets the band rehearse at his/her house.
Keyboards: Optional, hated by 90 percent of male metal fans, loved by 90 percent of female metal fans. Often were enlisted to make hard rock music more palatable for radio. Usually classically trained and slumming it in a metal band because all of the good new wave bands already had three keyboard players.
All right, so that is the smartass version, but you could pretty much expect to find some combination of that line-up in a hard rock or metal band in the eighties. The line-ups of these bands were formed and forged in a shared love of the music that came before them.
It has been said that heavy metal is the music of misfits, for people who have a hard time finding their place amongst their peer groups. There is an escapist quality to the music that can make someone society has made to feel small somehow feel larger than life. I know from my own personal experience there was definitely a feeling of social confidence in being a part of a group of musicians who connected with the emotions experienced through playing music. This confidence grew with the mastery of every riff or lick, and with every song performed from beginning to end in a relatively smooth manner.
It's hard to imagine Helix's lead vocalist Brian Vollmer ever lacking in confidence, but it turns out that rock 'n roll was a means of forging his early identity. While his first influence was Johnny Cash, he was later moved by the sounds of Canadian bands like The Guess Who and Steppenwolf (and their German-born singer John Kay). "I was into whisky-throated rock 'n roll singers, and anything I could pick up on CJOY radio out of London, Ontario. I remember I was very into certain songs, like 'Signs' by Five Man Electrical Band, and 'Joy to the World' by Three Dog Night. I think [singing] was the only thing I realized that I could do half-ass well when I was a kid, and it drew attention to me. I was an overweight kid with acne, and I didn't have many friends. I lived out on a farm, I was kind of socially backward, and I realized that when I sang it suddenly drew positive attention to me."
Vollmer, a proud and vocal Canadian to this day, would actively seek out Canadian artists and support them. "I was just a very proud Canadian kid. I was very much into Canada."
Like many kids coming of age in the 1960s, Carl Dixon of Toronto's Coney Hatch found inspiration in the classic sounds of The Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Rolling Stones, The Guess Who (which he would later front in place of departed singer Burton Cummings), and Motown. As heavier, guitar-driven music took hold in the seventies, Dixon was swayed by Free, Humble Pie, Deep Purple, Johnny Winter, and other rockers. This love of all things rockin', rollin', and swingin' led Dixon down the career path of professional musician, hooking up with a number of professional travelling bands that toured extensively through Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces. He eventually relocated to Montreal and joined the band Firefly, which represented a step up the professional ladder by way of strong players and singers, a reputable booking agent... and a school bus. Still, Ontario called, and Carl returned to Toronto. But what was the motivation for hooking up with the already formed Coney Hatch?
"I needed a job [laughs]. I had felt like Montreal wasn't in the loop if you were an ambitious musician at that time and I started to miss home. The dynamic in the band was changing, and I moved back to stay with my parents in Barrie for a month or so in January and February of 1981. I then started, as you did then, watching Section 635 in the Toronto Star classifieds for 'Dramatic and Musical Talent.' There used to be quite a listing every day, especially on the weekends, for bands looking for singers, roadies, bass players, drummers, lots of ads in that section every day. I watched those and called a couple, but one ad jumped out at me: 'Steady working band with management seeks guitar-playing singer.' So I called it and was told to show up at the New Shamrock Hotel at the corner of Coxwell Avenue and Gerrard Street. That's where I went to see Coney Hatch for the first time. Their manager met me there and we sat and watched. They had the strangest collection of original songs that I had ever heard! But what impressed me was that they had original songs, probably eight or ten in the show at that time, as well as a lot of AC/DC, and they played Frank Zappa's 'Crew Slut,' The Police's 'Walking on the Moon,' and Van Halen's 'And the Cradle Will Rock.' They shared the vocals around three ways at that time, because that was the old rule, of course, everybody had to pitch in so one singer didn't get too tired."
A successful audition saw Dixon becoming the fourth and final piece of the puzzle that would make up Coney Hatch's line-up for their first two albums.
Toronto, Ontario's Steve "Lips" Kudlow began playing guitar early on in life and at the ripe old age of ten made the decision that music was what he was going to do for a living. After finding a musical synergy with drummer Robb Reiner through their shared love of seventies hard rock giants like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Cactus, and Vanilla Fudge, Lips took out an ad in the Toronto Star's Section 635 seeking players for his musical project. However, in an early display of economic caginess, the band had a creative solution for taking care of the matter of the bill for placing the ad.
"We said that whoever wrote the ad put the wrong phone number on it, so we didn't pay for it [laughs]. What are you gonna do, man? We were seventeen, eighteen years old! I don't know... you do whatever it takes to get something done, you know?"
At the dawn of the eighties, in Saint-Bruno, Quebec, two brothers by the name of Rick and Dan Hughes were inspired by a cinematic showing of Led Zeppelin's famed celluloid rock 'n roll odyssey, The Song Remains the Same. Seeing the movie was the genesis of their powerhouse metal act Sword.
"That day our lives changed, seriously. At sixteen years old, I wanted to become Robert Plant, and Dan, who was a big guy, he became a drummer. I mean, what drummer is there in the rock genre other than John Bonham? He's right at the top with Keith Moon. We had jobs, but we needed something to hang from the top of the world, and music became that for us. See, my brother and I, we bought drums, and it usually starts out that way, you look in the paper. In the eighties there was no Internet, so if you wanted to buy used equipment you bought the paper and looked in the musician's classifieds! I already had a guitar and amp, so we started to jam, and we heard about Mike Laroque and Mike Plante. Those guys first started out as a KISS tribute band. They were, like, fourteen years old. I mean, those guys were really hot back in Saint-Bruno! Sword was formed at a McDonalds. We were having French fries and they came in to buy something. We said, 'So come here and sit down,' and that's the way Sword was formed, just by chatting there that day at McDonalds. I think the week after that they were at our house and we were having our first jam session."
Two other music-loving siblings hailing from Quebec were the Drover Brothers, Glen (guitar) and Shawn (drums). At one point both brothers served in the ranks of Dave Mustaine's legendary group Megadeth, with Glen joining first and ultimately recommending his brother for the gig when the drum chair opened up (Shawn remains in Megadeth to this day, Glen having left in January of 2008). Previous to Megadeth, the Drovers formed the core of Metal Blade recording artists Eidolon, during which time Glen moonlighted with King Diamond of Denmark's Mercyful Fate. Glen has most recently been called upon to play guitar in Geoff Tate's version of the progressive metal group Queensrÿche. All of the above-mentioned acts require a guitar player who is both digitally agile and firmly dedicated to the art.
So Glen, why the guitar?
"Jeez, I don't know... I guess I just gravitated to it. My older brother, Brian, played guitar in the seventies, he used to play in a band. He was more of an acoustic player, you know? So there was always an acoustic guitar lying around. So from a very young age I was into music. I think I got my first KISS album when I was six or seven. I was really drawn to music in general, and he had this acoustic guitar lying around. I'd pick it up and start banging away on it, and one day I asked him if he could show me a couple of things. It kind of went from there."
And what motivated the Drovers to go after music as a profession?
"Just a lot of music. I speak for me and Shawn because we started doing all this together, really. We started playing in bands when we were young, in our late teens, playing in bars and all that, playing covers. And then we got into doing recording and stuff like that in the nineties. Once I started getting into the recording end of things it really started to move into a faster gear."
I am always curious, when I see a Canadian musician playing with an established American band, as to what Canadian influences they are bringing to the musical table. In Glen Drover's case, they mirror the progressive path his own playing has taken.
"As a musician, Max Webster would probably be the biggest one. Rush, of course. Saga. Stuff like that. Kim Mitchell definitely, or Max Webster rather, so I'm a huge fan, you know, I listened to that stuff all the time. It's the stuff I grew up with and am very close to."
Voivod is undoubtedly Quebec's most famous heavy metal outfit. Michel "Away" Langevin's motivations for bringing these titans of thrash together were born of a love for a wide variety of music.
"Well, really, it's my love for music, actually. Mainly hard rock, since I was a kid. I started with KISS — my very first band was The Beatles when I was ten or something, but I soon jumped to riff rock, you know? KISS, Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, and some Canadian rock. April Wine, Triumph, Rush, of course. But it was when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal showed up in 1980 that I really, really got interested. Especially when I heard the first Iron Maiden album. I thought it combined all the elements I really liked in music — heavy metal, punk, progressive rock, Goth music, and so I thought it'd be very cool if I could do that, but it seemed at that time a bit impossible because we lived way up north in French Canada in Jonquière, Quebec, about 300 miles north of Montreal. So it was a long shot for us. In Jonquière, there is the biggest aluminum factory in North America, Alcan. There are also paper mills and all the factories surrounding, and the cold weather and snow, I believe, had an influence on our sound and music."
Fellow thrashers Razor took their inspiration from the heavier side of the spectrum, as well as from their Canadian contemporaries, explains Mike Campagnolo.
"We used to listen to a lot of early hard rock/heavy metal as far back as I can remember, classic stuff like Priest and Sabbath. I remember hearing Motörhead and early Iron Maiden and just freaking out! We'd go down to Record Peddler, a popular Toronto record store, and be checking out the latest music from all over the place. We loved the high energy of bands like Raven, Saxon, and Tank, and Canadian bands like Anvil and Exciter were bursting out on the scene, and it was also the first time I heard demos by Sacrifice and Slaughter [The Canadian thrash band, not the U.S. hair metal band]."
"Our primary influences were Venom, Slayer, Metallica, Mercyful Fate," says Sacrifice guitarist and vocalist Rob Urbinati. "Rush was huge for us. Exciter and Anvil were some Canadian metal bands we looked up to, but local Toronto hardcore band Direct Action was probably more influential. We wanted to go a step further than the Canuck metal bands at the time, and the hardcore bands seemed to be more like us. We liked the aggression and speed but also the fact that punk bands weren't as pretentious and didn't behave like rock stars. They just looked like everyone else in front of the stage. After they played, they weren't hiding backstage — they didn't need to."
A young Harry Hess put his youthful music prodigiousness to an early professional test when he formed the band Blind Vengeance at the tender age of fifteen. That band soon signed to Attic Records and released one record that, according to Hess, "didn't really work out that great with regard to selling and all the things that go along with whatever success is." Already a veteran of the recording industry's circle of life at age eighteen, Hess went on to study at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, where he took the Music Industry Arts Program. With the experience garnered at the school, Hess set about the task of writing and demoing his own songs, honing his craft and ultimately putting together the band Harem Scarem around his newly refined compositions.
"We were kind of based between the Ajax-Oshawa-Pickering-Whitby area [suburbs of Toronto]. I think I was living in Bowmanville or Newcastle at the time, where I had my studio, and so we just had a circle of friends that followed us around in the beginning, and that's how it really started. In the first year as Harem Scarem we focused on the writing and recording side of it, so we didn't do a whole lot of playing, but I would say yeah, maybe like eight months or a year into it, we really started to play a lot. We were doing the regular scene back then, which could have been anywhere from The Gasworks [Toronto metal club] to... we hit all the places, I mean, I would probably be hard pressed to remember all the names of the clubs in the local scene, but as an unsigned band we basically stayed around southern Ontario. I believe we went as far as Windsor [a city near Detroit]."
And what were the influences for a young man who landed his first record deal in his early teens, and who would then chart a course that would see him in control of the production of his band's future recordings?
"I loved Queen and I grew up kind of trying to do that thing. Vocally I was always into bands that had tons of vocal harmonies and big productions, so at the time I was a giant fan of Mutt Lange and anything he did. All those larger-than-life productions were really my inspiration with regard to recording and writing and just how to go about making records. There were some American influences too, but a lot of it was British, I would say. I don't know if I ever really could say that I loved Mötley Crüe or Poison or any of those bands. I was much more into more production-oriented bands as opposed to what would be considered the glam rock of the time, like Ratt and Poison."
For Doug Weir of London, Ontario's Syre, it was a combination of art and social motivations that saw him get into the music business.
"I always had the desire to create, so music was an excellent outlet... girls seemed to like musicians too! The first band I saw live was [Toronto power-pop band] Goddo at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto, and I've been a huge fan ever since. One of the great things about being a musician is that, if you're successful, many times you get to meet your musical heroes. I've met and hung out with Goddo through the years and always feel a little star-struck because of my early experiences as a fan. I was also a big Alice Cooper fan. Cooper brought theatrics to rock music and didn't just stand around onstage. This motivated me in later years to put on a bit of a show. The other guys in Syre had a wide variety of favourites, AC/DC, The Sweet, Mott the Hoople, and some good Canadian acts in there, Kick Axe and Headpins and stuff."
Sven Gali's Andy Frank just kind of slid into a music career. "It wasn't really a conscious decision. I started playing guitar and just met a couple of guys and we played a gig in high school and it was like 'Wow, this is great!' We would play at parties and meet girls and then you're thinking Well, this is a nice way to spend your time! It certainly wasn't this calling to be creative with my instrument or anything, it really wasn't. I think it was different for Dee [Cernile, Sven Gali's late lead guitarist]; guitar was his life. It was everything he did. In '87 when we got together we were listening to Ratt, Mötley Crüe, Scorpions, Aerosmith and stuff like that. I think for songwriting also, The Beatles. Anybody who writes music, you have to start with The Beatles."
And while Frank did listen to Canadian bands like Coney Hatch, Helix, and Anvil, he also felt a different attitude towards those bands.
"Yeah, I would have considered them different. There certainly was this thing about being Canadian. I think there was a clear distinction, whether you were big in Canada or big in other places as well. We thought of them as Canadian bands, but just awesome as well."
Daryl Gray, bassist for Kitchener, Ontario-based Helix, is an Irish immigrant who cut his teeth both in his homeland and later in Canada. For Gray (who actually moved to Canada from Ireland twice, once as a baby of less than a year, to return at the age of five; the second time as a sixteen-year-old) the music of his homeland was a particularly strong guiding force.
"Thin Lizzy was definitely an influence, and another Irish band by the name of Horslips. They were kind of like traditional Irish meets Led Zeppelin, somewhere in between, a clash of the cultures. Also, all the seventies English bands like Slade, Sweet, the main rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, and a Welsh band named Budgie that I really liked. There was just a whole hodgepodge of different musical influences."
And did Canadian bands make an impact on Gray as a teenager in Ireland?
"The one that I can think of would be Bachman Turner Overdrive. They had 'Taking Care of Business.' They hadn't really had a big influence over there, but 'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet' was a big hit."
Within a few days of his return to Canada, Gray's new friends set about the business of hipping him to the latest in Canadian rock.
"They introduced me to April Wine, then played me 'Oowatanite,' and I thought, That's a great song, why haven't I heard it before? And then they introduced me to another Canadian band, Rush. I thought they sounded a lot like Budgie, and I was thinking at the time I still kind of liked Budgie better. Of course, as I got more exposure to Rush, I listened to 2112 and thought it was brilliant!"
Backtracking a few years, Gray recalls his first experience with an unwieldy guitar and his first foray into the spotlight.
"My first experience trying to put a band together was in Ireland. I would have been about fourteen. I had gotten a guitar when I was thirteen and it really was one of those meat slicers, the action was so high that my fingers really did bleed. And eventually I did upgrade to a real guitar. So I was playing guitar, one of my friends was playing guitar, and we had another guy that was starting off. At school lunch breaks they would have some sort of entertainment, so we got up and played some Status Quo songs and from that I thought, Okay, well I can handle this, this is pretty cool!"
Upon getting involved in the music scene in Canada, Gray found that there were similarities between Canada and Europe in terms of vocational challenges.
"The growing pains were similar, just trying to find people who had commitment, talent, and staying power, because there's a lot of great musicians out there but they're committed to going to work in the factory, they're committed to money, they're not committed to making music. That was the same in both countries. The first real band I was in in Canada had a drummer by the name of Greg Critchley, who many years later had moved on to bigger and better things, and the other guys decided that they wanted a steady nine to five... and this was about two weeks before we were to leave for our first tour! That was a band called Nitro. We had our first tour booked by Steve Prendergast through an agency out of Hamilton, who ended up being the manager of Honeymoon Suite."
Another rocker from across the pond who found his rock 'n roll footing in Canada was Gerry McGhee, lead vocalist for Niagara Falls melodic rockers Brighton Rock.
"I grew up in a family with two brothers, sixteen and fourteen years older than me, and we moved here from Scotland. They were always into music so I was always getting to hear Elvis and The Beatles, King Crimson, Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Paul McCartney, and everything in between, so there was always music in the house. From a really young age all I really wanted to do growing up and watching my idols was sing, so I think I got in my first band when I was about thirteen. I went full-time professional when I was sixteen and played in a couple of bands that did the Northern Ontario and Quebec circuit and all that until I actually returned to the UK, because a band there asked me to come over and join them. At that point it was either you moved to Los Angeles or you moved to London, and I went to London. It didn't work out with the band over there but I learned a lot as far as how dedicated these guys were. They all had day jobs and basically every night they would get together in a little rehearsal area, and they would do nothing but write songs, and I realized that was the key. I realized if I was going to come back here [Canada] it was a waste of time to do anything other than get into your own material if you wanted to make a career out of it. I didn't want to be slugging it out in the bars, six sets a night, seven days a week for the rest of my life."
As would become evident, these very bars that McGhee did not want to spend the rest of his life in would be the connection between many bands and their fans across Canada. But if the rock 'n roll cover circuit was not the be-all and end-all of a music career, what was the ultimate goal for these artists?
"At a young age, it was definitely world domination [laughs]," says Nicholas Walsh, lead vocalist and visionary for Toronto's Slik Toxik. "Getting signed to a record deal was what we were all striving for back then. Without the Internet the only way to make any sort of noise was through the commercial marketing outlets that seemed to be run by record labels."
"Getting signed to a recording contract was a prime goal for the band," says Langen. "The ultimate goal was to live the rock 'n roll life, loving what you do... we hoped that through a record deal, we would get the chance to live our dreams, playing music for a living."
Through signing a contract with a record company, a young band hoped to receive funding to record their album, have the record promoted and distributed through the company's channels and relationships, and also to receive financial support for their touring endeavours.
"Ultimately, the main goal was to demo some songs and get a record deal," says Grehan. "That was back in the days when everybody was trying to get 'The Deal.' The whole business was different then, [the goal being] to get signed."
Weir agrees. "Yes, signing a record contract was important to us. We'd have a wider platform to promote our music through a deal. It was a means to being successful and having a wider touring platform."
Drover adds, "That is one of the big goals, being signed to a label and being able to record an album and present it, and have all the financial support and promotion and everything else that falls under a label. It was definitely a priority, a goal that every band has, I think... if they take themselves seriously."
"Getting signed was the main thing in those days," confirms McGhee.
For Lips Kudlow, a record deal was just one piece of a puzzle that would see him fulfill what some might consider a loftier ambition.
"To put a band together that would never sell out and last pretty much forever, so I kind of did what I was hoping to do [laughs]. The integrity of the sound of the band was really important. I couldn't stand when my favourite band would get watered down just so they could get on the radio. I really, really... ugh."
In Dixon's case, focused goals only become such in the light of the activity that surrounded the band as it drew attention.
"I think we could have done with more discussion about that sort of thing. We didn't really have... it all happened so fast. We knew, 'Yeah, we'd like a record deal. Yeah, we'd like to be on big shows. Yeah, we'd like to be on the radio.' But we only had a vague idea of how that would happen when I joined the band. We all just knew that you write songs and without that you don't stand a chance, so we really got on that path and it all clicked to the point where within six months of me jointing Coney Hatch we had signed a record deal. As I say in my own book, that first year with Coney Hatch was just like a rocket ride. I got on the rocket and then it just took off and it was almost like a movie script where the four scruffy young guys just stumble together and it's the right combination and off they go. I think if we'd had more of an articulated goal we might have been able to weather some of the uncertainties that followed."
"Did we have an ultimate goal in mind? Probably not," says Russ Dwarf, vocalist for Oshawa, Ontario's Killer Dwarfs. "I think we knew we wanted to make our own music. We wanted to make a record, right? Everybody wanted to have a record back then, you know what I mean? And it wasn't like today where you go to Long and McQuade [a Canadian musical instrument retailer] and buy ten thousand dollars' worth of gear and go into your basement and the next thing you know you're on iTunes the next day. It was an actual process where you had to try to get signed."
I often wondered what it was like for musicians from Canada's East Coast in this era to try to stake out a career in the national and international hard rock and metal scene. For a musician like guitarist Gerry Finn, a native of St. John's, Newfoundland, who would ultimately join the Killer Dwarfs when they were already signed to a major label deal in the early nineties, what were the steps required to land himself the gig?
"The steps taken were actually quite simple. I knew I had to become as good a player/musician as I could and then I had to create opportunities for myself. I immersed myself in music, studied privately, played live as often as I could, and later studied music in university for four years. Then I moved to Toronto, the centre of the music business in Canada. Once there, I used my existing connections to get my foot in the door. I had somehow managed to get the gig with the Dwarfs within about a year or so of having landed in Toronto. Yeah, I thought all of it was possible. The notion that I couldn't pull it off never crossed my mind! [laughs]"
When Charlottetown, PEI's Haywire got together, they decided to conquer their local scene before taking on the rest of Canada.
Dave Rashed: "Haywire was conceived in a Tim Hortons in Charlottetown in 1981. It was Marvin, Paul, Scott Roberts, and myself. Our dream was to form a band from three local bands that would eventually be able to do off-island gigs and go on the road to play full-time. So we selected the people that had no commitments or jobs and were free to follow that dream. Our goal was to form a band that would tour Atlantic Canada and eventually Canada. We started to make a great name for ourselves in the club circuit and then we started to focus on writing original songs and looking for a recording contract."
Money is a struggle for any young musician or band. Along with the expenditures that go along with travel, demo recording, rehearsal space, wardrobe, equipment, promotion, etc., there is the matter of living expenses and the necessities of life. The life of a musician can be challenging and can benefit immensely from support of both a moral and financial nature from family and friends.
"My parents really wanted me to go to college after grade twelve," says Haywire's Rashed. "I remember going to the interview with Mr. Paul Seagul, an instructor at Holland College. After the interview process he looked at me and said that I should really pursue my musical interests and when I was ready, come back and the door would always be open at the college. My parents were hoping that after a few years the band would stop and things would get back to normal. Needless to say, they didn't. They really enjoyed all that came with the later success of the band and it was great to share that with them."
"I was very fortunate to have a family that backed me," says Walsh. "When I was fourteen my father paid for my band at the time to go into the studio and cut our first demo. It was so I could gain some real experience, and once I was bitten I was hooked!"
Russ Dwarf had similar backing for the Killer Dwarfs. "My mother supported the band wholeheartedly. She actually put up the money for us to record Stand Tall when we got dumped from Attic after our first record."
Friends and family were also supportive of Gerry McGhee's endeavours with Brighton Rock. "Absolutely. I don't think we could have done it if it weren't for my mother, because in those days we were lucky if we were making fifty dollars a week. I have to put my wife in there as well, because she was with me in those days and she was the one working the day job while I was going away for two or three months at a time and coming home with a hundred dollars. So you know, the bank of Mom helped out a lot, the bank of the Wife helped out a lot. They knew that I was driven and that I really, really wanted this and they could see it when they met the other guys that they shared the same ambitions. Unfortunately, I didn't have any education. I quit school when I was sixteen to go on the road, so to me it was all or nothing, but there was definitely good support. My oldest brother, the guy who used to drum music into me, he was the big supporter, and my sisters as well. Yeah, it was supported all around by the family."
For some, the moral support was there but the dues for studying at the School of Hard Knocks were self-paid.
"Moral support, yeah," says Grehan. "I never got any financial support from my family. I wanted to do things on my own, I didn't want any support, and they weren't the kind of family that would throw a lot of money at it. I was kind of out on my own because I went to Fanshawe [College] for a few years and then I moved to Toronto. I had a couple of close friends that were always supportive, but my family, they were happy for me but they weren't the kind of family that shows up at gigs and really supports you. Whereas Johnnie [Dee, lead vocalist for Honeymoon Suite] came from an Italian family and they were so into that — he was the other side of the coin. They were so proud of him and they would help him out and buy him a car and that kind of stuff."
Others were not so lucky and had to find not only the money to fund their new career path but also the intestinal fortitude to stay true to their chosen career path in the face of parental adversity.
"With my family, none at all," claims Lips on the subject of parental support. "Everything that I had to do was on my own. If I had to buy an amplifier or a guitar or strings, anything, I had to find a way to earn the money to be able to do it myself. There was really no support system. My older brother was probably supportive, I guess, but certainly not my parents. They didn't want a rock star for a son."
For the Canadian metal and hard rock bands of the 1980s, staring down the barrel of a low-paying existence was not enough to derail them from pursuing their rock star dreams. But what constitutes these dreams, or in fact the definition of rock star, seemed to have little to do ultimately with wealth or celebrity. It had much more to do with finding a way to chase the sound that moved them so deeply in their youth and then sharing it with the world. But a band living a pre-Internet existence and not receiving radio play or enjoying major label promotion had to figure out a way to take their show on the road.
# The Road
As I mentioned before, my buddy Jeff Van Dusseldorp was the keyboardist for a band called Down 'n Dirty, a professional hard rock band on the road, touring across Canada and performing spot-on covers of the day's heavy hits. It was through him that I learned of this mystical place that seemed to exist beyond time and space ... The Road.
A little history here. I had met Jeff when I was in ninth grade at St. Joseph Scollard Hall, the local Catholic high school. After some failed attempts at football, basketball, and uh ... pretty much every sport, I had accepted my fate as a semi-loner who listened to metal. Most of my more athletically-inclined elementary school friends had already graduated to a life of girls and sports, and I was good with that. I actually met my best high school friend, Paul St. Pierre, as a result of a Frosh Week hazing. As we were forced to dress up like clowns, wear makeup, and slow dance as over-amped seniors poured salad dressing over our heads, we staved off the shame and humiliation by whispering about our shared love of Van Halen, Helix, and all things metal. I actually felt that those days of hazing and alienation were part of my larger life story at the time, the beginning of a great triumph of Rock over Jock, so to speak. Then again, our city and school were small enough that those sorts of delineations really kind of faded away within that first awkward year of high school. In North Bay, Jocks, Musos, Nerds, Puck Bunnies, and whatever other group you can think of really kind of bonded over the same sort of things ... finding beer, drinking that beer in a public place, and listening to music.
I had already upgraded from my pawnshop guitar to a brand new Series A guitar loaded with two single coil pickups, a humbucker in the bridge, and most importantly, a Floyd Rose locking tremolo system. The Floyd Rose allowed me to do the dive bomb effects that were a mainstay of any good metal solo (and many bad ones!), and when coupled with the MXR Overdrive that I borrowed from Brock Farquhar (a kid who shared not only my musical interests, but also had a mullet identical to mine), I was a one-man metal machine. I could really only play "Heaven's on Fire" by KISS, but it sounded right with this rig.
Jeff found out I played guitar, and since we were both altar boys at the cathedral, a shared love of rock gave us something to talk about during the lengthy sermons. Jeff was a gifted player, and when he would invite me over to his house to demonstrate the sounds he could generate with his Yamaha DX7, I was floored. We would jam out songs by Van Halen and Journey, and as I attempted to rise to his level of proficiency, I could feel my self-esteem rising and my heart racing with each semi-successful attempt at completing a song. We put together our first high school band, complete with a lead singer who was also a star wide receiver on the football team (how's that for marketing), kept it Canadian by learning covers of "Born to Be Wild" and "Taking Care of Business," and entered our school's talent show. We didn't win, but none of that mattered. After that show, there was a look in the eyes of girls who had otherwise not really paid that much attention to us (excluding our wide receiver lead singer and ridiculously handsome drummer, Martin Kelly, clearly no relation to me!) that made me think this rock 'n roll thing was a pretty good social move. But far beyond that little perk was the unparalleled rush of hearing the music you were performing blasted through a massive PA, and the feeling of having the energy you were giving away thrown right back at you from the crowd. We all felt it, but as the years went on, Jeff took it to the next level.
A year older than me, Jeff began seeking out more experienced musicians (while still playing in our high school band). A player of his calibre and technological savvy was quickly swept up by the hottest players in town. I could not believe when Jeff invited me up to his father's construction company warehouse to showcase his new band for me. The players looked exactly like they came out of Hit Parader or Circus magazines. I mean, I had never seen hair like this before on males in real life (even Helix would have had a hard time matching these glorious barnets!). They bragged about their hair extensions as if they were prized pieces of gear. And the gear they did have was incredible! They had stacks of amps, pointy guitars, a double bass drum set ... this was for real. As they rattled off song after song, I was overcome with total jealousy but also excitement. I felt that a door was opening, and I was getting a glimpse of the future. An amazing future where people from North Bay could actually strike out and become rock stars!
When the showcase was done, Jeff popped out from between his stack of keyboards (he was now rocking four keyboards in total, two on each side!) and dropped a bomb on me.
"I'm going on the road!"
At the heart of the heavy metal experience is the live concert performance. Since the dawn of the genre, the in-concert energy exchange between band and audience has provided an adrenaline surge that has proven addictive to both artist and audience. For the Canadian metal and hard rock bands of the eighties and early nineties, the hunt for this adrenaline rush has taken bands on cross-country adventures through Canada's rugged terrain, where life and limb were risked as bands dealt with the challenges of Canadian blizzards, unruly and unwelcoming patrons, and their own quest for the ultimate party!
Glen "Archie" Gamble is a fine example of a musician who has dedicated much of his life to the pursuit of the rock 'n roll dream. He has toured across Canada countless times, performing in venues ranging from the seediest watering holes all the way to some of the country's biggest clubs and arenas. During his time with bands like Nasty Klass and Vandyl (a band which would see its members depart for the greener career grasses of such acts as Aldo Nova, Lee Aaron, Carl Dixon Band, and Helix), Archie was privy to the rigours of the classic Canadian touring "circuit."
"The touring circuit for us was divided into two sections: Ontario (north and south) and Western Canada (Thunder Bay to Vancouver). Most clubs had live music six or seven nights a week, with either a full week in one place (usually Northern Ontario to out west) or divided weeks (Monday to Wednesday, known as a "Front End" at one club, Thursday to Saturday, or "Back End" at another). I started in 1984 playing occasional weekends and gradually worked my way up to full-time touring by 1987 with Vandyl, and then Nasty Klass."
For more established acts with a recording deal, shows were usually booked by bigger booking agents like S.L. Feldman and Associates and The Agency Group, and they looked to book their bands into bigger concert venues. Smaller clubs in smaller towns were often handled by an agent in each area.
"Thunder Bay had Debbie K. Debbie, Winnipeg had Crazy Steve, Calgary had Pat from Commodore, and in Ontario it was Lapointe- Dubay. Also, the north had a series of small-time agents you would generally have to cut in to play their club. These commissions usually came out of the band's end."
For the clubs and agents who needed to book entertainment, the name of the game was making sure there were as many beer- and liquor-drinking patrons as possible. To achieve this, bands were asked (or more like required) to perform cover songs of the popular hard rock and metal hits of the day (and the days that came before). An enterprising young band composing original music would always look to sneak original compositions into a set that otherwise was jammed with cover versions of hits. From the late seventies on through the dawn of the nineties, there was a considerable amount of venues looking for this type of entertainment.
"That was one of the things that I think definitely set the majority of Canadian bands apart from a lot of American bands," says Daryl Gray of his pre-Helix band, Tracy Kane. "We could tour fifty-two weeks a year and play six or seven nights a week, and sometimes a matinee on Saturday. I think in general it made us stronger performers because you were entertaining people six nights a week. From talking to a lot of our American counterparts of the eighties, they would have a gig a month and they would gear up everything for that one show and they would have a gig a month later. We were definitely playing cover material because when you're sitting in Geraldton, Ontario, they don't want to hear three hours of your originals, no matter how good they are, because they can't go out and buy it and they're not familiar with it. They want to hear stuff they are familiar with and they can dance to. We would always insert two or three of our own songs into the set, strategically placed between two dance songs. If it was a dance-y type song we could just segue right into it. Then people would go 'Hey, who did that last song' and we could say 'Oh, it was ours.'"
In fact, Gray considers his time learning countless cover tunes as playing a pivotal role in the development of his ability to create original material. "We always referred to it as going to university, because every time we had to learn somebody else's chops and how somebody else put a song together, it was analyzed, broken down, and filed away in the memory banks for when we wrote our next song."
In describing the combination of cover songs and originals in the Quebec bar scene, Rick Hughes of Sword saw the combo as complementary.
"I think that one doesn't go without the other, because all the bands that wanted to be a good hard rock band or a good metal band had to play a lot. You wouldn't get hired by the clubs if you only did originals. Sword started as a writing band right from the beginning, but we also had to do the cover thing. For example, we did all the Iron Maiden, the Ozzy, the Dio, which by the way made us really good singers [laughs]. Because we had to imitate those giants, you know? Even if you wanted to be a really original band you still had to imitate others. To play the bar scene we had to do all that stuff. We played a lot of AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Maiden, Sabbath, and we were writing our own material all at the same time. This lasted for four or five years. The bar would hire you for four or five nights a week. And we had jobs, so here in Quebec the bars go until three in the morning. We would go to bed at four and wake up at six or seven for work."
"Honeymoon Suite started out as a cover band," says Derry Grehan. "It was just, 'Let's get out there because we have to eat.' So we'd have a six-nighter in Timmins and then we'd have another one in Elliot Lake, and then Sudbury. That's what we did, and to do that you have to play covers, so it was like Billy Idol and stuff like that, but that's how you cut your teeth. I also had some original songs. When I first joined Honeymoon Suite I had finally found in Johnnie a guy who could sing. I mean, I had bands and it's really hard to find a singer. When you find that, it's like the light bulb goes off. I knew I had some songs and Johnnie could sing and he could write too, and I thought Bang, we might have something here. So we started sneaking 'New Girl Now' and a couple of other songs into the show, and it went from there.
"I wanted Honeymoon Suite to be more than a cover band. The cover thing was just to work. When you would do a six-nighter, you would rehearse during the day if you could, if it's a club that's closed. You would go in there in the afternoon and rehearse. I remember we had a two-week gig up in Sault Ste. Marie at a Holiday Inn and we were working on the first album at that time, and I remember writing 'Stay in the Light' and 'It's Your Heart' up there, rehearsing 'New Girl Now' and 'Burning in Love.' We would go in during the day when the club was closed — it was great. You would have all afternoon, and that's how we'd rehearse."
"Back then you had to play covers," states Russ Dwarf of his pre-Killer Dwarfs band OZ. "You were playing six, seven nights sometimes at the same place, right? So we did sets of all the rock tunes, and we did this one speciality set of Alice Cooper, who is one of my biggest influences. We went everywhere. We went to Newfoundland and back, and it was the crazy days of everybody in a cube van with friends and family. There are a million stories of that comedy! I think I drove to Newfoundland when I was twenty and I didn't even have a driver's licence! And we'd have all the gear in there, and the PA and the lights, and we'd be stuffed in there. But you know, you're young and resilient so you can put up with the comedy, right? You're like pirates [laughs]."
And just like pirates, the reward for a hard day's night involved a blend of liquid and chemical fortification, carnal indulgence, and barroom brawling.
"Jeez, man, the debauchery that took place in the eighties, what are you gonna say about that?" ponders Lips. "Of course, it was endless, it was crazy, and there are some things that stand out, but you know what? If I start going into that, it becomes a different book [laughs]. That kind of lifestyle just doesn't exist anymore. I mean, once the onset of things like AIDS came, it was over. But previous to that, there were orgies, there were all sorts of things that happened to bands. All that stuff existed, and I was there. I saw some of it, some of it I lived, some of it I didn't bother with because it didn't seem like the right thing to do."
"We got in one real bust-up up in Peterborough one time at a club called Jokers," recounts Brian Vollmer of Helix. "Actually, Jim Carrey opened up for us that night! And at the end of the night Kenny Heague [sound engineer] was walking out with two guitars and a guy tried to trip him, believe it or not, and so I came out and I said, 'Which guy was it?' And Kenny pointed him out and I walked up and just hammered him one. And the next thing I knew there were about fifty people fighting at the back of the room and there was a little riot."
In Vollmer's autobiography, Gimme an R, the Helix frontman reels off story after story of encounters with Vietnam vets stalking the band with knives, the band and their fans taking on bikers who ripped off their merchandise, picking up gun-toting hitchhikers who threatened to blow their heads off ... not mention internal dust-ups within their own camp!
"Some of the bands were worse than others, and typically there was a very 'Canadian' sense of politeness around it all. We did try to be as decadent as possible, which isn't exactly easy when you are spending six nights in Geraldton. Granted, Sven Gali always seemed to find trouble, or at least that was their reputation," says Archie Gamble. "Personally, I was too concerned with charming strippers into bed and buying food to worry about partying [laughs]."
Ahh yes, women ... the font of inspiration for countless heavy metal songs, the muse for oh so many album artists and video directors of the day. And to be honest, there was something magnetic about being in a hard rock band in those days, something that could transform a scraggly-haired skinny guitarist into an Adonis. Perhaps there was something in the commonalities between the band's wardrobe and that of the female patrons that helped create the attraction, a hyper-masculinity manifested in the proper application of eyeliner, hair extensions, and spandex? Whatever the reason, the guys may have wanted to kick the band's collective ass, but the girls seemed to understand....
"We partied every night in every town we were in," says Mike Hall of the Killer Dwarfs. "Girls were always around in large numbers, especially in the U.S.A. once we started doing one-nighters and had some MTV exposure. It was not uncommon to see rock babes line up outside the bus after a show. We'd always party and invite the local ladies on board before we moved on to the next town. Some of the special ones might even stay over! I met some absolutely stunning women over the years, way out of my league, of course. But, then again, I played guitar."
"It's the power of being in the spotlight," claims Brian Vollmer of Helix.
Going back to Sven Gali and their reputation as Canada's Bad Boys of Rock, as a young lad in North Bay fascinated with hard rock I too had heard of this Southern Ontario band of reputed ne'er-do-wells and vagabonds. Stories of destroyed hotel rooms, orgies, and rampant drug parties had me and my musician friends shaking with trepidation ... or was it excitement? Regardless, one wonders how much of this was just carefully developed hype and gossip. Or was the truth even stranger and more decadent than the myth?
Well, if it was that bad ... people who have lived it and are now living a decidedly more domesticated lifestyle are probably not going to want to give up too many details. The road makes a man (and woman) do crazy things ... things that you would never do under different circumstances. But when you factor in complete physical exhaustion due to a lack of sleep (from all-night drives and various stimulants), drinking binges, and twenty-two hours of mind-numbing boredom followed by two hours of rock 'n roll nirvana on stage, things can get crazy.
"I mean, basically, yeah ... I've heard lots of stories and stuff," says Sven Gali's Andy Frank. "I have to say there's only about one or two [situations] that I thought went too far. It was different days, pre-Internet, and we were young and foolish. We've all got young kids. I don't know if I would go into details, but it really was [crazy]. I can't think of other people in Canada that were getting away with some of this stuff — part of it I think was just this frustration of being locked into the crazy, boring club circuit thing. We were young, and everybody seemed to be doing stuff like that, Mötley Crüe and [bands] like that."
In terms of drugs and alcohol, the road is a good place to get both. A young rock band in town to provide the soundtrack for the party could easily find itself on the receiving end of copious amounts of alcohol and drugs. What are the repercussions of such a lifestyle?
"We were never a huge drug band. It was around us but we were mostly drinkers ... Jack Daniels and beer were my faves," claims Hall. "Darrell [Millar, drums] was known to have a few as well. Russ [Graham, vocals] blew his pancreas out pretty early on and as a result couldn't really party that much on the road. A steady diet of McDonalds and Jack Daniels will do that to you. Plus, he was watching his voice, Pavarotti that he is! On occasion somebody would show up and turn us on with whatever they were selling ... but we never really fell into that hole. Who could afford it? [laughs] The bands in the U.S.A. who were really selling lots of records were bona fide cokeheads in the eighties ... smack came later and fucked a few people up. Apparently Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe was savvy enough to keep a diary of his flirtation with it, ha-ha, okay, dude! In my opinion, alcohol is the big killer for touring musicians. It's readily available, legal, and socially acceptable. A lot of guys fall into that trap."
It is common to hear about this sort of excess in American bands, so I wondered if sex and drugs played as big a part in the story of Helix, "Canada's Hardest Working Band."
Vollmer: "Well, I don't know ... [sex and drugs] permeates every inch of your life. Like, we did drugs, we had sex, but it wasn't everything. It wasn't something we consciously thought about every day, it was just part of the whole lifestyle. But you know, we did make some wacky decisions. One thing that is not always talked about is sleep deprivation. Not only were we doing drugs, drinking, partying, but also we slept when we were tired, and when we weren't tired we got up ... there was no cycle to our sleep! When Brent Doerner first quit the band, he said 'You know, I slept for two years. It was like I hadn't slept for twenty.' I'm sure there are instances where we had shouting matches or fuck-ups because we'd been drinking or were half hung over, but just as many because we'd only slept two hours the day before!"
When I was writing this, I could have gone pretty deep into the types of debauchery we are talking about here ... but that story has been written countless times. I mean, do you need a psychology degree to know that people in heavy metal bands sometimes liked to drink, do drugs, and have sex? But I did want to know if the sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll life was as prevalent on the Canadian touring scene as it was in say, the Los Angeles scene.
Andy Frank: "Oh, god, yeah. Definitely [laughs]. Certainly I think for Sven Gali, when you talk about life-and-death or near-death experiences, the substances and abuse that we would do to our bodies and stuff, yeah, probably. I mean, nothing that bad, nobody was shooting heroin or anything. That happened other places, it certainly wasn't our thing. There was hard partying, trashing places, couches out the window, that's true [laughs]. I did hear a few stories about us that were like, people getting hurt and stuff, but that certainly never happened. That's way too far. But most of the other stories ... yeah."
Where there is intense partying, there is usually increased volatility. Close quarters and sketchy facilities could lead to all sorts of hijinks.
"One story does stick out," says Doug Weir of Syre. "We were playing Roxanne's in Hull, Quebec. Roxanne's was always a great gig due to its proximity to Ottawa and the fact that the bars were open later in Quebec. There were no rooms at Roxanne's, so we were given rooms at The British, a short drive away. When we arrived, we found that some friends of ours, Steel Lily, were also housed there. This was great fun and we had a few parties on our shared floor. Through the week we had run into a bit of a problem with the hotel. Two rock bands and crews getting ready for their respective shows in the hair band era tend to use a great deal of hot water and blow dryers, and each day we would run out of hot water and blow the fuses of the hotel. This angered the staff, who had to walk down to a dank, dark basement to reset the fuse switches. It also angered us, because we had to be ready for our shows, preferably clean! To piss us off, they tended to stall in turning the power back on.
"The final night of our stay the fuse went, and everyone lost a bit of their composure. One of our guys decided to run through the hotel bar in a hockey mask and his underwear, yelling 'Turn on the power.' [laughs] The locals weren't amused. When Chip Gall [guitar player] and I went to put a few things in our van for the gig, a couple of very drunk older gentlemen came outside and tried to rough us up. They were far too drunk to actually hit us, but they tried. This was followed by a bunch more people coming out of the hotel bar, so Chip and I high-tailed it around to the front of the building. At the same time, our band and crew were coming out the front door, and a bit of a riot ensued. This was at about six o'clock on a Saturday night, so soon most of the town was out on their lawns watching the commotion — it was surreal! After about five minutes the police showed up and separated the two warring factions. Our drummer, Jamie, had forgotten his drum practice pad inside, and the police escorted him back into the hotel, but they quickly ran outside again in a panic, because the hotel was on fire, and ultimately burned to the ground! No one was ever charged, and no one could ever figure out how the fire started!"
One of the interesting aspects of the Canadian touring circuit during the eighties was that there were often two types of entertainment sharing the same venue stage: live rock bands and exotic dancers. The combination brought out some pretty colourful characters, which added to the sense of debauchery, danger, and decrepitude.
"The accommodations were terrible," says Carl Dixon when describing the conditions that Coney Hatch members were living in during their venue residencies on the road. "Every town had a Queen's Hotel or King Edward Hotel, and they were all from the Queen Victoria era, not the Queen Elizabeth era. Red brick, two- or three-storey places where a lot of the local unemployed men lived. Guys living on their pensions who had no homes, they lived in old hotels and drank the days away. That was your company. And there were always strippers in the hotels at that time, too. The strippers went on stage in the afternoon and the bands at night. It was pleasant company, I guess, for a lot of the time, but so often the accommodations were barely acceptable. The worst thing you could encounter was a band house."
Band houses were properties, usually close to the venue, that were purchased by the venue owners to provide accommodation for the bands travelling through town.
"They were always a disaster," continues Dixon, "because they decided no band was worth investing in to keep the place nice. The next band through would just wreck it anyway! It was a continual spiral of downward degradation. The greatest motto I ever heard that explains it all came from a place called the Stone House in Toronto. They actually didn't provide accommodations, but they had a dressing room that was kind of along the same lines of just falling apart, no upkeep. When I asked one of the Greek guys who ran the place, 'Come on, why do you have to let it be like this?' he just looked at us and said: 'All bands ... PIGS.' [laughs]"
Says Doug Weir, "Our accoms were hit and miss, but in most cases we didn't really care. A lot of partying went on in those days and you'd pretty much fall into a bale of hay if it was close at hand. We usually stayed in the hotels where we played, or in a band house. We were staying in a band house in Fredericton, New Brunswick... great place, except it got broken into while we were playing and we lost a chunk of change!"
Derry Grehan concurs. "It was real bare-bones, you're living in hotels, sharing rooms, and there are rummies on the same floor, but you're happy to be there. As long as you've got some cold beer and you're playing at night, that's good enough when you're twenty-one or twenty-two years old, right?"
Brian Vollmer explains how Helix survived on some of those long winter nights. "Well, in the early days of the band when we were on the circuit, there were terrible rooms. I don't even know how they could get approved by whoever from the city approves rooms [laughs]. Because a lot of them didn't have any heat, you froze in them. A lot of them didn't have enough bathrooms. You had to use the bathroom down the hall, which you know, the wino/junkie/whoever used. It wasn't until later on that we actually started to get half-decent rooms and even when we toured the United States the first time, we were down there on such a shoestring budget that we got like, they were like holes. I remember one time we played in Rochester, New York, and it was one of the coldest days in Rochester history and Bill Seip [Helix's manager] had got us these cheap, cheap, cheap rooms and they had no heat in them. And me and Paul [Hackman, guitarist] were in one room, and I remember we pulled all the blankets in one bed, we put our boots on, about six sweaters, coats, hats, gloves, everything, and we got into bed. When we woke up in the morning it was like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, we were face to face in a bear hug [laughs]."
Under these less than luxurious circumstances, a stiff upper lip and a good sense of humour were survival requirements, according to Killer Dwarfs frontman Russ "Dwarf" Graham. "Our motto was you've gotta laugh or you're gonna cry, because it's tough out there, you know? Here's your eleven bucks for the week, I got my loaf of bread and some Cup-a-Soup. One day Darrell [drummer] comes in when we were playing a gig and he got a Snack Pack from Kentucky Fried Chicken and we were like 'Where the hell did you get that?' Everybody was freaking out, and he was like, 'Uh, I pawned the hotel vacuum cleaner.' [laughs] I mean, you could not make this shit up! But we loved music and we were young. When you're that young you can take anything, you're just pounding it out."
Heavy metal and hard rock performances are often about much more than music. The music lends itself to a flashy presentation, and many of the more successful bands of the genre picked up on the importance of the visual element of putting on a good show, even if it was on a budget in the early days.
Victor Langen: "Back when Kick Axe started playing live, the Alberta hotel bars were huge 700-seaters. Every night was a concert vibe, and we used all the tricks... fog, dry ice, pyro, follow spotlights, and strobes. Live music was a booming business for Alberta hotels in the late seventies, and we were putting on shows in Calgary, Edmonton, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Lethbridge, etc. Of course, our manager and agents made more money than we did."
When hair metal started taking hold in the mid to late eighties, the visual aspects of touring took on even greater importance.
"The look was everything," states Gamble, "as was the show. If you didn't have a good 8 x 10 promo photo, with the right clothes and hair, you wouldn't even be considered. Once you got in, you had to back it up with the right PA, lights, and choreography. Bottom line was, if you sucked, you didn't eat. I was fortunate enough to be in good bands that worked as much as we wanted to. Fifty weeks a year we chose to work, with one week off in the summer and one week off at Christmas. I literally lived in hotels and taverns, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It makes you a better musician, and I wish younger musicians today had as much opportunity to play live as we did."
Killer Dwarfs were well known for their high-energy performances. Russ Dwarf explains the genesis of their live approach. "We ended up with a manager, Rob Connelly. He was involved with Lee Aaron and a whole bunch of other things. Dave Kirby was also involved with that early stage of our career, and I guess he had a bunch of tribute acts and stuff. At one point we were the low people on the totem pole of his roster. Anywhere we went we were always the underdogs and we weren't treated that great. You know, we would get the scrapings of everything. One day we went into the office and they had this great idea: let's change the name [at this point the band was working under the name Sphynx], because Bryce, Ange, and me are all around 5'4", the same height, right? So Kirby and Connelly came up with this idea to call the band the Killer Dwarfs, and of course we were like, 'What the fuck are you talking about? This is ridiculous.' But we bought into it. So we went with that, and we always had a show business kind of thing, I guess from probably growing up loving KISS and Trooper. Our motto was you get the $350 show for two bucks. At that point of the early Dwarfs, we would dress like cavemen and stuff, we grew beards and I wore a loincloth and we used to swing out over the audience. We had a whole bunch of antics. I chopped up teddy bears and wore a Godzilla head. It was crazy, it was like a circus."
Canada is a bitch of a country to tour across. The vast geography and great distances between major cities make for very challenging touring conditions. Long drives under gruelling internal and external conditions can do one of two things: kill you or make you stronger.
Gerry McGhee, Brighton Rock: "Well, they always tried to route it so that you were basically making a sweep across the country. One of the things with Brighton Rock is we pretty well did more gigs than anybody else. We would go twenty-one days without a day off. We would literally do no less than six nights a week, and sometimes that is hard when there is such a big gap between cities. I remember we were on a West Coast tour and the album was just about to come out. We flew back from Calgary, did the 'We Came to Rock video,' flew back out the next day, then drove to Vancouver to do a show the following night. So there was a lot of time spent on the road. When we came home we got maybe a day or two days and then we were back out again, because for every album we basically toured for a year and a half."
Carl Dixon, Coney Hatch: "We spent lots of hours in vans. I remember our first time going up to northern Quebec. We borrowed Steve Shelski's [guitar] mom's station wagon [laughs]. The crew had the van for the equipment but we had to get ourselves, the players, there. We had a radiator leak when we were on the way home, so we decided to pull over by a ditch because it was overheating, and somebody decided the water from the ditch would be good to put in the radiator. The ditch water had who-knows-what in it, and by the time we got it home his mom's engine was seized up from the crap water in the radiator!"
Russ Dwarf, Killer Dwarfs: "There was never any place too far [laughs]. Our manager would say "It's only this far on the map!" Some of the drives were hell, utter hell! Everybody would be pissing in milk jugs because you've just got to get to the gig, right? You've gotta do fourteen-hour drives in a couple of vans or a cube van and a truck."
Doug Weir, Syre: "We always marvelled at our agent's ability to put us on tours which, when drawn on a map, resembled the Star of David. Syre toured about fifty weeks a year, so to us it didn't really matter, we were already 'out there.' We started touring in an old Bell Canada van that our drummer owned and was kind enough to let us use. We used to pop the cover off the engine inside to hold the carburetor open to start it. We also had a number of reworked school buses. Our paint jobs became kind of a hard rock Partridge Family motif. When we started to use motor homes and real buses it was like heaven."
Harry Hess, Harem Scarem: "It was ridiculous. I remember even thinking about our agent, 'Does this guy even own a map? Does he know what he's doing to us?' I remember being in frigging Calgary and going to do two nights in Vancouver, and then coming back somewhere in the middle. And we're like 'Why wouldn't we do that first and then fly back?' But you know, looking back you realize the agent is at the mercy of whatever club can book you on that date, and you'd have to take the dates and be happy about them for the most part. But even then I remember thinking There's gotta be a better way [laughs]."
Gerry McGhee, Brighton Rock: "We were playing in Quebec in the winter with Honeymoon Suite when our first record came out. I think you could see Labrador from where we were, that's how far north it was. By this point, Honeymoon Suite had been rolling, I think their album was approaching double platinum at the time. It was their first headlining tour and we were the opening act. They had this gorgeous big Eagle tour bus, and we had a Cadillac Coupe De Ville that we borrowed from Chris Gauthier, who we rented our lighting system from. We did the entire tour with the five of us in this Coupe De Ville and we actually put a towel with our logo on it on the front grille to stop it from freezing. While Honeymoon Suite were riding around in their tour bus with bunks and stereos and coolers, there were five of us and a cooler driving around in the Cadillac and our crew in a truck. It was pretty well that way our whole career. Lucky for us we finally got to the point where we got our own bus [laughs]."
Rob Urbinati, Sacrifice: "You don't realize how big this country is until you drive from the Atlantic to the Pacific. We loved touring Canada, even though we were sleeping on our Marshalls in the back of a van, freezing, listening to the same cassette tapes over and over, driving an average of nine or ten hours between shows. First we started playing a few shows in Quebec and Ontario, then we went all-out and started doing nationwide tours. Some of my best memories were touring Canada with Razor. It felt like we were both carrying the flag everywhere we went."
Nick Walsh, Slik Toxik: "I remember totally slumming it. Very rarely did we get a chance to even stay overnight in the places we played in the early days. It was brutal. We would rent a cube truck and put not just our gear in the back, but also our jam space furniture to create the best makeshift tour bus money could buy [laughs]. There are no windows or ventilation in the back of a cube, so we took a laundry dryer tube, hooked it up to the front window and sent it back so we could have some fresh air. Sleeping on Marshall 4X12 guitar cabinets wasn't the most comfortable, though!"
Touring through Canada's rugged terrain can be challenging enough in the best of weather. But taking on the Trans-Canada Highway in winter is always a wild-card type of situation. You never know what Mother Nature is going to throw at you, and you have to be prepared to deal with it. The only way to truly understand what this kind of lifestyle is like is to experience it yourself. These first-hand accounts from the artists may be the closest an outsider can get ... or would want to get!
Derry Grehan, Honeymoon Suite: "Touring Canada, you've got to leave a lot of time, especially in fucking wintertime. What you think is a four-hour drive turns into an eight-hour drive in the winter. It's brutal, and it can also be deadly, driving Sault Ste. Marie over to Winnipeg through that Trans-Canada Highway up over Lake Superior. It's treacherous. I almost got killed a couple of times sliding off the road with those trucks whizzing by. I'm lucky I'm still alive. That's the thing about Canada, it's a massive country, but there are only a few cities and they are really far apart."
Brian Vollmer, Helix: "Oh, it was so cold and sometimes we didn't sleep half the night. In the early, early days of the band we used to come home after the gig at Kapuskasing, we'd have to ride in the back of the goddamn truck and you couldn't tell the driver when you had to stop and take a piss. You'd be banging and hollering away and they couldn't hear you up front. It was whenever they decided to stop. So enter the pee bottle. But there'd be gear falling down around our heads and it'd be freezing fucking cold back there [laughs]."
Mike Hall, Killer Dwarfs: "I remember meeting black ice on my first tour with the Killer Dwarfs. I joined the band in the summer of 1984. The first record was out and the band had already toured coast to coast in Canada once. Even before I was in the band, Russ and I were very close friends and were writing songs and hanging out. When the guitar player quit, I was in between semesters at Berklee and I agreed to help them find a new guy. I ended up joining the band instead.
"I went out on my first national tour in late fall 1984. We played clubs, front ends and back ends, full weeks and some one-nighters. We ground it out in Ontario through Barrie, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Hearst, Wawa, Cochrane, etc. Once we hit Winnipeg it was a full week at the Zoo, a popular rock bar. Then a front end in Regina, finally getting to Alberta where we did full weeks in Edmonton and Calgary followed by a split week in Red Deer and Lethbridge. Most of the bars were packed, we did good business and sold lots of beer. I remember it being really fucking cold and snowy already in the west, overcast, freezing, grey days. We were pulling down a whopping $150 each a week and eating at 7-11. Three hotdogs for ninety-nine cents — nice. In those days we were travelling in a Dodge camper. We had a three-man crew who drove a five-ton truck with backline and our massive rental PA and light show, courtesy of RAM Audio.
"Now we were faced with making it through the Rockies to Vancouver. I think we had a date booked in Kamloops on the way. It was snowing when we left Alberta. I was crashed out in the back of the camper. Russ was at the wheel. I woke up somewhere in the mountains to nervous laughter from the front. As I made my way up I realized something was very wrong. The camper was sliding sideways down a steep embankment. Russ was laughing that semi-hysterical 'oh man we are fucked' laugh and was trying to maintain control. Darrell was riding shotgun, white as a ghost, eyes like saucers... and a beer between his legs. The conversation went something like this:
Mike [half asleep]: 'Hey what the fuck's happening, man?'
Darrell: 'Dude, we're sliding all over... it's black ice!'
Mike [half asleep, but now scared]: 'Well, stop it, man, you're freaking me out!'
Russ: 'Fuuuuuuuck!'
Death lay on both sides of this lonely, dark, ice-covered mountain road. Somehow, Russ brought the camper to a halt at the bottom of the hill. He saved our hides for sure. We sat there for a minute. Then we just shrugged it off and kept going. Lesson one, no more fall-winter touring... ever. From then on, winter was a time for writing tunes and drinking beer."
Harry Hess, Harem Scarem: "We used to drive through the mountains in a frigging Winnebago or a van in a snowstorm. You'd look down and the cliffs are like forty, fifty feet down. There are no guardrails. Like, how many bands risked their lives to play in a shit club for fifty bucks? It's insane."
Michel "Away" Langevin, Voivod: "When Voivod moved to Montreal, we had to go and play shows up north either to our hometown or other parts of Quebec, and most of the places we went you had like a couple of hours through the woods in the snow and it's always pretty scary. Nowadays, it's better because they have larger highways to go through the woods, but back then it was this smaller road where you would cross paths with huge trucks filled with wood and all that, so it was pretty scary at times for sure. We tend to tour in tour buses nowadays because touring in a van is always kind of scary [laughs]."
The whole point of this touring was to bring the music to the people, and the hope was that with each successive return to a market, more people would show up at the concerts based on the band's previous performance. This grassroots groundswell would in turn give local radio programmers a reason to add the artists to their playlist, which would then encourage fans to buy the band's music. Once the band was selling records, they could then hope to garner larger guarantees from the concert venues, and the increase in crowds would then generate an increase in merchandise sales.
Harry Hess shares his views on the measurable benefits of hitting the road. "We really did see an increase in fan base due to touring. At the time the only thing you could do to promote your music aside from touring was get on MuchMusic, get on the radio, and do as much print media and other media stuff as you possibly could. So touring was the way to get out in front of people. Doing opening gigs was a way of getting in front of somebody else's crowd to hopefully win people over so they would become your fans. On our first record and then our second record we could do small clubs on our own because we had a couple of singles that charted at radio. We had a video in rotation and that could get you on an opening slot to go across the country and do bigger venues. On our second record, a big deal for us was opening for April Wine across the country, because it was all basically hockey arenas and stuff like that. So that was great for us and I can only imagine that was helping build our fan base because we were getting out in front of a lot of people who didn't know who we were. You would roll into town, do the local radio, which would usually be sponsoring the show, and you would get a lot of airtime just because you were there. Everybody in our camp, from the label, to the management, to the agent, said that once you're in town you can do the local print media, the radio stations, the record store signings, meet-and-greets before and after the show, and just build on that."
"We quickly grew our audience in most places we played. Most of our audience was female, and with a large female audience, the boys started to come out too," adds Doug Weir of Syre.
"When the looks matched the hooks, the girls would come to the shows, and the boys would follow and end up buying the merch," Carl Dixon affirms.
"Apparently we were a pretty boy band and we didn't even know it. Tons of girls used to show up and then what we learned later was guys would say, 'Well, where the girls are is where I'm going.' We played a very tough kind of music. Not heavy metal, but hard and heavy kind of rock 'n roll, pretty loud and aggressive. The girls would tolerate it because they liked the way we looked and the way we dressed, the tight trousers, etc., and the guys just found the heaviness appealing. There was an age difference, of course, between our bar clientele, which was young males and females over the age of what would have been nineteen at that point, and the people who bought our albums, who were mostly fourteen-to-eighteen-year-old black T-shirt-wearing kind of high school guys. Girls didn't buy our albums so much, but I know that we had a fanatical following among the young guys because we were lumped in at that time with the heavy metal bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. We toured with both bands. So that would be the way the audience built up."
When you hear about bands like Harem Scarem and Coney Hatch comparing their early touring experiences with their later rise to hockey arenas, it raises a question: How do you make that leap? What is the deciding factor that pulls a band from relative bar band obscurity to playing in large concert venues with major artists?
It all goes back to the ultimate goal, the elusive brass ring ... the signing of a recording contract.
# Big F**kin' Deal (Life in the Big Leagues)
Imagine a business deal that is designed as follows: you create a product, one that is unique and has the potential to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars. The commercial viability of your product is then recognized by people who have generated millions of dollars in manufacturing, packaging, and marketing similar products. They offer you the means to manufacture and replicate your product. They will take your product to market, promote it, and if all goes well, ensure that they can be involved in the development of this idea. In exchange for their services and investment, they are going to take between 84 and 88 percent of the profits and leave you with 12 to 16 percent. Also, they are going to try to collect a good chunk of the royalties from the intellectual properties that are the core of that product. They are also going to want the exclusive rights to your next batch of products. And of course, they are going to decide how much money they will invest in these products (without necessarily consulting you) and then recoup that money out of your 12–16 percent. This will make it almost impossible to earn anything from the sales of your product. All of this will be written into a document (let's call it a contract) that is roughly the size of the Bible, written in legalese that requires a good eight years of university to suss out, but which generally states that they will own the rights to exploit your product "in perpetuity" (forever) for all territories in the "known universe." Sounds a little lopsided, right? Who in their right mind would go for a deal like that?
Ask that of a band that has been grinding it out in the bars, hotels, and taverns that litter the Trans-Canada Highway and the answer might surprise you. When an artist is bitten by the music bug, there is an allure and romance attached to securing a recording contract that defies standard logic. After years of performing the music of other people in some pretty scary conditions for very little money, you start to wonder what it must be like to be the artists whose songs you are covering. Record labels spent a lot of money in the eighties making sure that their artists looked like they had all the money in the world at their disposal ... flashy clothes, massive lighting and stage rigs, more pyro than the fires of hell. It sure seemed a lot more glamorous to be on that side of the business than in the bars and clubs. And with so many bands aching for that one-in-a-million shot at the opportunity to get signed and break through commercially to millions of fans, it must have been pretty easy to push aside conventional business wisdom for the validation and thrill of getting to record your music in a fancy studio, and hopefully land on a major tour that would eventually lead to your own headlining status.
In my daydreaming youth, I would often retreat to my bedroom, pull out some vinyl, and stare at the artwork. The record company logos that emblazoned the backs of the sleeves represented something incredibly exotic, almost otherworldly. I imagined being signed to those labels as being invited into a special club, and each label had its own flavour and appeal. Would I be a part of WEA's (Warner/Elektra/Atlantic) slick roster of AOR-friendly hard rock à la Honeymoon Suite, Brighton Rock, or Harem Scarem? Would I be uncorking a bottle of champagne at Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles at the famed Capitol Records building and seeing my band's poster on the walls alongside Helix? Or would I be keeping it fully Canuck and releasing albums on Attic Records, vying for president Al Mair's attention with Lee Aaron and Anvil? It all seemed ultra-glamorous.
Yeah, man ... I wanted to get signed. It didn't really matter to what, or to whom, but just give me a record with my name on it and a big label logo on the back! Did other artists feel that way? Or was it just a means to an end?
"I think it's just part of the natural progression of your career," says Russ Graham. "Back in the days before the Internet you needed to have an international record deal to get your records into all these countries. It wasn't like you could make a record in your living room in your underwear, and with one click you're on iTunes."
"In 1985, after extensive touring and paying our dues in the clubs, we knew that landing a recording contract was the next step for the band's future," says Haywire keyboardist David Rashed. "We thought that was the next logical step to make a career in the music industry. I felt that signing a deal was like entering a partnership where we both had the same goals ... if one party was successful then both were successful."
"It was all about funding!" says Darby Mills of Headpins. "That was how it was done at the time. Recording contracts got you access to that, hopefully. There was no information highway back then, and the networking was very much under the control of the labels."
Helix's Daryl Gray: "We wanted to get records out to people, we wanted to play the big venues. I wanted to play Madison Square Garden and Nassau Coliseum, these big hockey sheds you saw the big bands going into. I wanted to play in front of a lot of people, playing original material."
For Harem Scarem's Harry Hess, getting signed was a step up the music business ladder. "Getting a record deal did put us in another category, at least in our own minds [laughs]. Either you were a touring bar band doing covers and you had a few originals, or you were a recording act, you know? When you're a recording act signed to a reputable label, it does change things because you can demand more money and get it. We could get more gigs. Our agent at the time, S.L. Feldman, wouldn't book you unless you were a recording act, so many things changed for us once we had that label. Once you could say, 'Yeah, we are signed to Warner,' many things changed for Harem Scarem for the better."
Was signing that deal also a personal justification for your artistic endeavours? A status symbol in the scene from whence you came?
"For sure," confirms Coney Hatch's Carl Dixon. "It's a measure of accomplishment that somebody thinks you're worthy and they're going to make money off you, so they have given you this platform. I didn't recognize it as such at that time, but on a subconscious level you understand. 'Wow, I'm pissing with the big dogs now.' [laughs] There's me and The Beatles in the same record store! And they're in the Bs and we're in the Cs, oh my god we're almost right next to them! Anthem Records had a cool cachet at that time because they had Rush and Max Webster as part of their roster, so we thought 'Oh man, this is the coolest.' A record deal provides a platform to be heard. Otherwise you're just barking your songs out into the night on a dark stage in a bar and they're lost the moment the song is done. A record means you have created something that people have invested in and they are giving it a chance to be heard by the world after that."
"Absolutely, absolutely," affirms Anvil's Lips. "There's no doubt about it. We were one of the first. Us and Coney Hatch were really the only signings at that time. It was a very rare thing, and we were probably the two hardest-working bands during that period. There were other bands like the Killer Dwarfs, who were also managed by Bruce Wilson, who came behind us. Originally they were signed to Attic as well."
A few years later, Gerry McGhee and Brighton Rock would find themselves signing their own record deal. "In those days everybody wanted to sign to a big label. That really meant you had a shot at a global career. Although it's great to make it here in Canada, bands like The Tragically Hip are rare, few, and far between."
"Of course, but it was also a means to an end somewhat," says Slik Toxik's Nick Walsh. "I was hoping to have people backing up my creative talents with moral and monetary support. People seem to think that when you get signed, you've made it. In my book, it's more like being accepted to a well-to-do college or university. Once that happens, the hard work begins if you want to succeed."
Hess also saw signing a record deal for Harem Scarem as an inevitable step in reaching a broader audience. "There was no other way that we saw to get to what would be considered a large mainstream audience around the world. When we did our deal with Warner Music Canada, we did a world deal. I mean, we never actually understood what that meant until years later. We were signed in Canada, and then it was up to each individual Warner territory in the world whether or not they decided to release our record. For better or for worse, a lot of territories really liked us and some didn't want anything to do with us."
For Honeymoon Suite's Derry Grehan, whose band would aptly name their second major label release The Big Prize, a record deal offered an escape from the dank surroundings of the bar scene and a crack at the world's biggest music market, the United States of America. What did he think would happen when he signed a deal?
"We thought we would get to make a record and get out of the bars. We wanted to make a record, get on the radio, and hopefully get some support tours with major acts and play bigger venues. We had the bonus of signing in the States, so we were going from a six-nighter in Elliot Lake, Ontario, to being on a big bus and touring the States a few months later. I was on top of the world going through America, even as an opening act for bands like Heart, ZZ Top, Journey, and .38 Special. It was so amazing."
Killer Dwarfs also had their eyes on south-of-the-border success. For the Dwarfs, signing a record deal with a U.S. label meant bigger production budgets and also a bigger cash advance. An advance is money against recoupable royalties that a band uses to buy copious amounts of cocaine, mansions, expensive sports cars ... oh wait. It might be a little more along the lines of actually affording three square meals a day and some new cowboy boots. But you get the idea.
Russ Graham: "We knew we had to get to the US of A, that was where it was happening, right? Getting our music out there was one of our major goals. We signed with Epic out of New York, and it was a dream come true, it was insane. All of a sudden things totally did a 180 for us ... we got the big deal, and that's why we called our first album for Epic Big Deal. We could actually eat and buy some clothes. We were able to move production-wise as far as our records went. That was amazing — we went from doing a record for, like, ten grand to a budget of 200,000 dollars!"
Harry Hess points out the necessity of record label support back when Harem Scarem signed with Warner. "Getting signed was an acceptance into that world, you would figure. 'Now I have a shot at getting on the radio, now I'm going to make a video.' All of those things were a giant deal back them because without them you were kind of dead in the water — you couldn't compete. You couldn't just turn on your laptop and start recording like you can today. There was a monetary incentive to get signed to a major label. Not because we would be instantly rich, which was very far from the truth, but because you have resources that would enable you to record, make videos, and do all the things necessary to become successful."
Along with the major labels of the day (Warner, Capitol/EMI, Polygram, MCA, RCA, Epic, Columbia, etc.), independent labels helped spread the Canadian heavy metal gospel. Attic Records, founded in 1974 by Al Mair and Tom Williams, was responsible for bringing acts like Lee Aaron, Anvil, Haywire, and Razor to the market, as well as putting out early records by Killer Dwarfs and Triumph.
The Killer Dwarfs and Anvil actually self-financed their first recordings, which then attracted the attention of Attic Records, which ended up licensing the right to exploit and distribute the master recordings.
"We did it all on our own in the sense that we paid for our first recording," says Lips. "It wasn't like we got discovered and somebody paid for it. We blocked out times at a studio in Oshawa called Quest Studios, from Paul La Chapelle who owns the place — a very, very good guy and a very, very fair businessman who gave us a great deal on studio time. We recorded our first album there with no producer, just ourselves. Our manager, Bruce Wilson, invited the guys from Attic Records down to see us play at The Gasworks in Toronto, and we got the deal."
Montreal's Aquarius Records was founded in 1969 by Terry Flood, Bob Lemm, Dan and Jack Lazare, and Donald Tarlton, more famously known as Donald K. Donald, one of Canada's biggest concert and event promoters. Aquarius is most famous as the label that brought classic rockers April Wine and power-pop heartthrob Corey Hart to international acclaim. The label also released proto-hard rock albums by Montreal's Teaze (a band that made little headway in North America but can lay legitimate claim to the title of "Big in Japan"), Rick Hughes' Sword and Saints & Sinners projects, and later albums by bands like Helix and Deep Purple.
Just like Anvil, Sword also followed their entrepreneurial muse and hit the studio before a deal was secured. "When we started to write our own material, we only got six or seven songs ready, then we said 'Let's go into a studio in Montreal and start to record.' We very carefully edited and picked the songs. When you play 'Number of the Beast,' 'Bark at the Moon,' or 'Holy Diver' in a live set and then put an original song in that nobody has ever heard before, it kind of passes by, you know? But when you're in the studio doing an album, it's another thing. You put them under the microscope. We listened and thought Wow, what the hell, this is good! So in the studio, the guy who was producing the demo made some calls and went to the record companies. We didn't even have time to finish the seven-song pre-production demo to present to record companies because a contract was offered to us while we were in the studio, from Aquarius Records."
Solid Gold Records was co-founded by Steve Propas and Neil Dixon and had great success with classic rock radio staples Chilliwack and two of Canada's pioneering female-fronted hard rock acts, Toronto (led by vocalist Anne "Holly" Woods and guitarist Sharon Alton) and Headpins.
Other indie labels putting out Canadian hard rock and metal product at the time were Maze Records (home of Killer Dwarfs' classic Stand Tall album), Fringe Product (handling thrash acts like Razor, Slaughter, and Sacrifice), and Ready Records (home to Toronto's hard-rockin' hometown heroes Santers and new wave acts like The Spoons and Blue Peter).
These companies may not have had the corporate reach or infrastructure of their major label contemporaries, but they would often align with a major for use of their distribution, pressing, and marketing and promotional services. Because these "indies" felt less pressure to adhere to a corporate bottom line, they had more manoeuvrability in terms of the acts they could sign, acts that might not have had a chance to get a record released. There is a certain cachet about being with an independent label, an underground vibe that resonates with disenfranchised youth looking for something unique, something that is their own. Having said that, there definitely appeared to be a hierarchy amongst bands that had a lot to do with the types of deals they signed. The major coup seemed to be signing directly to the U.S. The second-best scenario would be a domestic major label signing with releases in other territories. The bronze prize would go to those with an independent deal with some sort of distribution pipeline.
To the average fan, the details as to who pays for, markets, and distributes the albums of their favourite bands probably doesn't matter one iota. However, when I think back to the days of the 12.375-square-inch cardboard album sleeve and extensive liner notes, I realize that this information did matter to me, and in fact informed my own dreams. I romanticized those record company logos and visualized them as some sort of gateway to the life I desperately wanted to lead. And you could sometimes tell just by looking at the album cover which bands had a major label deal and which bands had an indie deal. There was a slickness inherent in the packaging of Coney Hatch's Outta Hand and Helix's Wild in the Streets that seemed just slightly above the visual production value of a similar album by, say, Vancouver "muscle rock" act Thor's Keep the Dogs Away or Razor's Armed and Dangerous. Then again, you could make an argument that the underground vibe of the indie artwork added credibility to those acts, a street-level approach that was more in line with the true intent of what metal and hard rock were supposed to stand for.
Major label or independent, one thing common in both types of deals was the binding legal document that laid out their terms, the much-coveted and often misunderstood contract. Historically, artists are notoriously bad businesspeople. I mean, once you have experienced the rush of creating and performing your own music, how can you possibly want to be concerned with such petty details as royalties, music publishing, tour support, etc.? This is what managers and lawyers are for, right? Right?
So, did our hard rock and heavy metal heroes understand the legal language inherent in their record deals? Were the legalities even a concern for them? Not for Russ Dwarf.
"Lord, no, the thing was like 186 pages! Obviously, hindsight is 20/20. If you could go back in time it would be great. Our manager's brother was a lawyer, and we had our own lawyers and everything. So it's someone else's business, right? My job was to create music and do the shows."
How about Lips from Anvil?
"Obviously not. I signed the thing, and it was a foolish thing to have done. Maybe it could have been negotiated, but it's interesting, we were trying to negotiate so we asked our lawyer at the time, 'Is there anything we can do to make this better?' and he said 'I highly doubt it.' It was like, take it or leave it. So we just went with it. I don't even know if we could have foretold what was to be. Some of the stuff in the deal was standard, some of the stuff is of its day and age. Now, in this day and age, those kinds of contracts just do not exist. You don't do licensing deals forever. Our deal was a licensing deal, and we basically signed our first three albums away forever. To this day I don't own those."
"Our music lawyer made us aware that it was a one-sided deal, but since it was the only deal that we had in front of us, we decided to take it and see if we could make it work," says Haywire's Rashed.
Sometimes, even when a band was given sound legal counsel, the fear that they might be missing their one and only shot could blind them from making a sound legal decision. Brighton Rock's Gerry McGhee breaks down his deal with Brighton Rock as follows:
"We had a manager who took care of it, and after we signed a management contract he suggested we get a lawyer. And he referred to it as putting the cart before the horse, and that it was a bad deal all the way around. We were signed to a production company, and that company was responsible for recording Brighton Rock records and the production company would then license the record to Warner Music. The production agreement, which was absolutely asinine, commissioned the videos and the albums, so if Warner gave us $100,000 to record an album, they would get a percentage of that. And that money is completely recoupable, that's not money earned, that's an advance. So that $15,000 or $20,000 taken as a commission could be the difference between making our third album, Love Machine, or making Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet. You should never take away money from the production of the record. And they did the same thing with videos. After we fired them all, after I took control, it was the first time the guys were actually walking around with cash, you know, looking at buying houses, new cars. And that was on the downswing of the band. I was seen as the troublemaker in the beginning because I had a brother-in-law who was a chartered accountant. He went through the contracts left, right, and centre and said that these were bad, bad, bad deals and we should not sign these. The guys kind of felt that I was going to rock the boat because at the time our manager was looked at like the new Brian Epstein — everybody loved him, he was successful. So I basically bit my tongue and signed the deal so that we could do the record in the hope that after the initial three to five records were done, we would be in a position where we could start to actually make money. But it never got that far."
Carl Dixon of Coney Hatch fared slightly better thanks to his diligence in informing himself.
"I was aware, but I made a point of it. I was actually the least willing to sign the deal, to tell you the truth. I had to be convinced and coerced and I was getting pressure: 'C'mon, stop dragging this out, what's wrong?' We had a very good lawyer who is still our friend today, advising us we shouldn't sign the deal. All the while Anthem was insisting 'C'mon, time's wasting, let's get on this,' which is a tactic in itself, how you push young guys and try to capitalize on their excitement and the stars in their eyes, and they sign any damn thing. Plus I was getting some unexpected caution from [producer] Kim Mitchell's wife, who knew the guy that ran Anthem Records. She was cautioning me, 'Carl, he doesn't really care that much. His focus is more on real estate now and getting into movies, I don't think this is right for you, I would really think about this.' So I really thought about it [laughs]. Ultimately, they did make some concessions in the record deal and I was aware of the impact those would have. It meant that we would start making publishing money at least from the very first record sold, rather than [with] so many Canadian bands who signed deals where they never saw a penny for their records, either publishing or mechanicals. So I'm glad I held out for that reason. I really paid attention and read the contracts myself and listened to what our lawyer was telling us, whereas I don't think everybody else in the band was so quite so diligent in that regard."
It is easy to paint the record labels as villains in these scenarios, but one could also make the argument that this is simply a case of supply and demand. With so many bands willing to do anything for a shot at bringing their music to the masses in the hopes of living the rock 'n roll dream, were the labels not somehow obliged by the rules of the jungle that is the free enterprise market to get the most they could from the artists for the least amount of investment?
Moral and ethical issues aside, these artists wanted record deals, and the labels were offering 'em. But how did these bands attract the interest of the artist and repertoire (A&R) executives at these companies? What was the difference between bands that would see some garnering hundreds of thousands of dollars in label investment while others were rejected and left to fend for themselves? How did these bands get signed?
Getting signed was a process that involved getting the attention of A&R executives and then convincing them that your band was going to be a money-maker. A band had to have a magical combination of great songs, a marketable look, and the oft-cited but rarely defined "X" factor, that element that would convince an A&R rep to put his neck and his job on the line and commit to the vast amount of development dollars it would take to push an artist into the marketplace.
For Helix, it was the combination of the aforementioned elements and a tireless work ethic that sealed the deal. The band had already proven itself as a viable commercial entity by selling over 20,000 units of its two independent albums, Breaking Loose and White Lace and Black Leather. They also had managed to attract serious radio attention south of the border, largely thanks to the support of San Antonio radio jockey and metal impressario Joe Anthony, who had previously championed Canuck acts like Rush and Moxy.
"We would showcase for several labels before we were finally signed, and showcased for Capitol five or six times," says Vollmer. "Capitol finally decided to sign us at The Gasworks in Toronto. Dean Cameron, who was the head of A&R at the time, had left after our second set but sneaked back in the rear door to watch us without us knowing. Brent's amp had blown up at the end of the second set, and without batting an eye, he set up his little practice amp and mic'ed it. We then proceeded to take the stage and rock out like nothing was the matter. Dean told us that was what clinched the deal for us. They knew we would work our balls off for them if they gave us a chance."a
Voivod's recording contract with Metal Blade records came as a result of the "tape trading" scene of the eighties, a precursor to today's Internet file sharing. Fans of the thrash genre would become pen pals through international metal magazines like Canada's Metallion or the UK's Metal Forces, and they would trade demo tapes of new and upcoming bands. Langevin explains: "Yeah, we were able to send cassettes of our demo — we recorded a live tape at the jam space and it was called To the Death 84. It was re-released last year by Alternative Tentacles, actually, and we sent it to fanzines, to labels, and we had a friend that had a lot of pen pals in the trading tape mailings of the early eighties who sent it everywhere as well, and at first we got an offer to be part of a compilation on Metal Blade called Metal Massacre. The Metal Massacre compilations were the start for many of our peers like Slayer, Celtic Frost, Possessed, so we were really happy to have a deal for one song on a compilation, and the reaction was really good. The same year we got an offer for a full album. What happened was we borrowed $2,000 from Snake's mom, which we gave back years later, so we were able to record our first album in a couple of days."
One of the biggest promotional perks of a record deal in the eighties and early nineties involved a budget to produce a music video. For bands that had pounded the Trans-Canada in an effort to bring their music and image to the people, a video was a means (albeit a potentially expensive one) to spread their hard rock gospel to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of teens hungry for music videos. As I mentioned before, MuchMusic's Power Hour was the go-to source for all things hard and heavy, and I was curious to get the perspective of someone who was involved with delivering the metal goods to the masses.
Craig Halket began his career at MuchMusic during a work placement in 1985, hanging out with the first cast of VJs who would infiltrate the basements of countless suburban Canadian homes, personalities like J.D. Roberts, Laurie Brown, Michael Williams, Christopher Ward, and Erica Ehm. He went on to start at MuchMusic full-time in 1986 as a production assistant, then as a floor manager and producer. He started programming in the eighties and then became a VJ. Craig ultimately became the head of music programming in 2000.
"I think [heavy metal videos] were a huge priority," says Halket. "Power Hour was one of our flagship shows, certainly when I started there, and continued to be right through to the mid-nineties. It was a number one priority. We basically interviewed every sort of metal band that came through — Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and newer bands as well that were sort of breaking out when you had the explosion of Mötley Crüe and Poison [in the mid- to late-eighties]."
And what were the Canadian hard rock or heavy metal bands that stood out in Craig's mind?
"To me, there were a few. I mean, certainly Helix was a band that to me kind of just stood out because the videos were consistent and also back in those days when they had a record release party, there was a lot of fanfare. There was a lot leading up to it, so I think that band certainly stood out in a big way. They kind of dominated in terms of a really hard rock band. I mean, you had your Honeymoon Suites and bands like that, but I think that Helix was pure unadulterated hard rock/heavy metal and they were a dominant force on the Power Hour. And then as you got through the late eighties and early nineties, you had [Hamilton, Ontario's] Varga, Slik Toxik, and Sven Gali, which were also sort of key components of the Power Hour."
Did Craig notice certain trends in the stylization of Canadian hard rock and heavy metal videos, as opposed to their American counterparts?
"I think maybe they were a little cleaner. I mean, certainly I think there were a lot of similarities, there's no question that was something that comes with just, you know, us being a country that is so close geographically. I think artistically there was a lot of that and I think certainly for Canadian metal bands, I mean they would have great careers here, but the breakthrough to be able to play in the States and go to L.A. and sort of be discovered there, was a big deal."
So would Craig say there was an aspiration towards American-style production values?
"Absolutely. I think that there was a big deal about following the sound trends. I think that certain bands had a distinct sound but ultimately they were always going to be compared to American artists, so I think that there were a lot of similarities."
As a fan, I always wondered if the hosts of the Power Hour and later the Power 30 were fans of the heavy metal genre, or were they just fulfilling one of the job requirements of being a VJ? I mean, both J.D. Roberts and Laurie Brown went on to high-profile, serious newscasting jobs and Michael Williams also hosted MuchMusic's Soul in the City show... were they committed to throwing the horns?
"To me, I think that everyone, whether or not they were huge fans coming in, came out as huge fans. J.D. Roberts certainly was a genuine fan of the music, as was Dan Gallagher — Laurie Brown embraced it. I mean, she was just a fan of all music and a lot of VJs that were at MuchMusic were into a broad spectrum of music at the time. Teresa Roncon also was definitely into the music. I think that everything in the heavy metal scene, that hard rock scene, was attractive and it was fun, and I think it had the energy. It's an energy that has gone away from music in a lot of ways after the mid-nineties, but I think that everyone was into it. Nobody was just walking through it and just playing a role."
For so many artists who had hauled massive SVT bass rigs and Marshall 4X12 cabinets up flights of icy stairs in the dead of winter, a record deal likely seemed like the endgame, the golden ticket ... a chance to leave the bars and clubs for the luxury of that elusive "big time." In reality, though, a record deal was just the next step up a very high ladder, one with many more rungs to climb. It's a big world out there, and while a deal could certainly function as a pipeline to get one's music to the masses, the work really only begins when a contract is signed. In the eighties there was a focus on the part of record label marketing teams to make the acts seem larger than life, that the artists' success was already at hand, and the young audience they targeted were merely invited along to share in the band's excess and glory. In fact, this was the hook that the labels needed to get those allowance dollars, which in turn fuelled the machine, which then generated profit for the label, which would then lay out more dollars that were to be recouped out of the artists' share of the record sales ... tough to buy a mansion and a sports car when you are part of this cycle!
But success can be defined in many ways other than financial, and one wonders if the rewards wrapped up as artistic endeavour or acclaim and notoriety were enough to offset the personal financial realities of the artists.
I think this brings us back to that initial motivation: when music hits you as hard as it hit these artists, you need to be a part of it. It is a desire that is far stronger than the one that pushes you to make "safe" decisions. The very thought of having your emotions and songs committed to wax, to having your face and band logo emblazoned on a record jacket, to having someone actually help you to take the celebration of your lifestyle to other like-minded souls and perform for them in the arenas where your heroes had performed can easily be perceived as "making it." And sure, we all know that whatever comes up must come down ... but before we worry about gravity, let's take a look at the achievement of escape velocity, when the artists were able to break the Earth's gravitational pull and touch some of those stars that had previously existed only in their eyes.
# The Border:
Canadians Taking Heavy Metal to the World
> "Born and bred in the Great White North, we metalheads benefitted from a vast array of bands and styles that helped shape the scene throughout the world."
>
> — Metal Tim Henderson, Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles
Sometimes I wish that I hadn't spent so much time in class daydreaming about being a rock star and hanging out with my heavy metal heroes. As I sit here trying to describe the artistic desire to take one's music to the world, I struggle to think of some parallel between a great explorer, a tale of Magellan or Columbus or some other soul who set out into the great unknown in the name of adventure, profit, and conquest. But screw me if I can, because I spent most of my time in history class doodling intricate diagrams of arena lighting trusses, working on band logos on my weathered binder, or perfecting my Mötley Crüe-inspired pentagrams on a pencil case. Suffice it to say that a life devoted to the pursuit of heavy metal in all its permutations can leave one with serious gaps in conventional knowledge.
As a boy spending summers up at my cottage north of Témiscaming, Quebec, I was fascinated with my cousin's CB radio kit. Because we were deep in the woods, we were able to pick up radio stations from all across North America due to the lack of airwave interference you'd experience in a big city. By the same token, we were also able to use that CB kit to communicate with a variety of truckers as they thundered along Highway 101, delivering wood chips from Tembec, the huge international pulp-and-paper mill that was the foundation of the town of Témiscaming proper. To me, it was amazing that I could have the power to communicate my thoughts and ideas across these invisible airwaves, crackling with life (c'mon, I'm not gonna reference Rush in a Canadian music book?). In the same way that reading the DC and Marvel comics that I collected in my youth made me long to visit the massive skyscrapers and bustling streets of the ink-coloured version of America that was painted in my head, I also longed to have my voice reach people all around the world. In retrospect, I believe that the act of reaching out to people and engaging them in the name of community was equally as important to me as any message I wanted to convey. Who cares what we're saying, as long as we're saying it together! How Marshall McLuhan of me!
So, reaching out beyond the limitations of my environs in the hopes of connecting with other like-minded souls in exotic locales was definitely a goal of mine as a musician. In the pre-Internet, Cold War-obsessed eighties, my image of people other than North Americans, Europeans on the "right" side of the Iron Curtain, and the purportedly West-obsessed Japanese, was coloured by what American TV was feeding me. But in my heart I always believed that there were Commie kids who wanted to rock just as hard as I did, and I dreamed of one day bringing the massive stages I was designing on those scraps of paper to the U.S.S.R. or Communist China to liberate the youthful masses with high-voltage hair metal. Maybe I also figured that since these people were denied their basic right to rock, my own meagre attempts at songwriting might seem like strokes of genius to a metal-starved market! I also became obsessed with becoming "Big in Japan," a dream largely inspired by my obsession with Cheap Trick's Live at Budokan album. Hey, anything looks cool when it has Japanese writing on it, right? I always felt there was a good shot that my fortunes lay outside of the borders of my country.
Of course, as time went on, I realized that music fans around the world share a common characteristic. They by and large want great music, and if your music isn't knocking them dead in Ottawa, it probably won't be knocking them dead in Tokyo. As the quality of my own writing and performance improved, doors opened both at home and in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. With my band Crash Kelly, I was afforded the opportunity to tour the UK with The Quireboys and the U.S. with Alice Cooper, performing in front of large crowds with varying degrees of success. I have also seen my albums released throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. Fortunately, we were never booed off a stage, but I have most definitely endured my share of middle finger salutes, downturned thumbs, and shrugged shoulders from restless concertgoers anxious to see the main attraction. Such is the lot of the support act.
However, one thing that I felt kept Crash Kelly afloat, and in many cases even won us some supporters, was that we felt genuinely privileged to be bringing our Canadian (albeit heavily influenced by English glam rock and American hair metal) rock 'n roll to foreign audiences. In these moments, I always felt like I was living out the role of the lucky fan who got to live his dreams more so than a "rock star." I also felt extremely honoured to be representing my country on the world stage. The thrill of playing legendary venues such as Rock City in Nottingham, England, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow, Scotland, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, or the Sturgis Bike Rally in North Dakota were never lost on me or the band. It is also hard to explain the thrill of walking into an HMV in London, England, or the famed Tower Records (RIP) on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and finding your albums racked alongside those of your heroes.
I often heard from promoters, local crews, and the headline acts we supported that there was a certain something, a humility and a graciousness about Canadian bands, that made them fun to work with, and this was something that stuck with me. I felt it a badge of honour that I had to defend. While I would certainly never generalize and say that all Canadian bands were like this, I decided, rightly or wrongly, that the public face of Crash Kelly would exude the polite, meek, humble nature that is so often associated with Canadians. Undoubtedly, this got us pushed around at times ... not a very rock 'n roll thing to admit. But ultimately, our humility won us the respect of many of the bands we worked with. We saved our rock star behaviour for the stage (or backstage, behind closed doors!) and flew the flag high for Canadian manners. We practised the attitude of gratitude.
But of course, that was us. Canada has many more attributes besides our perceived good manners. And I have always wondered what the Canadian rockers who inspired me thought of their own Canadian identities as they pertained to their musical identities outside of Canada.
When I asked Lips about touring abroad, he felt strongly that where he and Anvil were from influenced how others perceived his band.
"Oh yeah, that was definitely part of the equation, a very important part in a certain sense because what separates you [from other bands] is where you're from. Metal is metal, but it does matter where you are from. That's sort of what got us labelled as 'The band Anvil from Canada' rather than just Anvil. The second part of your label is where you're from."
Was being Canadian just a form of classification, or did it have deeper ramifications? Do metal musicians bring something unique to their music that actually informs the music itself?
"What your country is and your background seems to somehow permeate the music. I really can't explain why or how, but it just does. Certainly the bands from England had a different kind of way of expressing themselves as far as their lyrics were concerned. The lyrics seemed to have ... maybe the rhymes were better? There was just something about it that you could tell they were English. Maybe it's better diction, I guess. But there were other things, certain musical modes that a lot of the bands play in. I think it's cultural in a certain sense with British bands. A lot of the modes were in minor keys and stuff like that, odd and even dissonant modes like Black Sabbath. These were unusual things for American-sounding bands. A lot of American bands, everything was very square or round in the sense that they didn't use dissonant notes and most of songs were not written in minor keys. They were more blues- oriented chord changes. Europeans seemed to use a lot of classical changes in their music, whereas North Americans didn't. Classical music coming from Europe ... it was kind of the same thing as their metal, you know?"
Brighton Rock toured all throughout the U.S. and Europe, supporting the likes of Joan Jett, Eddie Money, and Eric Martin (who would later go on to front virtuosic hitmakers Mr. Big), and in his travels Gerry McGhee was well aware of the perception of his band as "Canadian" in the eyes of foreign markets.
"Yeah, yeah, there definitely was that perception, and I think that's what appealed more to the European market, the same way that a lot of European bands broke here in Canada before they ever broke America, you know? Supertramp, Genesis, Pink Floyd, those guys were all selling a million records in Canada before they'd even sold anything in the States. Canada's always kind of had that openness to prog rock, and openness to bands like Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy. All those kind of bands broke here first. In the UK, they felt that we had a distinctive Canadian sound. I mean, we [Gerry's company, Isotope Records] still sell Brighton Rock records over there regularly, we sell Coney Hatch, Max Webster, Rush, of course. You'd be surprised how much demand there is for Canadian rock. The Amazons of the world and the Internet have opened things up for these people to buy the stuff, and it still sells."
There are two schools of thought regarding the stereotype of the well-mannered and polite Canadian abroad as pertains to heavy metal and hard rock musicians. Some musicians feel and embrace that perception, while others don't think it makes one iota of difference.
Perhaps it was a touch of Canadian charm that helped White Wolf vocalist Don Wolf and band turn a potentially rough situation into a positive one on an early U.S. promo trip.
"Any time a band is on the road, situations can arise," says Wolf. "You have to understand that in the eighties things were still somewhat undeveloped as far as tolerance for long-haired guys down in the southern part of the U.S., and we had many looks and comments from people at the truck stops along the way on our U.S. tour in 1985. One thing that came to mind that started off a little scary but ended up well was when we first went to New York for three days of interviews for both magazines and TV. We were taken out for dinner by one of our record people at RCA and they drove us to a restaurant in Little Italy, and this place looked like it was right out of one of the movies of the time.
"It was this small, not modern room with almost no one there. I think the name of the restaurant was Rugero's ... well, as we walked in there were these two huge, and I mean huge guys standing at the door, and the last thing we heard as we were led in to the back of this place was 'Make sure that these guys pay.' Huge swallow.
"Well, we went in, got seated and started to order ... they had a guy that wandered throughout the restaurant, playing a guitar and singing ... well, as he got to our table, he asked who we were. We explained, and he was overjoyed that we were from Canada and proceeded to sing to us. Well, I happened to know a bit of the song and started to sing with him and pretty soon a bunch of us joined in. On hearing this, the actual owner came out wondering what the noise was about, ended up sitting down with us, spending part of the evening with us, and we ended up signing a bunch of pics and records for him and his kids, and even had the big burly guys hanging out with us and having a blast that night. We had a great dinner, and we remained friends with the owner and contacted him next time we were back in New York. It all ended very well!"
Killer Dwarfs did a substantial amount of touring abroad with acts like Accept, Krokus, and the Michael Schenker Group, but most memorable among those experiences was being the support slot on a few legs of Iron Maiden's tour in support of their prog-metal opus Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Not only did the Dwarfs get to support the band in the U.S., they were also invited to perform in Maiden's backyard in the UK, which included appearances at the famed Wembley Arena and the Hammersmith Apollo. Not only did their personification of the stereotype of Canadians as easygoing, nice guys help them earn fans, it also helped them develop friendships with some legendary heavy metallers.
"I think it's the classic story with everybody that loves Canadians [abroad]," says Russ Dwarf. "I think that initially people thought we were American and then all of a sudden they discovered, oh, they're Canadian guys. We always got along with everybody. And honestly, it's not like you have the cure for cancer or something. You're in show business, you're entertaining people, and the great thing is you can touch people. I always call it plucking the heartstrings of humans — you can touch them and do a show and people come up to you and say 'Oh man, that song changed my life.' That's a great thing, man. It's kind of like a little cure for depression or something. Everybody was pretty outgoing [in the band] and we never had a problem with people. Iron Maiden ended up being lifelong friends, and [the Seventh Son tour] was one of the greatest experiences for us, for sure. They're just great guys, down-to-earth people."
Iron Maiden founder and generally acknowledged leader Steve Harris has a much-documented love of Canadian hard rock and has often tipped his cap to acts like Coney Hatch (who supported Maiden in North America on the Piece of Mind tour) and Kim Mitchell. As Carl Dixon suggests, a combination of being great guys as well as great musicians can open a lot of doors.
"Yeah, if there's a leader of that band [Iron Maiden] of course it's him. And he decided that he liked us and was quite involved in getting us on their tour, I think. He's stayed friends with Andy Curran over the years since then. Whenever I have come across Steve in the years since he has been very friendly and welcoming, and that certainly is another example of what they always say in this business, it's about who you know or it's about your connections. A connected guy like Steve Harris decided that he liked us. Therefore when Coney Hatch was put before him, he opened the door to let us be part of his world."
In the case of Helix, the additional muscle of having major record company support helped the band pay the hefty fee required to "buy on" to the European leg of KISS's Lick It Up tour of 1983. This tour was historically significant for metal fans (or KISS fans anyway!) because it marked the first time that the band had appeared live without their trademark makeup.
"I think Capitol paid something like $30,000 dollars to get us on that tour. One of the funniest stories from that tour involved Mark Rector, who was playing bass. We had brought him in last-minute because Mike Uzelac had quit, and, as I say in my book, Mark wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. We were landing for the first date in Lisbon, Portugal, and Mark's looking out the window and I remember him saying, 'This doesn't look like England.' England? We're in fucking Portugal, man! Why would you think we're in England?
"Our next date after that was in Spain and the band all went ahead — they drove, but I had to take a train because I was doing promo. It was called the Lusitania Express. As you drove through the countryside you could see where during the Spanish Civil War they strafed the walls with machine guns and some frigging guy with a machine gun, an army guy, would come wake us up every half-hour ... talk about a nerve-wracking ride! They were waking you up to check your passport and shit. Then I got to Madrid and I just figured somebody would know English, but nobody did and there were gypsies yanking on me. I got in a cab and, unbeknownst to me, KISS had changed the hotel. So the name of the hotel I had was wrong. The taxi driver knew where KISS was staying so he took me to the right hotel and out back there was this huge pit, like a garbage pit behind the hotel, and there would be dump trucks constantly pulling up and dumping garbage. And then you'd see about thirty little gypsy kids flock into the garbage and pick through it."
Culture shock aside, I had to wonder how the mammoth rock machine that was KISS treated the support act.
"Well, I get along with the guys in the band, don't get me wrong. But we never got a sound check on that whole tour. And as I said, I think Capitol paid like $30,000 U.S. to get us on that tour."
Turns out a hefty fee for the support slot wasn't the only promotional challenge faced by Helix on this, their first European jaunt.
"We put posters up [in the arena] that the record company had brought out and Gene Simmons made us take them all down. Gene had a little meeting with us too at the first gig. He sat us all down and said, 'You know, no one wants another KISS. Quit using our moves and stuff ... or else.' I can't even remember now, maybe we were [stealing stage moves] [laughs]. Well, because we used to sit there and watch the headliners and study them, and we would make notes and we discussed them as a band, just how they talked to the audience slower, articulated more, so in that regard ... but it wasn't like we were stealing a direct frigging thing off them. We were taking what they were doing and kind of using it to improve our show. I can't remember what he was specifically referring to, but I remember him lecturing us like we were in grade one and he was the head schoolteacher. I remember one day Gene did the devil horn hand gesture thing, and he's pointing to himself, and I go, 'I don't get it, what are you telling me?' [laughs] He says, 'Me. I invented that.' I go, 'Oh yeah.' And then I think that's why Ronnie James Dio says, 'Fuck him, he did not!' [laughs]"
Vollmer's encounters with Simmons were not the only ones that remain vivid in his mind ... two legendary characters from the UK band Motörhead, Lemmy Kilmister and Brian "Robbo" Robertson (perhaps more famously known as one half of the classic guitar duo in Thin Lizzy) both remain indelibly inked on Brian's brain, albeit for different reasons.
"Well, there's lots of stories with Lemmy. I remember one night we all watched him get a blow job on the roof of the Penny Arcade [a club in Rochester, NY]. The first time I ever talked to Lemmy was actually that same day. A lot of things happened that day. First off, Robbo tried to beat me up at the fucking House of Guitars [a musical instrument store in Rochester]. But then later on I was sitting there eating lunch and Lemmy was sitting there eating beside me and I had never talked to him before ever, and he turned to me and goes, 'Do you believe in God?' And I go, 'Yeah.' [growling] 'I don't believe in God. My father is a preacher....' And then he started talking about being a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and how they both did acid and were stoned for like two or three days!
"So anyway, we were at the House of Guitars to thank them for selling our first two independent albums. When we were with Motörhead's Another Perfect Day Tour, it was in support of No Rest for the Wicked. So we were down there and they showed up two hours late for their in-store appearance, and Robbo was pissed. In fact, he had a 40-ouncer of vodka with him, right, and all these kids are standing around. There were like 200 kids. And he was fucked. Anyway, he was obviously pissed and everybody there was kind of laughing because he was so drunk that he was staggering. And I made the mistake of saying, 'Hey, Robbo, having a bad day?' Suddenly with lightning speed he just grabbed me by the throat. I didn't know what to do. Everybody went quiet. It was one of those 'you could hear a pin drop' moments. Everybody was standing around and he said, 'You'd be fucking drunk too if you found somebody fucking your old lady.' And then he kind of looked around and realized everybody was looking at us so he let me go. It was wild."
Helix would make a big mark in the U.S. with the heavy rotation airplay of their "Heavy Metal Love" video on MTV and the radio success of subsequent hits like "Rock You" and "Deep Cuts the Knife." The band also proved itself an arena-worthy support act, winning over American stadium audiences by warming up the crowd for acts like Whitesnake, Quiet Riot, Black Sabbath, Dio, Mötley Crüe, and Heart. The tour with Heart, in support of the No Rest for the Wicked album, was bassist Daryl Gray's inauguration into the band. It was also his initiation into the types of troubles that can await a musician as he crosses the border with a rock band.
"Monday night we go catch the tour bus in Kitchener to head down to Garry, Indiana, to play with Heart. And of course the bus breaks down before it even gets out of Kitchener — the story of Helix's life. We end up having to fly, so we get to Toronto and of course U.S. immigration has a desk in Toronto and I get called up. 'Daryl Gray?' 'Yes.' 'Have you ever been arrested?' 'No.' 'Are you sure?' 'Yeah, I'm pretty sure of that.' [laughs] 'You've never been arrested for sex crimes.' 'No.' 'Go take a seat over there.' So I go sit down. In the meantime, the band is on the plane and Kenny the tour manager is going, 'What the hell is going on here?' The guy they had auditioned a couple before me had been turned away at the border because he had a record.
"So they call me up again and they're looking at my passport and going, 'So you were born in Ireland?' I give them all the information and they tell me to go sit down again. So I go sit down again. And then about two minutes before they're going to lock the door to the plane they call me back up and say, 'Okay, you're okay to go.' Later my mum found an article in the Toronto paper saying a guy called Daryl Gray had escaped from a Michigan prison and they found him and his buddy about three days later. They followed him to a cesspool where he couldn't get out. The buddy had died but this guy Daryl Gray had clung onto the side of the cesspool in the prison break and they were just checking to make sure it wasn't the same Daryl Gray.
"We get to Gary, Indiana, at five o'clock, and of course we've got one instrument each because we're only allowed to bring one. We're on at 7:30. The Heart guys take us aside and say, 'Listen, we heard that you had some problems and you might need some spares.... These ones are our spare-spares, and if you'd like to borrow one of them for the show till your gear gets here tomorrow, feel free.' An excellent band to tour with. The crew was always miserable, as every crew is, but miserable in a fun kind of way [laughs]."
The next night of the Heart tour in Louisville, Kentucky, would see a famous pair of Dutch brothers bringing some levity and a few words of wisdom.
"So we get through the first half of the set, we come to Brent's guitar solo, and Paul and me are off the side of the stage and we hear the audience start to go absolutely nuts, they're going bananas, and we're going, 'Brent's having a good solo tonight. Behind Brent where he can't see is Eddie Van Halen with one of Nancy Wilson's acoustic guitars. As Brent is doing the hammer-ons in his guitar solo [a technique made famous by Eddie], Eddie is doing the same thing behind him. The audience is going nuts and Brent is going 'Aw yeah, this is it!' [laughs] Then Eddie runs off and Brent doesn't find out till later what was going on! Van Halen was in town the next night at whatever the big football stadium is in Louisville. Eddie and Alex came out to see Heart but they spent the whole set in our dressing room just talking with us. One of the best quotes that I can remember is Alex telling me, 'Listen, you can't go chasing the pot of gold, you've just gotta ride the rainbow.'"
To compound the stress of this near-miss of the first date of the Heart tour, this was also to be Daryl's first major venue performance! I can tell you from personal experience, like so many things in life, there is nothing like that first time ... the adrenaline rush is something that musicians chase their entire career, but it is hard to capture or put into words the first time the lights go down in the house and you hear your band's name being introduced to thousands of pumped-up rock fans.
So here you are, you find you've gone from playing in clubs to your first big show, the huge audience is screaming for your every lick and well- choreographed stage move. And now you are going to do it night after night in arenas and theatres across that land of milk and honey which is the US of A! Surely you are travelling in style and living the high life, right?
"Far from it! First of all we did a bunch of little mini-tours before Razor's Edge came out." says Daryl Gray. "We'd go out for six or seven shows with Heart or doing our own bar dates, then come back. At that point Helix wasn't playing bars in Canada any more. But we were doing some dates basically to keep the band hot and to crowd-test new material. So when Razor's Edge came out in May of '84, we were gearing up to go on the road full-time. By this time the band had its own bus, which was a converted Bluebird Diesel called The Dirty Dog because it looked kind of nice on the outside but it was a hound. It had a little piece at the back that our stage gear could fit in, and it didn't have a nice washroom like the rest of the tour buses had.... Our first string of dates was forty-seven shows in forty-seven days, and we didn't take accommodations; there were no rooms because we were driving overnight. I remember playing, I think it was the Boat House in Norfolk, Virginia, right behind Norfolk Navy Yard. It was really an old warehouse on the dock that they converted into a rock bar. To shower that day they had a standpipe outside that basically served for hosing down the old dockside, so you cranked the big turn handle on, ice cold water, and that was your shower for the day. And occasionally we would get a shower room, but basically the band had made a conscious decision that we weren't going to take tour support, because we didn't want to owe everything that ever came in to the record company. So we made sure that what money was made from touring supported the touring."
So much for the glamour ... but what the hell, personal comfort is a small price to pay for living one's rock 'n roll fantasies abroad!
In the cases of Voivod and Anvil, touring abroad provided a bedrock that has sustained the careers of both bands for decades. Anvil was aided by Attic Records president Al Mair's solid relationship with Doug Smith, who managed the legendary Motörhead, as well as early eighties metal mainstays Girlschool, and tours with both acts were the result of this friendship. Mair was also instrumental in getting the band a slot on the bill for Japan's massive Super Rock Festival, which saw Anvil standing toe-to-toe with such metal giants as Scorpions, Whitesnake, and the Michael Schenker Group. That festival also featured a little-known New Jersey band in the support slot by the name of Bon Jovi. It was Europe, however, that yielded the greatest return on time invested.
Lips: "Oh yeah, Europe. We made a huge impact in Europe, massive, in fact, to the point where it kept the band a recording band for thirty plus years since."
And was there something distinctly Canadian about Anvil that appeared to European audiences?
"We were unique. In the early eighties, you had to have a sound and a style that was your own. Otherwise you didn't get a record deal. So that is why, as well as being Canadian, we have kept that throne all through the years, to this day. People know that Anvil is a Canadian band, and part of our marketing is that. By the time we did our fifth album, we had a song called 'Blood on the Ice,' not that dissimilar from your book [laughs]. Many years later, probably in '97 or '98, the record company and promotional company decided to make a T-shirt that looked like a hockey jersey and put '98' on the back with Blood on the Ice and the Canadian maple leaf on the front with the Anvil logo over top in white. It looked like a white hockey jersey, and when we played the Wacken Festival in Germany in '98 we probably sold a thousand. And part of it had to do with the Canadian maple leaf. We've got a number of different T-shirt designs that we use to this day that all have the Canadian insignia. I mean, it becomes part of it. I wear something with the Canadian insignia on it onstage every night — whether it's wristbands or a T-shirt, there's always something indicating it's Lips from Anvil from Canada. It's funny, because we have a song on our latest album (Juggernaut of Justice) called 'Fuckin' Eh.' And now we've changed the Blood on the Ice shirt to a Fuckin' Eh shirt. It's become part of the show. Steve-O [from MTV's Jackass] came up to me at a show in Los Angeles at the House of Blues and said, 'Hey Lips, do you know how to spell Canada?' And I go, 'Huh?' And he goes, 'C -eh-N-eh-D-eh.' [laughs]. And that's become part of the show. I talk about being Canadian. I even talk about being the Stompin' Tom Connors of heavy metal. I play a few bars of a couple of his songs, and it really goes over very, very well worldwide. Our management goes, 'We don't see how these Blood on the Ice shirts or Fuckin' Eh shirts are gonna sell.' Meanwhile, they're selling like hotcakes in Germany."
Voivod's Michel Langevin: "The first U.S. tour with Celtic Frost was quite an experience. We barely knew English and our lyrics were pretty funny on the first couple of albums, but we really learned touring, especially in the U.S. So the first tour in '86 with Celtic Frost was an amazing experience and we learned a lot from it. And then we did this crazy world tour. Actually, the same year we toured Europe with Possessed and it was equally insane because those were the big thrash metal years with huge crowds and huge mosh pits and riots and all that. It was very exciting because all of these bands were touring, like we did a world tour in '87 with Creator, and we were all young kids, you know? And thrash metal was exploding and it was very exciting for everybody. I think that the biggest thrill was 1990 when we toured Nothingface — we first went across the U.S. with Faith No More and Soundgarden and shortly after we did a Canadian tour with Rush, which was pretty amazing."
As French-Canadian musicians, did Voivod ever feel that they were perceived differently by their peers both in the rest of Canada and internationally?
"Sort of, in the sense that we were on a parallel path because being here in Quebec and singing in English kept us from being part of the Quebec scene in a way. And the fact that we were French Canadian might have kept us from being part of the Canadian scene, but then again I'm not sure of it, because we did get nominated for both Junos and ADISQ here. So I think we were pretty well respected, but many people, in terms of recognition, many people know the name Voivod but they don't exactly know the music. It's more of a specialized thing to like Voivod. It's still an underground phenomenon in a way."
Playing live was one part of the equation involved in getting one's music heard in lands foreign and afar, but the real shot at musical immortality in other countries lay in the much anticipated and desired Foreign Territory Release, a situation that would hopefully see an artist's recording distributed, marketed, and promoted in specific regions. However, this could be a precarious situation and certainly not as easy as it would seem, even for artists with "worldwide" deals. Harry Hess sheds some light on the fiscal realities of this from his own experience with Harem Scarem.
"On the first record we got Spain and Portugal, I think, outside of Canada. And that was it. So what would happen was we would make the record here domestically and then it was up to the international marketing manager here in Canada to solicit the finished record to the international counterparts. So they would hit up the international marketing managers in Spain and Japan. With a band like us coming out of Canada, and this is what I found later on in life [laughs], is that we were as seriously disadvantaged as any Canadian band signed to a major label in Canada would be moving forward, but you don't know that at the time ... because the international marketing manager, let's say in Spain or the UK, or Japan, would be looking at taking on bands and releasing them in their territories that have done really big numbers. Because as you know it's all about selling records and numbers. How can you do that in Canada, a territory where there are no people, comparing it to the States? So if the marketing manager in Spain was looking at taking on, let's say two or three international projects that they were going to work in their country, it was always going to be the American ones because they were supported by huge numbers. The resources behind the U.S. acts that were signed domestically in America ended up being the Poisons and Ratts... they all had numbers that totally crushed ours. So if in Canada you even said that you had a gold-certified album [50,000 units], well what is that compared to selling five million records in America? So you were behind the eight-ball with regard to getting any type of look from a lot of international territories other than the one that you were signed in.
"The guarantee [of release] was only for the territory you were physically signed in, which for us was Canada, obviously. So that was the challenge, and nobody really explained that to me when we signed the record deal. No matter who it is, you can really attribute the struggle of any Canadian major label artist to the sheer fact that if you're signed in Canada there is no incentive for the international counterparts to take on your records from a monetary perspective, because they take a discounted rate when they take on another territory's product. That alone is huge incentive for them to just work their own stuff. It's in their [the foreign territory's] best interest to work their own product that they signed and they have an investment in. So it always felt to me like there was an underlying nudge and a wink of, 'Oh yeah, we'll look at it and we'll see what we can do,' but the cycle of recording and releasing meant they wouldn't even hear our record sometimes until six months after it had already been released domestically. So really, the only way that a band could break from one territory to the next at that time was if you were doing huge, huge numbers in your own territory. And again, how can that be impressive if you're from Canada?"
So, with the cards stacked so high against you, what is the point of even trying to reach out to an international audience? It certainly isn't a wise move if you base your decision on numbers alone.
The difference here is the "business'' we are dealing with. We are not talking about widgets, we are talking about music, and music brings another dimension into play. The ability to reach out and communicate with a listener in a truly resonant way makes this business a special one, and the music industry is built on the leaps of faith taken by music executives who were touched by the seemingly intangible. It is so easy to forget that when you are studying the numbers. The connective strand of all those power chords, double-bass drum fills, and soaring vocals have moved people to believe that heavy rock music from Canada can succeed in foreign lands. Fortunately for Harem Scarem, someone believed that the music brought forth on their second record, Mood Swings, was strong enough to warrant a roll of the dice, and the gamble paid off.
"If you fast forward to our second record, a new guy took on the international marketing manager job at Warner Music Canada, and because it was his new position, he was like, 'Wow, I think I better do something.' So he started sending it out everywhere and trying to get international releases, and by our second record he could say, 'Well we did this in Canada, we had x amount of singles charting, we sold this amount of records, here's the new record. It's a little more heavy, a little more in keeping with what's happening at radio right now.' And Japan took interest in it.
"When Japan decided they liked that record, we were touring in Edmonton at the time and I got a fax from the label saying, 'Hey, got you released in Japan,' and we were like, 'Wow, that's amazing,' because we always looked at bands that were selling records internationally and we thought that was another level. Touring the world, selling records around the world, that's really, really cool... really nothing had happened at that point, but then then we just started getting all kinds of feedback from Japan and started doing interviews and literally got offered a publishing deal from a Japanese publisher. Things started to happen very, very quickly once Japan came on board because [they] controlled a lot of the stuff that happened in Southeast Asia. So if you got Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, all those other territories automatically released your record. So we went from getting three releases, including Canada, on our first record, to I think forty releases for Mood Swings, our second. It was pockets of Europe, but it was all Asia.
"On the back of Japan liking it and putting it out, we started selling a lot of records there... as Canada started to move in another direction musically, once Nevermind by Nirvana came out, we were dead in the water here as far as radio went, and even the label's interest in the band. Nobody really paid attention to what we were doing, or cared. We went through a bunch of A&R guys at the time. Fortunately, the guy who really signed us was Dave Tollington, the vice president... I had a direct rapport with the VP and we kind of just kept moving forward, you know? At the end of it all, we just finished our contract. We had a seven-album deal and we finished it. We sold well over a million records during our time with Warner, probably over half in Japan alone, and it was great. And it all started because that international marketing manager in Canada passed it along to Japan, and Japan happened to think that they could do something with it, and they did. If it weren't for that, we never would have gotten past that second record."
While Slik Toxik didn't duplicate the Canadian gold-certified success of their Doin' The Nasty album in the U.S., the band still managed to secure a major release south of the border through Capitol Records, which led to support slots with Faster Pussycat and Yngwie Malmsteen. These opportunities not only won fans for the band, they also gave a young and cocksure Nick Walsh the opportunity to show what he was made of musically with one of the world's greatest electric guitar players.
"It was funny because we were two or three days in and nobody had even gotten the opportunity to speak to Yngwie, because he was like the untouchable 'rising force.' [laughs] So the first day we played in Cincinnati, Ohio, with him and everybody just stayed away from him, but we made sure by the end of the day to find out what his favourite beverage was. Our road manager went out and bought a 40-ouncer of Absolut Lemon Citron just to sort of break the ice, you know? We gave that to him, and we heard he was appreciative, oooh.
"So a couple of days go by and we're in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We're at sound check and we all happen to arrive at the same time. We're in front of the stage while the Yngwie guys are getting ready to sound check. And my band was a bunch of chickens. They were afraid of this guy, everybody was all intimidated. And me, I'm like that little tiny Jack Russell terrier that doesn't care who he's barking at, you know what I mean? [laughs] So I go right up to the stage and I go, 'Yo, Yngwie.' And he goes, 'You talking to me?' And I said, 'Yeah, I'm talking to you, my name's Nick, I'm the singer of Slik Toxik.' And he goes, 'Oh, that Canadian band.' I go, 'Yeah, the Canadian band. Let me get up onstage and sing a song with you.' And he goes, 'You? Want to sing with me?' So I said, 'Sure, man, of course I do.' So he goes, 'Okay.' And everyone was shocked.
"So I get up on the stage and he says, 'You know any of my songs?' So I thought I'd pick a really hard one. I said, 'Does your band know 'You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget'?" He looks at the drummer, Bo, and tells him to count it in. They're playing and everybody's watching and they're going 'What's gonna happen here?' Well, as soon as I started singing right in Yngwie's face, this big smile came over his face and the next thing you know he's spinning his guitar around his neck, throwing picks out at the band and at the crew, and after that every day it seemed like we were probably one of the few bands ever to get along with Yngwie Malmsteen on tour [laughs]. But that was a pretty crazy tour. That guy is, or was, rather, quite manic, so to speak, with his substance use and just his personality at the time. I don't know what's going on with him these days, but I can say that it was quite a crazy time back in 1992!"
Walsh's recounting of this story has a lot more to do with confidence than cockiness. It is a confidence that is forged in the ability to succeed in a home country that is not the most user-friendly in terms of commercially breaking a young band. The hard work it took for Slik Toxik to succeed in Canada could have left them jaded, but instead it made them grateful for the opportunities to perform with artists they considered to be not only their current peers at the time, but also influences.
"We know that we live in a really big place with hardly anybody in it, and we had to be very good at our craft and what we did, so we weren't really out for competition as opposed to camaraderie when we were out on the road.
"We weren't one of those bands that was like, 'Hey, we're gonna blow away the headliner.' We're fans, man. We were fans of all the bands we ever had the opportunity to play with... I think being Canadian and fans at the same time probably did help, because like I said, we weren't out there to compete and be boisterous and all that stuff. We just knew what we had to do."
There is another component to the story of Canadian hard rock and heavy metal outside of our national border. It is the story of individuals or bands who took their shot at the dream by making a move to the U.S. to cultivate and develop their craft and their music. At the heart of this decision was the concept of perceived opportunity, with America being the neon sign glowing in the distance, the oasis in the desert of the frustration of their hopes and dreams. There was a "scene" happening in the mecca of American entertainment, Hollywood, built on the refinement, co-opting, and general "glamming up" of the hard and heavy music of the early eighties. The warm climate and allure of the Californian lifestyle that was the heart of the Sunset Strip in Hollywood was a magnet for hard rock musicians from all over the U.S. and Canada. New York also had a harder, tougher East Coast version of that scene. Toronto had a similarly inspired movement, an almost perfect blend of L.A.'s pomp and hair metal circumstance and New York's brash leather and FU attitude. These scenes were also mimicked in other major U.S. locales. Even Seattle, the city that would ultimately sound the death knell for the hair metal movement in the early nineties, had its share of flashy metal attitude. Early photos of Alice in Chains and Mother Love Bone (which featured members of Pearl Jam) betray glam metal roots.
Peterborough, Ontario, native Sebastian Bierk, better known to the world as Sebastian Bach, is perhaps the world's most genetically gifted hard rock singer, his golden locks seemingly untouched by time and a voice like manna from rock 'n roll heaven. His move from the Toronto scene to the U.S. to hook up with Detroit rockers Madam X ultimately led to his most famous position as lead vocalist for multimillion-selling rockers Skid Row, a band that topped the U.S. Billboard charts with its sophomore album Slave to the Grind and ultimately proved to be the act by which all other acts were measured in the commercial "last kick" of hard rock in the eighties.
I asked my good friend and noted heavy metal journalist Aaron Small to share a brief history of the man he considers to be "Canada's Metal Ambassador."
Although vocalist Sebastian Bach was born in Freeport, Bahamas, he was raised in Peterborough, Ontario, and cut his teeth in Toronto bands Winter Rose and Kid Wikkid. A prominent figure in the local scene, Baz (as he's nicknamed) gained worldwide notoriety when he relocated to New Jersey and joined Skid Row. Their self-titled debut was released in 1989 via Atlantic Records and spawned three hit singles: "Youth Gone Wild," "18 And Life," and "I Remember You." These were songs that fans the world over instantly identified with. The album has since been certified five times platinum in the United States, selling in excess of five million copies. The follow-up, Slave to the Grind, was released in 1991 and debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, spearheaded by much heavier songs including "Monkey Business" and the title track.
Sebastian's success was so great that he appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine later that year. As frontman for Skid Row, Bach led his group around the globe, touring with the likes of Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Aerosmith, and Guns N' Roses, in addition to countless headlining gigs of their own. Whether in Los Angeles, London, or Tokyo, Sebastian never forgot his Toronto roots and when the iconic Gasworks on Yonge Street was in danger of being shut down, Baz led a fundraiser to try to save the hallowed institution; sadly, it's no longer around. After one more Skid Row album, 1995's Subhuman Race, Sebastian would embark upon a solo career that saw him become a multi-faceted star. That instantly recognizable and absolutely unforgettable voice landed Baz on Broadway, with starring roles in Jekyll & Hyde and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The transition to television was seamless with a recurring role on the hit series Gilmore Girls as well as numerous appearances on MTV and VH1. A larger-than-life personality with a terrific stage presence, Sebastian Bach may live in the land of the Stars and Stripes, but he carries the Maple Leaf with him wherever he goes.
Add to that list musicians like Dream Theater vocalist James Labrie (a one-time member of Canadian band Winter Rose and for a spell lead vocalist of Coney Hatch), Canadian guitarists Phil X and Jason Hook, who have both made names for themselves in L.A.'s competitive session and live scene (Phil recently replaced a recuperating Richie Sambora for a tour with mega act Bon Jovi, while Hook is currently a member of Five Finger Death Punch, one of the most successful metal acts in recent history), Jason McMaster, Barrie native and lead vocalist with Bonham, Phil Naro of Talas and Peter Criss fame, and a host of others have found success by relocating to the U.S. and hooking up with big-name American bands.
As of this writing, Calgary-born and Toronto-raised guitarist Stacey Blades is the guitarist for multi-platinum U.S. rockers L.A. Guns. This was the band formed by guitarist Tracii Guns, initially the "Guns" in the first incarnation of a little band called Guns N' Roses. The obvious joke about Americans and their love of guns is the elephant in the room here, but in this case I guess we can switch out "Guns" with "Blades," and you can bring a knife to a gunfight! Anyway, prior to his stint with L.A. Guns, Blades' first U.S. musical adventure was with a Virgin Records act called Roxx Gang. So what prompted Blades to head down south in 1992, after a few years cutting his teeth in the Toronto scene of the late eighties/early nineties?
"Well, that year they [Roxx Gang] had an ad in Metal Edge magazine. Every month there was a new issue and I would always thumb through it. I was downtown at the time and I popped into a bookstore... and you know, I was a fan of the band. I had their first album, Things You've Never Done Before. They were looking for a guitar player and I'm like, I've gotta get this gig, this is right up my alley. At that time things were really dying in Toronto... I don't know why, but bands like Guns N' Roses or L.A. Guns or Roxx Gang or Faster Pussycat or Junkyard, they would never have gotten signed out of Canada. I don't know why the labels always played it safe and didn't really sign any edgy bands.
"There were so many artists that did have record deals in the late eighties and early nineties, but that didn't really even get pushed in the States, so unfortunately I looked at it as like, if I'm going to have a music career, like a real music career, I've got to move to America. And getting the Roxx Gang gig ... I responded to the ad, and I talked to their manager and sent them a whole bio and demo and all that stuff, and they called me like two days later. I flew down and nailed the audition and three weeks after that I was on a plane to Florida. In retrospect I'm glad that I did it because it put me on the map, but it was not a good situation. The first few years with the band were pretty cool and then it just kind of went to shit, and it just turned into kind of a nightmare. And then I moved to L.A. and got L.A. Guns, and that was, like, ten years ago. "
Being immersed in the American music scene, I wondered if Blades saw a difference in quality or a reason beyond the fiscal realities outlined by Harry Hess as to why Canadian hard rock and metal didn't break as big as it should have in the U.S.
"You look at Lee Aaron, for example. I was on YouTube the other day and stumbled on one of her old songs. What a great artist. She was Canada's Lita Ford, so to speak. Why wasn't she pushed in the States? She would have sold lots of records; she was a great artist with great songs. It's unfortunate that there are those types of situations, depending on the record deal you got up there [Canada], that really dictated not just how you were perceived in Canada, but were you even known about in the U.S.?"
The machinations of an artist's record deal could be such that forces within your own company could be at work against you. There might be another act on your label's roster that got the push you needed for a multitude of reasons that had nothing to do with the quality of your work.
"I think the last band from Canada to get signed that had some kind of push behind them [from the late eighties/early nineties] in the States was Brighton Rock. I remember they had a big record deal with WEA and I know they got a little push in the States. How well they did down here, I'm not sure. It was weird because all kinds of seventies and early eighties bands, they always got a push in the States, and then something happened from '87 on, and it was just like, 'You're not gonna get known in the States.' So it was frustrating as an up-and-coming musician to see that kind of a reality, and you either went with it or you didn't. You just sucked it up. For myself, I had grander dreams. I said, 'If I'm gonna have a career, I've gotta get out of Canada,' and that's unfortunate to admit because it is a great country."
It really is a numbers game, and obviously with more people to cater to in the U.S., the chance of finding an audience for your music increases. It is important to realize that talent and quality is not always reflected in the number of albums an act sells.
Blades: "So many great bands have come out of Canada. There's too many to mention and it's too bad that looking back, like I was talking about earlier, if the record industry was different — good is good whether it's pop or rock or heavy metal, you know? Good bands with good songs, good is good. Well, why weren't certain artists getting signed, or if they did get signed, why wasn't there just a massive power machine behind them? I think maybe a lot of people from that scene, eventually by '92 or '93, probably just gave up because it's like, this is just too hard. So whether that's a reflection on musicianship or attitudes, I guess maybe, but the cool thing about growing up in Canada is that there's just so many great bands. And yeah, I was into all the American bands as a kid, but if you grew up in Canada and you didn't like Rush there was something wrong with you [laughs]. It's a different staple, so to speak. Like yeah, you grew up on April Wine and Rush and Triumph as a rocker. Of course I listened to Aerosmith and Ozzy and Van Halen and Nazareth and Cheap Trick and The Cars and all that great stuff, but there's a certain little section reserved for you, a VIP section that you must listen to Max Webster and Rush and April Wine and all of those great bands from the seventies. So there's that little niche. It's like we're our own entity and we're our own society, so to speak, being Canadian."
Canadian guitarist Glen Drover, who has made his mark as a guitarist with Megadeth, King Diamond, and Testament, also took what he developed in Canada through his work with his band Eidolon and used that as his "in" to a wider audience.
"When me and Shawn [Drover, Glen's brother] were doing the Eidolon thing, in the early-early nineties, was when he was saying, 'You know, man, look at this band King Diamond' — we were big fans, you know, and the band had only been around for a few years with a string of great records. They kept on going through guitar players, so he said, 'Man, why don't you send a videotape of yourself? Let's film a video of you playing some songs and send it out.'
"At the time they were all based in Europe. That changed later, but they were all in Sweden or Denmark or whatever. So I got in contact with them and their booking agency and sent a videotape and got in contact with King and we hit it off. He liked my style and we became friends, and then an opening came up. That time when I got in with King Diamond was around the time when Eidolon signed to Metal Blade. So I was doing both at the same time, which was really exciting for me — for all of us, actually. And then once I was recommended for the Megadeth gig, it was people who knew the Eidolon stuff and the King Diamond stuff. When I talked to Dave Mustaine, he knew that I had some road experience; he is a Mercyful Fate fan and it kind of went from there. So it was kind of just meeting the right people — I can't really say networking because I was referred, it kind of came out of the blue... I consider myself lucky that I got it, because there's a lot of great musicians here. It's just like any job, I suppose. You just get hooked up with the right people at the right time."
Having worked with a number of successful international artists, does Glen feel there are discernable differences in attitude, character, and approach between Canadian musicians and their American and European counterparts?
"Nah, I don't think so. Not really the culture thing, not really. I mean, I've worked with people overseas as well as with certain people here in Canada, but more so, as you know, more European- and U.S.-based. People that I've dealt with, just thinking of a couple off the top of my head, there's a lot of similarities. Do you get along with somebody? Can you work and move forward and have that common goal and share a certain vision? The whole thing that makes a band work, you hope that you meet people that you can relate to personally and musically, and I've done that pretty much all over the place, so I don't really notice a huge difference. Or I've been lucky about that [laughs]."
Having been blessed in my own personal experiences working with some of the artists who were an influence on me, I couldn't help but inject my love of the music as a fan into my role as a performer and writer. I wondered if Glen felt the same way about he and his brother Shawn's role in Megadeth. Was the band's leader (and original guitarist for metal legends Metallica) Dave Mustaine at all influenced by Glen and Shawn's passion for Megadeth's music?
"Absolutely, are you kidding? Because it was supposed to only be a farewell tour... and it turned into, 'Nah, I'm not putting the band to bed yet.' And I think also too, we were kicking ass. As a unit we worked really well and the fans and the shows, it was definitely — I mean, every place we played man, it was just a lot of electricity. It was very exciting and we did really well on that first tour and I think it put him into a different mindframe, I think, to move forward and not necessarily let the band go. I think he was wanting to do something under his name, more like a solo thing, but we were really more interested in carrying on if it was Megadeth.
"Really, if you call it Dave Mustaine or Megadeth, it really doesn't make a difference in a way because that's him. He is Megadeth, as everybody knows. But being part of bringing the band back from the dead and making it really valid and working really well as a unit was what I'm most proud of. It was all for the right reasons and so we were genuinely excited. 'C'mon man, why don't we try this song from that album, remember that one?' It was just heavy excitement. It doesn't happen to many Canadians. There's not a lot of us who have wound up being in a band of this size and not only having that happen, but your brother's there too, and now half the band is Canadian. It's just not something that usually happens, so I was very proud and very happy I was a part of that."
As a musician and a Canadian, one of my proudest moments was performing with Helix at the 2009 Rocklahoma festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma. All of the bands were staying at the Hard Rock Hotel in Tulsa and every night of the festival would end up congregating in the hotel bar, swapping war stories from the road and their illustrious heavy metal pasts. Watching as members of Quiet Riot, Night Ranger, Ratt, Stryper and other major American bands not only recognized but acknowledged and paid respect to the role that Helix played in the eighties heavy metal saga was truly incredible. The night we performed, the bill was Hericane Alice, Helix, Warrant, Night Ranger, and Ratt. In the middle of the afternoon, in blistering 109-degree Fahrenheit temperatures, I'm proud to say we tore the stage apart (even if the heat almost killed lead vocalist Brian Vollmer!). One of my fondest memories is sitting in the crowd enjoying a beer with the Helix drummer at the time, Rob MacEachern, during Night Ranger's set and getting a shout-out from the stage for our performance, and remembering the faces in the crowd singing along during our performances to songs like "Rock You," the song that really kick-started my heavy metal journey. It was amazing to be amongst Canadians making a mark in the U.S., even if it was only for a few hours in the sweltering Tulsa heat.
Steve Shelski, Dave "Thumper" Ketchum, Andy Curran, and Carl Dixon in 1982.
Photo by Patrick Harbron
Carl Dixon of Coney Hatch in full rock-god mode, 1982.
Photo by Jim Prue
Kick Axe in an early live shot with original vocalist Gary Langen.
Photo by Dee Lippingwell
Kick Axe in full heavy metal regalia. Clockwise from left: Larry Gillstrom, Brian Gillstrom, George Criston, Victor Langen, Raymond Harvey.
Photo by Dee Lippingwell
Doug Weir and his band Syre, one of Canada's hardest-working road bands.
Courtesy of Doug Weir
Clockwise from left: Darrell Millar, Mike Hall, Ronald Mayer, and Russ Graham: The Killer Dwarfs.
Courtesy of russdwarf.com
Tapping into the U.S. market via MTV.
Courtesy of russdwarf.com
A White Wolf promo shot.
Courtesy of Don Wolf
Courtesy of Don Wolf
Glenn "Archie" Gamble and the band Vandyl worked the late-eighties Trans-Canada Highway cover band circuit. Gamble later joined Helix.
Nasty Klass was one of many Canadian bands that tried to break through by mixing originals and cover songs in Canada's numerous rock bars.
Members of Sword with legendary thrasher James Hetfield.
Courtesy of Rick Hughes
The late Paul Hackman, Daryl Gray, Brian Vollmer, Brent Doerner, and "Fritz" Hinz: Helix.
Courtesy the Helix archives
"Fritz" Hinz and Brent Doerner of Helix on tour with Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath.
Courtesy of Brent Doerner
Brian Vollmer sporting the leather look.
Photo by Dee Lippingwell
A high-flying eighties performance from Helix at the legendary El Mocambo club in Toronto.
Photo by Dee Lippingwell
Helix's masterful guitar duo tearing it up on the big stage: Brent Doerner and Paul Hackman.
Photo by Dee Lippingwell
Helix's main writing team of Brian Vollmer and Paul Hackman harmonize onstage.
Photo by Dee Lippingwell
Brent Doerner of Helix backstage in Kentucky with the eighties' most influential guitarist, Eddie Van Halen.
Courtesy of Brent Doerner
Who wouldn't want some White Wolf for Christmas?
Courtesy of Don Wolf
Drew Masters' M.E.A.T magazine helped popularize Canadian metal nationally and internationally.
Courtesy of Drew Masters
Nick Walsh hitting the notes in support of the Doin' the Nasty album.
Courtesy of Drew Masters
Sebastian Bach waved the flag for Canadian metal abroad through his success with chart-topping band Skid Row.
Courtesy of Drew Masters
Sacrifice in an early promotional shot for indie label Fringe.
Courtesy of Rob Urbinati
Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault, Michel "Away" Langevin, and Denis "Snake" Bélanger of Voivod.
Photo by Ron McGregor
Lee Aaron delivering one of her patented high-energy shows.
Headpins' Darby Mills shakin' it up.
Photo by Dee Lippingwell
Darby Mills striking a serious rock pose with the late Brian "Too Loud" McLeod.
Photo by Dee Lippingwell
Holly Woods from the band Toronto in a soulful performance.
Photo by Dee Lippingwell
Holly Woods under the stage lights.
Photo by Dee Lippingwell
Andy Frank in Sven Gali's pre–major label glam rock phase.
Courtesy of Robert Bursey
Clockwise from left: Kevin Gale, Neal Busby, Pat Howarth, Rob Bruce, and Nick Walsh: Slik Toxik.
Photo by Denise Grant
Gerry McGhee takin' the rock to the Rock in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, 1987.
Courtesy of Robert Bursey
Brighton Rock in 1988.
Courtesy of Gerry McGhee
A killer double bill in Newfoundland.
Courtesy of Robert Bursey
Ray Coburn, Dave Betts, Johnnie Dee, Derry Grehan, and Garry Lalonde of Honeymoon Suite bringing Canadian rock to American Bandstand.
Lips of Anvil wowing the new generation of headbangers.
Photo by Kevin Lamb
A recent promo shot of Canadian metal ex-pat Stacey Blades.
Photo by Arjen Van Eijmeren
The versatile Lee Aaron is still a vibrant stage presence.
Photo by Kevin Lamb
Voivod's Denis Belanger, still one of metal's most popular festival draws.
Photo by Shadowgate
Honeymoon Suite's Johnnie Dee.
Photo by Mitch Lafon
The late, great Dee Cernile, Dave Wanless, and Andy Frank at a Sven Gali reunion show.
Photo by Kevin Lamb
Sean Kelly commanding the stage with his band Crash Kelly.
Photo by Laurie Januska
Honeymoon Suite's Derry Grehan and Johnnie Dee in full flight.
LPhoto by Mitch Lafon
# Making the Scene
I moved to Toronto in 1991 to attend the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, but I have to admit, I had ulterior motives when making that scholastic choice. By the time I was fifteen, I had made a firm decision that a pursuit of the rock 'n roll dream was inevitable, and in fact, it was my destiny. Once that decision was made, I began plotting the ways in which I could make this dream a plausible reality ... or, in other words, I tried to figure out a way to get the hell out of my hometown.
As an avid collector and reader of Guitar World magazine, my eyes were constantly drawn to the flashy ads and countless articles touting the glory and glamour of Hollywood, and in particular the Sunset Strip scene. Having heard and romanticized the success stories of bands like Van Halen, Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe, W.A.S.P., and Ratt in the first half of the eighties, and bands like Poison, Warrant, Bullet Boys, and Bang Tango in the latter half, I obviously looked at Hollywood as my musical mecca (an ideal shared by countless other young musicians, many of whom would go on to prolific careers in the California service industry before succumbing to poverty, homesickness, drug addiction, or some combination thereof).
However, being a cautious young man instilled with a healthy fear of the aforementioned poverty and of bursting the dreams of my parents (I know, not very rock 'n roll), I wanted to find an educational facility that would help me to develop as a musician as well as make the much-needed contacts that would bring me closer to realizing my dream. For this to happen, I needed a big city with a music school and a music scene, and Los Angeles housed both. The famed Musicians Institute of Technology on Hollywood Boulevard was a stone's throw from the Strip and also was home to alumni and faculty, which included members of Mr. Big, David Lee Roth's band, and a number of shredders found in the pages of Guitar World. I was also inspired by a fantastic guitarist from North Bay named Paul Quenneville, who had made the journey and studied at GIT, had actually formed a band in Hollywood, and even opened for Lynch Mob! Paul had returned home from GIT and was working at Music City, the local music store. In my eyes, Paul was every bit the conquering hero, and I would hang around Music City for hours soaking up his incredible playing, which incorporated all the techniques he had acquired at GIT, as well as the genuine vibe of someone who had actually "done it." It was the final bit of inspiration I needed to inform my parents that I was moving to Los Angeles to go to GIT!
Of course, GIT came at a pretty steep tuition price (not to mention living expenses!), one that wouldn't necessarily be covered by my income garnered from cutting grass and digging the odd grave at the local cemetery, various bar gigs, and playing guitar in the Pro Cathedral of the Assumption choir. Factor in that I could not find any other musician friends willing to make the same plunge and the understandable reticence of my parents to fund such an endeavour, and I was left looking for other options.
My mother was adamant that all of her children receive a university education, and she was willing to help us make that happen at any cost (savings, the acquisition of student loans, etc.). Well, if university was going to get me to a big city which housed a music scene, perhaps this was something worth looking into!
After a crash course in classical guitar studies (thank you Brian McDowell for prepping an impatient young rocker in the ways of the nylon string!), I was prepared to do entrance auditions for various schools. I set my sights on the University of Ottawa, McGill in Montreal, and the University of Toronto (this was Brian's first choice for me, since he himself had studied with the great Eli Kassner and wished for me to do the same).
Now, in comparison to North Bay, all three of these cities were obviously much bigger, and all three definitely were home to healthy music scenes. But for a young rock devotee enamoured with big hair, loud guitars, and over-the-top anthems, Toronto stood head and shoulders above the pack. I knew this because of a Toronto-based publication distributed nationally through record chains, called M.E.A.T magazine (Metal Events Around Toronto). The editor-in-chief, Drew Masters, was a huge champion of the original music scene in Toronto (and ultimately nationally), and he had developed a slick, well-written, and highly inspiring magazine that spoke of local heroes as if they were already stars. It was in these pages that I was regaled with tales of the Yonge Strip scene, and venues like The Gasworks, Rock 'n Roll Heaven (a club in the basement of the The Hudson Bay Centre!), not to mention larger concert venues like RPM and The Spectrum.
Possibly symptomatic of our reliance on the American seal of approval as a culture, it took a nod from America to get M.E.A.T magazine up and running in Canada
"I initially went to the U.S. labels to get support for it because I wasn't getting anywhere with the Canadian record companies. [The U.S. labels] said you should go back to the Canadian guys and we'll put in a word for you. I took my own money and I went down to New York and L.A. and hung out with the guys at all the major and minor record labels of the day. They helped me get the buzz going back in Canada, and finally when I got started I got one ad from one label the first time, and then it took off."
Even though M.E.A.T started with a very grassroots approach, Masters had his sights on loftier goals. "It didn't start nationally. M.E.A.T started locally. Initially it was 20,000 copies in Toronto and then it grew to 35,000 in Southern Ontario, then it grew to 50,000 across Canada, and for a very short period of time I upped it to 100,000, but that wasn't feasible. But you know, at its peak it was 50,000 copies across Canada. It was available in Music World stores. HMV too, plus I had distribution in small independent record stores, clubs, pretty well anybody who had any connection with music."
In fact, it was in one of these small record chain stores, Records on Wheels on Main Street in North Bay, that I would pick up my monthly copy of M.E.A.T and read about all of these young musicians making a go of it not only in Toronto, but all across the country. M.E.A.T magazine really did bring the nation's hard rock and metal bands together and made it seem possible to break out of one's hometown scene. To me and many other musicians who wanted to write and perform original music on the domestic and world stage, M.E.A.T magazine was the inspiration to stop expending energies on covers of songs by our heroes and to start aiming at taking our rightful places on the world's stages and record store shelves right beside them.
"Up until then you were either a tribute band or a cover band and that was it. And you know, I understand that for a smaller community. I get that you're not expected to make it from like Val-d'Or, Quebec, or something, although that's really changed today with the Internet. You can be a good band in the middle of nowhere, put on something on YouTube, and people go 'wow.' If there's enough interest, then you'll get out there. But that didn't exist back then, you had printed press, that was basically it. [You had] The Power 30 or The Power Hour or whatever MuchMusic was doing at the time, and they barely ever played original [independent] bands' videos on there because of the production values, both visually and sound-wise, so the number one medium was print media. And for hard rock and metal, it was M.E.A.T."
Another thing that made M.E.A.T such a fascinating read was the fact that it really did make local stars out of bands that might not have had such a polished promotional outlet. Masters and M.E.A.T made it possible for bands like Attitude, Succsexx, Jack Damage, Thunder Circus, Nitemare, and a host of other Toronto bands to get credible ink in a magazine directly aimed at fans with a voracious appetite for anything that Drew gave a "horns up" to. One band in particular, Slash Puppet, seemed to have everything going for them. Their shows were literally packed to the rafters, they crafted excellent songs in the dirty street style of the late eighties/early nineties, they had the looks, the swagger ... but somehow the big record deal eluded them, despite securing the management services of SRO, the company that handles Rush. I remember people at the time saying the band was overhyped, but in my eyes they were every bit as deserving as any band who did secure a recording contract.
"Let's just say there was a YouTube back in the day, or the way things are now. I think Slash Puppet would have been monster huge. Monster huge. I think if they had been renamed and repackaged, they could have really been huge. I think they would have been a monster band up there like Killer Dwarfs and stuff, you know? For example, Helix and 'Rock You,' that level of success in the U.S., I think Slash Puppet could have had that with their stuff. I think Slik Toxik should have been bigger with 'Helluvatime.' It also was that these bands were coming off kind of the tail end of an era. We didn't realize at the time that it was; we thought the era was going to go on forever. But little did we know that, you know, there was going to be this big upheaval in music coming from Seattle. I mean, have you ever seen a music genre just dumped en masse by record labels like hard rock was in the mid-nineties?"
Alas, that is talk for another, less inspiring chapter.
It was through M.E.A.T magazine that I read about Slik Toxik signing their big U.S. record deal with Capitol. It was also in the pages of M.E.A.T where I first noticed that there was indeed a hierarchy of record deal types. According to Masters, not all animals were equal.
"Back when I did M.E.A.T nobody wanted the Canadian record deal, everyone wanted to get noticed in the States. If you got a U.S. record deal, that was the holy grail. If it was 'oh we signed to Attic,' it was like 'that's too bad.' I mean, really, it came down to that it almost felt like you were a second-class citizen of rock 'n roll if you got a Canadian record deal, which was really sad because they did have really good connections for distro and stuff. And it didn't hurt bands, it seems, in the seventies. It didn't hurt BTO or April Wine. Why was it not working for Anvil when they signed with Attic in the early eighties? Why didn't it work for other bands going forward from there that signed with the various Canadian labels at the time?"
This is a conundrum faced in all levels of Canadian art and media ... and certainly isn't one I am going to attempt to solve here. You could make a strong argument that Drew Masters did more than his share for pushing forward Canadian metal and hard rock in the late eighties and early nineties with M.E.A.T (a task he still undertakes to this day in the digital realm via the M.E.A.T magazine Facebook page).
"I think the most important thing that M.E.A.T did was open up the door for bands to be original in Canada and actually feel that they were going to get noticed and have a shot. I sent the magazine to every major and indie label, every major label in the States. We had a huge mailing list. And that was on my dime, my dime. I sent it by packing each mag in a brown envelope, doing all the stickers and the stamps and sending them out. I mean, I spent considerable money that I could have just pocketed because I put it out to everybody in the States and we did the conventions. We did the Foundations Forum conventions in both New York and Los Angeles. We were in the faces of the Americans. I think we were as important as Kerrang! was from England and Burrn! from Japan. You know, it meant something."
One of the bands that I was made familiar with thanks to M.E.A.T 's efforts was Winter Rose, which housed at one point not one but two of Canada's most successful musical exports, vocalists Sebastian Bach and James Labrie. Rob Laidlaw, currently bassist for Platinum Blonde, is a Toronto musician who has served in a number of bands from the eighties and early nineties. He was the bassist on Lee Aaron's Some Girls album, laid the bass down on Helix's It's a Business Doing Pleasure record, and also was a member of Gypsy Rose, a Toronto band that inked a deal with KISS icon Gene Simmons' humbly named Simmons Records. Just as a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, Laidlaw has continued to enjoy a busy career thanks to the training afforded him in Toronto's hard rock scene.
"Winter Rose played all the classic spots, Rock 'n Roll Heaven, The Gasworks, Larry's Hideaway, etc. Winter Rose never got a deal, although we had Atlantic Records come up to see us three times. In the end they poached our singers, Baz for Skid Row and James for Dream Theater, then we gave up. I met my wife at the legendary Rock 'n Roll Heaven (when my kids ask where I met Mom, I say Heaven). I have great memories of that time. It was a great scene with great players, lots of chicks, and many laughs."
Stacey Blades from L.A. Guns fondly remembers his days in the scene in Toronto that M.E.A.T helped foster.
"Yeah, it was really great. The one cool thing that I remember about the whole scene was that there were lots of great places to play, and I remember towards '89, '90, '91 it was really kind of peaking. I especially remember the summer of '91. It always seemed that Canada was just a little bit behind what was going on in the States, but I remember specifically that summer of '91. I had a band called Fraidy Cat, which was a really good band, and there were just so many other bands. I remember flyering for shows downtown on poles and construction boards for a show at Rock 'n Roll Heaven and maybe an hour later all the posters would be fucking covered up by competing bands! I remember Metal Edge magazine, which was the biggest hard rock magazine at that time of the eighties and early nineties doing a whole thing [on the Toronto Scene]. Gerri Miller [Metal Edge magazine editor] came down from L.A. and did this whole big article saying that Toronto was the next hard rock city, it was the next L.A., and we all thought, Okay, this is it, we're finally making some noise here. We're gonna get signed, Toronto is on the map now! I remember Sven Gali ... you could go to any club [they were playing] and the place would be just packed with chicks. They were rock stars to me, you know?"
Bars like The Gasworks, Rock 'n Roll Heaven, and Larry's Hideaway in Toronto, Hot Rocks in Brampton and Entex in Mississauga were places where the well-heeled (and high-heeled) rocker could go to "party on" in true Wayne's World fashion. Having arrived just at the tail end of the hair metal party in that summer of '91, I can attest to the fact that it really was a great time. From my first quart of Molson Export (thank you, fake ID!) to my first big city hair metal hookup (thank you, Sven Gali concert at RPM), Toronto at this time was really the stuff that hair metal dreams were made of. With two of the best hard rock clubs (Rock 'n Roll Heaven and The Gasworks) and two of the best strip clubs (The Brass Rail and The Zanzibar) located on Yonge Street, it truly was our version of the Sunset Strip.
In a beautifully written article that Drew Masters posted on the M.E.A.T magazine Facebook page, he perfectly summed up the look and feel of the Toronto scene in his description of Rock 'n Roll Heaven, which, along with The Gasworks, was really the spiritual home of the hair metal scene.
"Heaven," as it was simply known to its legions of loyal patrons, was more than just another rock club; it was "the" social hub for the ever-youthful rock/metal "nation" of Toronto and surrounding area to merge at on a weekly basis and become one in spirit.
With the ever-pounding, guitar-shredding, ear-piercing tones of the mid-eighties/early-nineties hair band music era as the lifestyle's soundtrack, spending time in Heaven — located in the basement of a commercial building at the busy northeast corner of Yonge and Bloor Streets — was both an aural and visual spectacle.
At times it was a challenge — especially to outsiders — to distinguish the girls from the boys, since it was virtually mandatory that all had to possess long (and longer!) hair that both reached for the sky and the floor simultaneously.
Even many of the era's glitzy fashion style choices, often referred to as "glam," were virtually interchangeable. Most memorably, Heaven's flamboyantly attired "styling and profiling" cast of regulars added to the venue's devilish charm and decadent character.
Yet Heaven wasn't always for the "posers"; it also catered, on several select evenings, to those into "speed/thrash" metal, bringing together the more simplified and straightforward denim-and-leather crowd for many memorable nights of beer-guzzling and headbanging.
Even those rock fans with no particular "scene" affiliation would at times dare venture into the club, for the enjoyment of the music/acts, to see what the buzz was all about, or to simply gawk in amazement at the decked-out patrons — especially the oh-so-sexy twenty-something girls, who often were dressed to impress in tight tops, micro-minis, sheer hosiery, and stiletto heels.
And when the era's most famous rock stars were in town, be they here on promotion, on off nights between tour dates, or after-concert performances, they too came to Heaven to "hang." Superstars such as Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee, Judas Priest's Rob Halford, Toronto's own homegrown sensation Sebastian Bach (then of Skid Row), and many, many others made the trek to Heaven, attracted by its aura and reputation.
And though it thrived (as all clubs essentially do) on its meat-market status, it survived and became legendary because of the music, always delivering the best of the best. Be it an emerging, up-and-coming international hard rock/metal act, a well-known legacy rock act still on the road (yet well past its prime), or a performance by a locally based act consisting of some of the club's peers dreaming and desiring to make it in the music industry, Heaven was Toronto's "must-do" venue above all others.
And despite its many technical inadequacies — the low ceiling height, below-average stage size, reduced sightlines, etc. — not once to my knowledge did anyone refuse to play the venue, since all acts, both local and international, were fully aware that Toronto's Rock 'n Roll Heaven was the place in the city, if not Canada, to play and be seen, no matter what the limitations. In fact, the limitations forced many acts to strip away the over-indulgent showbiz glitz of the era and just plain plug in, kick ass, and rock!
The careers of many Canadian musicians/acts, and the Canadian success of many international acts, were a direct result of how they won over, or lost, Heaven's overly judgmental "seen it all" crowd. Encores at Heaven weren't a given, they had to be earned.
Simply put, Heaven was one-of-a-kind: a much loved, all-genre rock/metal mega-club. In today's Toronto club scene, there is nothing else even remotely close to it. Perhaps there never will be again. It is fondly remembered, and sadly missed, by all who knew it as their second home.
Speaking of scenes, it always seemed to me that there was some contention between various subgenres of metal ... purveyors of hair metal would be called "posers" or "glam-fags" by the denim vest–wearing and high-top sneaker–sporting thrash set. Conversely, thrashers were sometimes seen as being a little lower on the evolutionary scale, with slights about hygiene and their lack of ability to draw women to their shows. But when it came right down to it, were they all that different? Was the teasing just good-natured fun, or was there a real sense of disdain between thrashers and glam metal guys? Not in the case of Voivod's Langevin.
"Coney Hatch came to where we came from, up north, a couple of times in the early eighties and the drummer, Dave Ketchum, was a huge influence on my style. I thought they were absolutely great live. Coney Hatch and Anvil, which also came to town, and Anvil had a huge influence on us as well. I watched the drummer, Robb Reiner, a lot and I learned a lot of tricks from him, just watching him. Incidentally, in 2010 we played the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany. We played with Anvil, and Lips still remembers us sitting front row — because they played for one week [in Jonquière] when they came, and we would be there the whole week, you know? And Lips still remembers us sitting there front row every night. I was always a fan of hard rock and to me hair metal was a continuation of a lot of the stuff I was listening to when I was younger, which was hard rock, Led Zeppelin and such. So I never really had any prejudice, and actually when we were touring in the eighties, every time we would stop in L.A. to play, afterwards we would go to the Sunset Strip because we also played The Whisky and The Roxy. I have really fond memories of those years for sure."
"There were a few musician friends of ours who were in the glam or hard rock scene," says Sacrifice's Rob Urbinati, "but I always got the impression that many of these bands looked down on us. Like the music we played wasn't valid or something. They were all shooting for the huge major label deal and although they were playing bars, they still had to carry themselves with that 'rock star' behaviour. The only redeeming thing for us now is that twenty-five years later, people are still buying our music, still inviting us to play festivals, and those bands for the most part didn't release anything and are forgotten. There was no competition — we were on two totally different sides of the fence. There was camaraderie with some of those bands, though, the ones that could appreciate what we were about or we could watch the guitarists shred and appreciate musicianship."
For the most part, bands of specific subgenres stuck together, playing on bills with other artists in a similar vein.
"We did a lot of early touring with Anvil, but they had been around for years before we burst on the scene," says Mike Campagnolo of Razor. "Also, bands like [Ottawa, Ontario's] Exciter and Voivod were amazing, and bands like Sacrifice and Slaughter did some memorable shows with us, at the defunct Larry's Hideaway in Toronto. Those bands were both awesome examples of the early thrash scene."
Another street in Toronto at the time was also burgeoning with original music. Queen Street was (and is) home to the famed Rivoli club, the Horseshoe Tavern, the Bamboo Club (now gone), and a number of other establishments that hosted music that was, to my mind, the polar opposite of hard rock and metal. It seemed like getting signed to a record deal was almost an afterthought to some of these bands ... they didn't dress like the type of rock star I wanted to nor did they sound it. Bands like Cowboy Junkies, Change of Heart, Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Leslie Spit Treeo, Blue Rodeo (who were already well established as Canada's most successful purveyors of alt-country), The Look People, and some band called Barenaked Ladies were rootsier, more down-home, less assuming looking ... it all just seemed a little plain to me. Of course, as I began to broaden my social horizons at the University of Toronto, I realized that some of my fellow music students were quite active in these "alternative" music scenes ... and they actually had pretty strong negative opinions about the kind of music I liked and the scene I was into. I believe the descriptive terms I heard most were "pedantic," "sexist," "juvenile," and "shitty."
Glen Milchem is a musician who has spent some time on both streets. He first came to my attention as the drummer with Andy Curran, who launched a successful Juno award-winning solo career after his stint with Coney Hatch. Milchem would later go on to join Blue Rodeo, playing a decidedly different type of music. Who better to perhaps illuminate the differences (perceived and actual) between the scenes on the two streets?
"I was parachuted into the early nineties metal scene in Toronto when I joined Andy Curran and Soho 69 in 1990. I'd met Andy the year before when we both played on Malcolm Burn's solo album, which was released on Anthem, the label which had signed Andy's previous band, Coney Hatch. He remembered me when starting his new project and asked me to come out and audition for the recording of Soho 69's first album, which was being produced by Kim Mitchell.
"Prior to that I had been touring and recording with T.O. singer/songwriter Andrew Cash and playing with various local Toronto bands. Though none of these were metal bands, I'd developed a taste for metal in the late nineties and was a big fan of bands like Motörhead, Metallica, Slayer, and Danzig. For me, it was a natural progression from my fondness for punk bands. Though Andy's music was more in the Aerosmith vein of poppier hard rock, the idea of playing something big, loud, and snotty appealed to me, and I needed a gig. I recorded the album with them and a short while later we started touring.
"The metal scene in Toronto at that time was vastly different from the Queen Street scene I was familiar with. In most Queen Street clubs, people tended to dress down. Roots music was fairly prevalent in the wake of Blue Rodeo's rise to national popularity, and not being flashy or pretentious was the norm. Grunge had yet to take hold in Toronto, so bands were for the most part relatively tame in terms of volume and heaviness. At Rock 'n Roll Heaven and The Gasworks, on the other hand, the epicentres of Toronto hair metal, people were fully decked out in leather, studs, hairspray, and makeup. Over-the-top bands like Slik Toxik were popular, and the clubs were rammed with people wanting to see, be seen, and get laid. The music was disposable but fun, which was exactly what the people who went to those clubs were looking for. Soho 69 mostly played Rock 'n Roll Heaven in Toronto, and it was always a big deal when we did.
"For me, playing with Andy Curran was an eye-opener because it was my first exposure to the whole hair metal milieu of groupies, strip joints, dive bars, and motels. I was already a dad with a five-year-old son and a seven-year-old stepson, and didn't really adapt well to the sleaze factor. Musically it was no problem, because I loved to play hard, loud, and fast (still do). But after a while I started to miss playing music that was a little more dynamic. After a year of touring I left the band. Shortly after that, Nirvana became huge, effectively killing off hair metal and driving the metal scene back underground.
"I went back to playing with Andrew Cash as well as other Queen Street bands like Groovy Religion and Change of Heart, two bands that could be pretty heavy in their own right. Shortly after that I got the gig with Blue Rodeo. In my spare time I've continued to play off and on with a variety of loud bands (e.g. Holy Fuck, my brother's band Starvin' Hungry, Big Sugar), and I still enjoy metal. Musically I'm an opportunivore, I love all flavours and styles."
The sleaze factor that Milchem talks about is an interesting one. In fact, it is what made the hard rock and metal scene tough to swallow for many people who might otherwise have really dug the music. Now, a true, dyed-in-the-wool rocker would probably just scoff at this, call the Queen Street scenesters a bunch of pussies, and get on with his partying. But I have to admit, I never really adapted well to that sleazy scene either. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of nights spent partying at strip joints and consuming whatever was going around, all in the name of rock 'n roll, but it was always secondary to the music, a complement to the energy of a night enjoying a live concert. But the more time I spent with people who were part of the Queen Street scene, the more I was able to see the absurdity of the behaviour of some of the people on the Yonge Street scene. In fact, it made me a little defensive because I really believed that a band like Slik Toxik had a lot more to say both lyrically and musically than some of the so-called music intelligentsia might give them credit for. In my eyes, what I saw in bands like Slik Toxik and Sven Gali was the musicianship, the struggle to get great and über-proficient at their craft, and the desire to entertain. But those qualities were blurred in the eyes of people who, fairly enough, only saw the abusive partying and rampant sexism that was inherently part of the scene that bred these bands. Nick Walsh and Slik Toxik lyricist Dave Mercel might have been warning people about cocaine abuse in a song like "White Lies, Black Truth," but I think a lot of people only saw the strippers in the video and the flowing hairdos. And just as I was enjoying the very peak of the Canadian hard rock scene in Toronto in 1991, my new acquaintances were introducing me to concepts that would make me question the moral and ethical validity of some of the excessive behaviour that had come before me in the scene, behaviour I had taken part in. I may have been looking California, but soon enough I was going to start to feel a bit Minnesota.
# Metal Queens: Canada's Female Hard Rock Presence
I've been wringing my hands over how to start this chapter. Part of me wants to completely deny the stereotypical role of the female in hard rock and metal in the eighties and early nineties. It's embarrassing to think back on how women have been portrayed in both musical and visual terms. Mötley Crüe put women into cages with torches in their "Looks That Kill" video, forced into subjugation at the hands of their captors (subjugation in this case being the wail of pointy B.C. Rich Guitars, Vince Neil's banshee vocals, and Tommy Lee's monster double bass kit). Germany's Scorpions were notorious for their warped sexuality (album titles like Virgin Killer didn't help, and who can forget their suggestion that hungry bitches should be fed with the band's collective "inches" in "Rock You Like a Hurricane"). W.A.S.P. songs like "On Your Knees," "Sex Drive," and "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" were raw, graphic, hyper-sexualized anthems aimed squarely at the raging hormones of the fourteen-year-old male consumer. Whitesnake was gonna "slide it in, right to the top"... and they weren't ever gonna stop. And as for the fabled backstage activities of hard rock and metal bands, all one has to do is read The Dirt, Mötley Crüe's autobiographical tale of (amongst other things) sexual depravity in the guise of rock 'n roll hijinks.
But as a kid, and really for the most part as an adult, all of this overblown sex stuff didn't really faze me ... well, it probably messed up my perception of proper male-female relationships in a very subliminal yet scarring way. But aside from that, I don't think I ever gave a rat's ass what Ratt was singing about — the words just didn't matter that much to me. I was more into the sound of the words, the rhythmic thrust of the syllables and the attack of the consonants. Still, when you actually read these lyrics out loud (as my mother made me do to her just prior to one of our "record smashing" sessions, an event that occurred quite often during the heady days of the PMRC, an American censorship group founded by bored Washington Wives, who made it their mission to save the youth of America from Satan, Tits, and Ass), you can't argue with how vile, sexist, and offensive they can be.
Don't get me wrong here. I fully embrace that rock 'n roll is largely governed by sexuality (the term itself was fifties slang for the act of doin' the nasty). It is a sexual music, but somewhere within the eighties heavy metal paradigm, things got confused. This was not the free love of the Woodstock sixties, and it went beyond the narcissistic mutual sexual exploration of the disco seventies. Sexuality in hard rock and heavy metal seemed to be about power. Men were in control of what seemed from the outside to be a very one-sided sexual power play. It seemed that women were quite content to sprawl over sports cars in videos as they performed scantily clad interpretive dance moves for the lion-maned paramours in the band. The message was pretty clear. The boys played in the band, and the girls played with the band, if they were chosen to do so.
Canadian bands didn't seem to flaunt this kind of perspective as loudly as their American counterparts. I mean, Helix did like to have "uncensored" versions of some of the videos for the songs "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin"' and "Rock You" with scantily clad women in various states of undress. And you might catch a Brighton Rock video with a few groupies milling around the band... but overt sexism wasn't really at play in the Canadian scene.
For me, my first connection with women in hard rock was through female-fronted acts. In my earliest musical memories, it was through the work of Vancouver's Headpins (fronted by vocal powerhouse Darby Mills) and the band Toronto, led by vocalist Anne "Holly" Woods and guitarist Sheron Alton. Later on, after already establishing a career in Europe, Lee Aaron became the first name in female Canadian heavy metal.
I'd be lying if I said that the fact that these were beautiful women playing my favourite type of music was lost on me... I was well aware of the power and magnetism of the looks that went with the hooks. But their sexuality wasn't the be-all and end-all for me and the string of gold and platinum records accrued by these acts is testament to the fact that at the end of the day, gender doesn't have any bearing on the quality of the music.
Still, knowing the political climate of the eighties and nineties with regards to gender equality, one has to wonder if being a female musician brought its own unique set of challenges, considering the "Old Boy's Club" mentality that dominated the music industry at that time. I also wanted to know what the similarities and differences were in the pursuit of the rock 'n roll dream when it came to gender.
Being a hard rock pioneer in Canada meant that there wasn't a template in front of you. Was there something about heavy rock that drew in these artists, or were they simply taking the opportunity afforded them to get out and perform?
"No, I never really set out to be in a hard rock band at all," says Lee Aaron. "My background is musical theatre, and I spent most of my years as a youth singing old Broadway standards, Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, the Tin Pan Alley repertoire. I was spotted singing in a production and asked to audition for a local rock band when I was barely fifteen years old. I was asked to join the band 'Lee Aaron' and the next thing I knew I was singing Led Zeppelin ... not that that's a bad thing."
Did Lee experience or notice a difference in the treatment of female hard rock musicians, or a different reaction from audiences due to gender?
"Absolutely. Back then, many male musicians and industry types just dismissed input from a girl. It was a foreign concept in the alpha-male world of hard rock. I had to fight for every scrap of respect in some instances. If you were attractive, it was almost harder, because that era in particular objectified women to the max. Everyone wanted to exploit beauty from a marketing perspective, but when it eclipsed the songwriting and the performance, I found it very difficult. Then you've established an idol-worship scenario with your audience and that is not sustainable. In fact, it's pretty lonely at times, because you cannot possibly live up to people's expectations."
As I was coming up in the clubs, I would sometimes hear disparaging comments from jealous male musicians about successful female musicians, and how they managed to "secure" some of their professional opportunities. My ears told me that this was bullshit, but I always wondered whether the road to rock 'n roll fulfillment was markedly different for a female musician. The public is always hungry for something new and different, so was there a novelty factor attached to these pioneering hard rockers? Was it easier or harder to establish a career in Canada?
"Easier, in that I was one of the first women playing a more aggressive style of rock in Canada, so it merited much attention. It was easy to get noticed. Harder, because Canadian radio wouldn't touch my first four albums, I couldn't get a decent opening slot, and many people thought I was a novelty act. I spent a lot of time touring Europe. That said, I did have a few great supporters in the beginning like Keith Sharp (Music Express), Daniel Richler, and J.D. Roberts from MuchMusic's program The New Music."
Europe proved to be very receptive to Canadian female hard rock artists. Classic Rock magazine's specialty offshoot AOR magazine had Aaron, Woods, and Mills listed in their Top 50 Female Vocalists of all time, with Mills and Woods both finishing in the Top 10. Aaron had her first taste of big time success overseas. Like so many other Canadian artists before, Lee had to go elsewhere to find validation and success as an artist before being accepted as a star in Canada.
Kinda makes you wonder ... was Europe more open to the concept of a female performing hard rock and heavy metal music?
"Yes, I was a breakout star in Europe long before Canada. I had sold over 100,000 records on a small indie label out of Belgium called Roadrunner. I remember returning after touring Europe with Bon Jovi, where I was playing soft-seaters, topping music magazine polls, and being courted by Virgin Records — to driving across Canada with my Attic Records promo rep almost begging stations to play the new album, and they just weren't interested. In Europe I was made to feel like a great rock artist who happened to be female. In Canada, I was a cute chick singing rock. People didn't even realize I wrote my own songs."
For Darby Mills, the European exposure that the Headpins received did not betray any sort of prejudice against women — in fact, they were welcomed as a support act by one of the most overtly macho bands of the era, England's Whitesnake. Her experience touring abroad ranks as a career highlight.
"In the mid-eighties when the Headpins went overseas, it appeared the audiences were rock 'n roll crazy ... I got the feeling they were just about to explode. Jon Lord, Cozy Powell, John Sykes, and of course, David Coverdale ... the Hammersmith Odeon, the beer, the shopping, the beer, the guards at the airport with the automatic rifles. I was twenty- three years old, what a rush!"
For her part, Holly Woods did not notice any perceivable difference in her career struggles. "Nope, I have personally never noticed any different treatment from anyone because of my gender. My tour experiences are different, of course, but only because I may get a bit lonely being the only 'girl' [laughs]. I have always said that Canadian musicians work harder for everything. They also never forget where they came from, no matter how high their star rises."
With all the good humour honed from years on the road with the rock 'n roll boys club, Mills offers this perspective.
"Do I think it made it easier to reach career pursuits? If landing a man was your objective, yes! [laughs] I think at that time in the music industry, women were mostly novelties, at least on the rock/metal end of it. Here's the thing, though... I didn't and don't think of the Headpins as metal. I thought of us as rock, just rock! We were all, no matter what genre, in the same pursuit for air time, so call it what you will as long as it gets played. Back then, you had to have a hook, something to set you apart! As long as someone else had already done it and it was a success [laughs]. I [as a female musician] was partly the hook, as were Ab and Brian because they were from two bands at the same time, even though we were not allowed to mention that at first. They were still under contract with Chilliwack."
For Aaron, inspiration came from a band fronted by two American sisters from Seattle who forged their first successes in Vancouver, a British rock band who threw caution to the wind in its musical diversity, and a jazz singer whose influence would be more readily heard later in Lee's career.
"Heart ... I got the Dreamboat Annie album when it came out in 1976 and spent the next fifteen years trying to be half as cool as Ann and Nancy Wilson. Led Zeppelin. They fused metal and folk and blues together into something absolutely transcendent. Nina Simone. She had such a unique gift on piano and singing. No one sounds like her."
Taking inspiration from Tina Turner, Janis Joplin, and Heart, Darby Mills had a deliciously raunchy vocal style that fit perfectly with the roaring guitar riffs of Chilliwack guitarist Brian "Too Loud" McLeod, who discovered Darby after her stints fronting the bands Business Before Pleasure and Steelback.
"I jumped at the opportunity that the Headpins offered me. It gave me the opportunity to work live shows and go on tour. There was no one but male musicians then, and for every guy that had an attitude [about female musicians] there was another one that really liked you [laughs]. For the most part live audiences saw that I was not playing around! I worked hard, very hard on stage. I was committed to the show, and I was as badass as any of the boys... or at least that's the persona that I think I gave off. Reminding the crew and management that I was not one of the guys was futile. I had to change in the toilet all the time. 'An extra change room? What for!' was the attitude."
It should be noted that Too Loud also discovered Canadian belter Chrissie Steele in the Vancouver bar scene at the dawn of the nineties, choosing her first as a replacement for Mills in a new version of the Headpins but ultimately helping her land a deal as a solo artist, due to his fight with cancer, which tragically claimed the Canadian guitar hero's life on April 25, 1992. Her debut album, Magnet to Steele, was released on the Chrysalis label and yielded the hit "I'm Gonna Love Ya Till it Hurts."
Did these female artists ever feel pressure from their management, record labels, or bandmates to conform to an image that they did not feel comfortable with?
"Yes, there were times I felt a lot of pressure from the industry to conform to a certain image, but I did it my way anyway," says Holly Woods.
Aaron also felt the strain and conflict of image pressures.
"Yes. It was an ongoing battle, yet on an emotional level I felt I had to give some merit to the fact that perhaps I couldn't see myself, image-wise, objectively. Red spandex shorts, however, were definitely a mistake I'd like to live down."
While Mills didn't feel external pressure, she does look back with some levity on some of her wardrobe choices.
"Ha-ha ... no, that is the one thing they left me to fuck up all on my own! I look back on some of the stuff I wore and think, Oh my God, what were you thinking? But it was the eighties. What were any of us thinking?"
There are some well-documented early marketing choices involving one of these artists in particular and a certain men's magazine that would make for more titillating reading ... but I can't bring myself to bring it up here, even with the research right in front of me. It quite simply is too easy to define these artists out of the context of their true talent. The difference between crass sexual exploitation and the very pure transfer of sexual identity is marked and crucial to uphold, and these artists transcended the slights and challenges of negative perception by demonstrating undeniable talent and rocking as hard or harder than the boys.
# The Peaks: Grabbing Rock 'n Roll's Brass Ring
"I'm going to make it!" is a very simple sentence but a very complex statement. I think that musicians have been striving to get to "it" for a long time, and I am not sure you can ever truly get there. If I've learned anything in my own journey as a musician, it is that a huge part of the rush of pursuing the rock 'n roll dream is found in the striving — the carrot of accomplishment of an objective or goal that is dangled in front of us. What is wonderful about the life of a musician is that our ambitions are not blind, but rather they are in the name of something we truly love: our art and our music. When you take into consideration the struggles and hardships of most musicians who choose this career path, it is pretty hard to deny that it is done for any reason than love and passion.
But that is not to say there is not incredible satisfaction in achieving the markers of success that can be found (albeit not by many) along the journey. The first record deal, the first sold-out club show, the first packed stadium performance, or that first gold or platinum album, the first piece of free gear from an endorsement ... this is the stuff dreams are made of, those moments that shock and electrify the system. But the moments are fleeting, and anyone who has known success as a musician knows that we are sharks in the water. We need to keep moving to stay alive.
These artists are my heroes. I looked up to them and spent a fair amount of time wondering how it must have felt to achieve the levels of success they did. I wanted to feel how they felt in front of that arena crowd or when they were receiving those gold and platinum awards. What are the moments that stand out in the memory of these artists? What are the absolute highlights of a life dedicated to rock?
Lee Aaron: "Getting my first gold record award in Canada meant something. Having [Rush manager] Ray Danniels call to thank me personally for creating a hard rock category at the Junos so Rush finally received one ... that meant more than actually winning a Juno. Playing a concert on Mt. Kitzeinhorn in the Austrian Alps was mind-blowing to me when I was twenty-three. I realize that some of these things are more special memories than highlights. I don't really equate them with effort."
Andy Frank, Sven Gali: "Sven Gali won Heavy Metal Video of the Year at the MuchMusic awards in 1992. That year we had two Juno nominations, we did a live concert for MuchMusic on a mountain at Whistler, festivals with Def Leppard that summer. Speaking very personally, I don't remember ever kind of sitting down and taking stock. I just kind of moved on."
Doug Weir, Syre: "For me I think it was the first time I heard one of our songs on the radio. We were driving down the [Highway] 401 together on the way to a gig. It felt great."
Russ Dwarf, Killer Dwarfs: "I think for me it was doing the song 'It Doesn't Matter' [from the Dirty Weapons album]. Actually recording that song was just one of those magical days. We did a couple of records with [renowned producer] Andy Johns. The whole experience of working with him on those records was awesome because we grew up listening to all the records that he and his brother [Glyn Johns] did. The guys played so amazing on that record and everybody worked really hard. I've always said that doing records is like a postcard. It's just incredible that we had that kind of experience, and I knew that at the time, too. I just thought you might as well go completely nuts because this may never happen again. For God's sake, we had [Rolling Stones pianist] Nicky Hopkins play on that record!"
Gerry McGhee, Brighton Rock: "I guess getting our first gold record. That was cool. We were doing a show at Canada's Wonderland [a popular Ontario amusement park], we were headlining, and we toured our backs off on Take a Deep Breath. We were really burned by the end of that tour. Some places we did three shows in a day and we did everything to push that thing through gold. It went gold and then it climbed real close to platinum too and that was the accumulation of probably five years of non-stop living, breathing, and eating the band and the songs. I mean, we were more married to each other than we were to our spouses at that point because we spent so much time together, so much in the planning and we really were, you know, like brothers. That was probably the peak of everything, where we felt like we began to conquer the world. It was our first step up. We felt good about our songs on the record, we felt good about the fact that it was selling and people seemed to like what we were doing, which was always the biggest buzz. I think we were almost like a gang at that point. It was really the five of us and our crew and we were just kicking ass and taking names later."
Harry Hess, Harem Scarem: "The sheer shock of showing up in Japan and playing a 2,000-seater, and it was jam-packed, like you could not fit another person in there. It was just mind-boggling, travelling across the world, coming out of your dressing room, getting onstage, and looking down and it's full of Japanese people and they're singing along to every song. And you're like 'What the hell is going on?' It was just bizarre. I would say that was the most crazy, fun thing that ever happened to us and I think I speak for everybody in the band because we kind of looked at each other as it was happening in the first song and we were like, 'What the fuck is this?' We had no idea, did not know what to expect. That was a pretty big highlight."
Lips, Anvil: "How about performing for 80,000 people with AC/DC at Magnetic Hill in Moncton, New Brunswick? The biggest show I've ever done in my life. Imagine you've been making your whole career work from outside your country, and then you end up doing the biggest show in your life in Canada? It's like, huh? [laughs] That's a real special one."
Nick Walsh, Slik Toxik: "I don't have any one defining moment, as there were so many childhood goals and dreams fulfilled. I guess when getting some of your childhood heroes coming out to see you perform and then hang with you after as an equal would be considered a career highlight."
Carl Dixon, Coney Hatch: "In general, the Iron Maiden tour represented a high water mark for us in terms of feeling like we belonged there. We were on MTV with our videos and we were on a happening tour and we were making friends with the big guys that we were on tour with, and really learning the ropes of what a band has to do. That meant a lot, that was a confidence that has stayed with me ever since."
Victor Langen, Kick Axe: "Kick Axe went coast-to-coast in the U.S. as opening act several times in succession promoting the Vices album. We toured with Judas Priest, Scorpions, Quiet Riot, Ratt, Whitesnake, and Night Ranger. The biggest highlight was having all of Judas Priest come out to see us play after their show at the Calgary Saddledome and having Rob Halford come into our dressing room afterwards to tell us that Great White was fired from the tour and that Kick Axe would now be taking over [the support slot] starting in Madison Square Garden in New York City!"
Daryl Gray, Helix: "One highlight definitely was playing the Spectrum in Philadelphia with Aerosmith. Another was playing the Capital Center in Washington with Rush. We got an encore, and Rush let us take it. Playing the CNE with Scorpions to 26,000 people was definitely a blast."
Michel "Away" Langevin, Voivod: "I think the tour with Rush in 1990. 'Astronomy Domine' was playing a lot on MTV and MuchMusic and here in Quebec on MusiquePlus, and we were asked by Rush to do the eastern leg of their tour in 1990. They were a huge influence on Voivod, and of course Neil Peart was also writing sci-fi concepts, and I really was influenced by him and his drumming as well. They were super nice and super classy people and we were a bit speechless when we met them. A meeting was arranged at the last show by our respective managements, and we didn't say much [laughs]. We were very silent because it was Rush, you know? But they were really nice. Good souvenir."
Derry Grehan, Honeymoon Suite: "One of the highlights would be headlining Maple Leaf Gardens [in Toronto]. And when we used to play Kingswood Music Theatre, that was a fantastic gig because it was the middle of summer — we were on top of the world. We'd go up there and play for two nights. And of course, the first gold record ... that, I still have on my wall. I mean, you're saying 'Wow, we sold fifty thousand records?' And that's nothing in the States, but at that time that was a big accomplishment, so the first one that you get is always kind of the coolest one. We won a Juno, one Juno, but that was still a big deal. Stuff like that you remember forever. And in the States, just being out there touring and playing these huge hockey arenas, where the Red Wings would play the Flyers. All these teams have been playing in these buildings and now you're playing there."
Brian Vollmer, Helix: "I remember on a tour with Triumph jogging around the top of the Montreal Forum, one of hockey's greatest shrines. And playing Maple Leaf Gardens with Kim Mitchell. I remember walking out onstage thinking all the time I was kid that I wanted to play here ... but not in a band, as a hockey player [laughs]."
Sean Kilbride, Haywire: "The one highlight that always sticks out for me was our first big headlining show at the Ontario Place Forum, the home of the revolving stage. We had opened up for Cats Can Fly there a year earlier, but this time it was ours. I was worried. Could we cut it in the big city? Well, we sure did. It was a magical summer night and I couldn't believe that 6,000 people showed up."
Mike Campagnolo, Razor: "For me it was riding the buzz in the early years and watching all your hard work grow into opening for Motörhead, Slayer, and Venom. Every time you hit the stage and hear the roar of approval from die-hard fans, and to still do it years later and get the same rush you felt twenty years earlier all over again, that does it for me."
Rob Urbinati, Sacrifice: "Touring Canada with Razor, playing the No Speed Limit festival in Montreal, finally playing Europe in 2011, all our studio experiences, playing in Japan in 2012 ... but the biggest thing for me was probably our reunion show at the Opera House in Toronto in 2006. We didn't know what to expect after so much time away, but it was an incredible show."
Holly Woods, Toronto: "When I received the All Star Band Techniques Award for best female vocalist in 1982. It was a fan vote-in so it meant the world to me and still does."
For every brief moment of glory and acclaim, there are countless hours of sweat and sacrifice that went into making them happen. The dreams that these musicians chased often came at the expense of comfort and close relationships, even relationships with their own families. I know when I look back on my choices in this pursuit, I mourn for many of those missed summers at the family cottage, the family reunions and birthday parties that I wasn't there for ... I missed out on a lot of wonderful memories. But in reality, it's not only that I wouldn't change a thing, I really couldn't have changed a thing. My drive to make music and chase that rush and those fleeting moments really never felt like a choice. It is a vocation, and even in the times when logic tried to pull me out of this career, passion ended up pulling me right back in.
Is the hard work and sacrifice that goes into making a successful career ultimately worth the moments of glory? And were these artists even conscious of the fact they were enjoying the peaks of their popularity as they were experiencing them?
Sean Kilbride, Haywire: "When you're at Budokan in Tokyo and standing on the same stage where Bob Dylan and Cheap Trick recorded live albums, how can you not believe that the work and sacrifice has been worth it? Regretfully, I think back from time to time and realize that I should have lived in the moment more than I did. When we do gigs now, I make sure that I'm paying complete attention to what a privilege it is to still be doing this."
Derry Grehan, Honeymoon Suite: "Hell, yeah, it sure was worth it ... are you kidding me? I mean, you have to remember where you're coming from. Do you want to go back to the bars? No. You're like twenty-four, twenty-five years old, you're not getting any younger. This is your shot and you really may only ever get one, so don't blow it. Yeah, we did enjoy our success ... even with all the work, we were having such a good time, just taking it all in. You have to remember it was the early eighties, and it was a party, you know?"
Daryl Gray, Helix: "Music is what I've always wanted to do, from my earliest memories. The travelling has always been something I've wanted to do, I've been a globetrotter from when I was born... I love entertaining people so it's always been my goal to do this and to continue to do this as long as humanly possible, so any of the hardships, well, yeah, there's been times when we toured Europe, with Ian Gillan in 1990, and Gillan's pulling up in these two nice big tour buses and we've got like eight guys sleeping in a van with all the gear. I had my spot picked out on the floor. The band has had gold and platinum albums in Canada at this point and been nominated for Juno Awards and here we are, we're still sleeping on the floor in a van because it's something that we needed to do. Did we take time to enjoy our success? It went by very fast. Those heyday years, from maybe '84 to '90–'91 were just a blur because we always were doing something."
Carl Dixon, Coney Hatch: "I don't know if you look at it that way. I think that you're either a lifer or not. What the highlights do is represent a milestone on the road to propel you on to the next thing a little more happily, with a little more juice."
Lips, Anvil: "I would say that [the highlights] were satisfying enough. Quite frankly, if it ended tomorrow I'd think I've gotten everything I've ever wanted out of it ... I have [enjoyed the successes], but it hasn't been easy. There have been people around me that made me feel not good, or tried to make the good feelings not as good as they were ... but I managed to fight through the negativity to enjoy it."
Harry Hess, Harem Scarem: "For me, the real payoff was finishing records. It was writing songs, finishing records. We ended up putting out thirty-six or thirty-eight pieces, and that includes B-sides and singles and all that stuff, so really the satisfaction for me personally was writing songs and being in the studio, because I had my own studio and I was building it up at the time. It was always the focus for me and really why I was doing this. I like being onstage and I like playing but I hated the travel, I hated the wasted time, and it was never something that I overly looked forward to. I looked forward to travelling to other countries I had never been to before and it was almost like 'I'm being paid for this vacation and I'm going to get onstage and play for a bunch of people that really want to see this, and I'm playing my songs,' so it wasn't the same motivation I think a lot of other bands have. For me it was almost like a crazy-weird vacation where music was intertwined with the whole reason I was there, but I just liked making records and writing songs and the rest had to happen because it just had to happen."
Gerry McGhee, Brighton Rock: "Yeah, it was a buzz. I think what made it so much fun was the fact that we were so tight. We really felt like nobody could be replaced at that point in time. During the high times, man, they were pretty special."
Russ Dwarf, Killer Dwarfs: "The bottom line is that you do it because you love music, man. If you're lucky enough to have all that other crap come along, bonus. That's the gravy and everything. How many people are sitting in their basements with the wickedest song that we'll never hear? I'm sure there's a million. We were the lucky ones, man. I'm grateful for my whole career, for whatever has happened to me, completely grateful."
Doug Weir, Syre: "Yes, the whole experience was fantastic. In hindsight I wouldn't give up anything, even the starvation. I might change the odd mistake we made. Absolutely [we enjoyed it], it was like being in a movie. Everything was bigger and crazier than it could have been in the regular world."
Rob Urbinati, Sacrifice: "There are so many memories, great, good, and bad, but we didn't really consider it hard work even though it was... we always loved to write, rehearse, record, and play live. I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything. Not many bands get to experience what we have, and Sacrifice has never even tasted fortune and fame."
Mike Campagnolo, Razor: "Was it worth it? Ask me when I get offstage next time, you'll get a big thumbs up from me every time!"
Mike Hall, Killer Dwarfs: "Personally, I had a series of small goals I wanted to accomplish with the band. Write good songs, play good gigs, get a big record deal, make records, make videos, meet girls, party all around the world, hang out with cool rock star dudes, and tour the Earth .... and last but not least, maybe make some money at it! We all wished we sold more records, got more airplay, got bigger tours, had a better business plan. But seriously, it was a great time and we had it going on for real! I have no regrets, it was a helluva ride!"
It is pretty remarkable how few musicians I talked to counted financial and material gain as part of their "success." I mean, what other profession puts so much emphasis on the experiences it provides and so little on the remuneration? And isn't that when life is at its most fulfilling? When the task at hand is its own reward? Then again, it doesn't hurt when the industry is throwing massive dollars at you to fuel these experiences (even if not much of it is going in your pocket) and keep them growing bigger and wilder than you could have thought possible.
Yes, when you are the darling of the biz and the kids are gobbling up your records and T-shirts en masse, and your band is managing to fill the seats of the local arena or theatre, it feels like it will never end. And yet this business is a cyclical one. The beginning of the nineties saw metal reaching its commercial apex. It was the soundtrack of youth, the perfect musical complement to sex, drugs, pizza, and whatever the hell else the kids were getting up to. But when that cycle came around for the next big sound, it was stunning to see how quickly and harshly the tables could turn for our hard rock and heavy metal heroes. To paraphrase April Wine's Myles Goodwyn, you have to wonder if anyone ever told the boys (and girls) that rock 'n roll was a vicious game.
# The Valleys: The Gods' Descent
At the dawn of the nineties, I truly felt on top of the world. I had moved to Canada's biggest city to pursue my rock 'n roll dream. I was studying classical guitar at a prestigious school. I had managed to find some good-looking, long-haired rock 'n rollers to form a band. We were playing the major venues in town, and we had even managed to secure a manager and have a member of a famous rock band (Jamie Stewart from The Cult) produce our demo. Sure, metal and hard rock as I had known it was changing... it was evolving. Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction had started an international trend away from the ultra-refined hair metal sounds and looks of the Sunset Strip. Music was getting tougher, leaner, more street. In my eyes, this was reflected in the music I was hearing from Slik Toxik, Sven Gali, Slash Puppet, and Killer Dwarfs. They were making music that to my ears reflected these principles and they were out there killing it in on the Toronto scene. The fact that bands like Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone, and Alice in Chains were coming out with a thematically and musically darker version of hard rock and metal was not something that scared me in the least... in fact, I was embracing these Seattle sounds, along with the sounds of bands like L.A.'s Jane's Addiction, as the next wave of the music I loved, not the death knell for the music I believed in and cherished. However, if I am being honest, there was one band that both thrilled me and terrified me. That band was Nirvana.
Nirvana, not unlike Elvis or The Beatles, is one of those bands that most people remember hearing for the first time. They remember the time, the place, and how the music made them feel. I'm no different.
I was at the Faculty of Music at the university when the lead singer of my band Obscured slipped the headphones of his portable CD player onto my ears. It was then that I first heard the famous intro to "Smells Like Teen Spirit," that clean four-chord guitar figure not unlike something you might hear on a Boston record on FM radio, but so, so different. When Grohl launched into his kick and flammed snare intro to the song's crushingly heavy full-band entry, I was not only floored, but I also felt something very strange. It was doubt, and doubt that oddly manifested itself in the realization that the cowboy boots I was wearing, boots that I had so lovingly adorned with dressings and buckles, were no longer cool. The bandana that I had so carefully learned to wrap around my head so that my curly long locks would spill out was soon going to be a target of derision. It was upon hearing this amazing piece of music that I realized other people around me were already changing their look and their attitude. I was late to this party. And I don't think I was welcome anyway.
Of course, as the nineties progressed, I found myself very lost... clubs like Rock 'n Roll Heaven and The Gasworks were closing down, bands that I admired like Slik Toxik and Sven Gali were being panned not only for attempts at change but for ever existing in the first place. I personally spent a lot of time trying hard to find my way in a very new reality, one in which my hopes and dreams were lame and unsure. With Nirvana came a great cleansing of the sins of overindulgence, stupidity, and rampant sexism that unfortunately informed a lot of heavy metal and hard rock. On a musical level, grunge also levelled the boom on the heavier, more virtuosic forms of heavy music like thrash. Technical proficiency on an instrument was deemed to be baroque and wasteful, and in much the same way that punk music came along to kill the progressive rock "dinosaurs," so too did it feel like grunge was doing the same with my beloved heavy metal. And I was pissed. Here, I had just begun my musical journey, finally learning the ropes in the clubs, getting my look and sound together... and it all seemed to be going away. My band eventually broke up and I stumbled my way through Toronto's music scene like a stranger in a strange land.
Now, if I felt that way as someone who had yet to achieve a recording contract, had my videos on heavy rotation on MuchMusic, or been on a major tour, how did it feel for the people who had reached some level of success?
Nick Walsh, Slik Toxik: "It was brutal, actually. I mean, to go from thinking that you had a career to wondering how you're even going to present yourself... it was a very, very confusing time. It was one of those things where you just felt like a dog kicked to the curb. And you know, in all facets. It wasn't just like, 'Okay, we're not with this label anymore but our team still believes in us.' It was like we had a manager who was more obviously interested in advance monies and flavours of the week rather than in creating careers. It's like the same old thing, once you do something once and you know how to do it then that becomes the focus. So getting a band and getting a record deal and a big lump sum of money seemed to be the focus from our team at that point. And we, again, being one of the bands that helped them learn the ropes, were sort of cast aside for other possibilities of do-re-me."
Helix experienced a loss that far outweighed any decline in the band's popularity or fortunes. Earlier in this book we heard of the potential dangers of a band touring the rugged terrain of Canada. For most, this is an experience fraught with danger, but one that is ultimately successful and free of tragedy. In a story taken from the Planet Helix website, Brian Vollmer describes the band's darkest day, July 5th, 1992. This was the day Helix lost guitarist and songwriter Paul Hackman.
"The last day of the tour was in Vancouver, British Columbia. The band had the choice of spending $120 for a flight home or riding home in the van for three days. Paul chose to ride in the van and Daryl went along as well because he was taking care of our road management at the time and had paperwork to do. After the show those who were flying went back to the hotel to party and the van left for the U.S. border, since it was a much shorter trip to drive through the States.
"When they arrived at the border U.S. immigration wouldn't let them cross because they didn't have a carnet for the gear, so they were forced to turn around and drive through Canada. About 7:00 a.m., when they were around 60 miles outside of Kamloops, the driver fell asleep and the van left the road, plunging 40 feet down an embankment. The van rolled several times and everyone except Daryl, who was in the passenger seat, was thrown from the van. Daryl told me that when he awoke he was upside down and had to undo his seat belt to get out. He was bleeding badly from numerous cuts he had endured but he managed to crawl up the side of the hill to the main highway.
"All of the guys were lying around on the ground. Some were unconscious, and Paul was moaning and complaining that his chest hurt. Daryl went up to the highway and many cars passed him before a doctor and his wife finally stopped and phoned for an ambulance. Paul died en route to the hospital, probably from internal injuries.
"Back at the hotel in Vancouver, I had gotten up and gone to a writer's place to check out his studio. When I returned, everyone was crying. I immediately knew something was wrong when I walked into the lobby. When they told me Paul was dead, I just couldn't believe it. Of all the people that I knew I thought Paul would live to be a hundred. By that night we were back home and the news was on the radio and TV everywhere. My phone was ringing off the hook but I just ignored it. The next days were spent being hounded by the press. I never knew that they could be so intrusive and rude.
"Hackman was a main component of the songwriting process in Helix, and his tragic end meant not only the loss of a dear friend, but of a powerful musical force. This loss, coupled with the changing tides of taste in the music industry, signalled an accelerated descent into dark days for Helix, and in turn a blow to their identity as a band, and as individuals."
Vollmer goes on to describe the aftermath: "Well you know, aside from Paul dying, which was obviously the lowest of the low, when you're in the public eye and everybody wants to be your friend and then suddenly nobody wants to be your friend — plus, we were going through, as men, mid-life crises. We had all these women, we had all this fucking stuff and then all of a sudden we got into our late thirties or late forties and music was changing, the phone wasn't ringing, and I think that is very hard for a lot of artists to take. Let's face it, we've all got big egos. If you can survive that, it's probably the true test of an artist, that and longevity. Each time you go through a wave of that there's more people who drop out."
At one point you, Vollmer, had gone from an arena-headlining artist to working at a convenience store in your hometown in order to make the rent. Did you look at that as something to be ashamed of?
"Well, it wasn't necessarily something to be ashamed of, but it wasn't anything to be proud of either [laughs]. I've never understood the mentality of people who are proud of being poor. I definitely wasn't proud of being poor. I think I was definitely afraid I was going to die like that, which was a terrible feeling that made me depressed. It probably fortified my faith as a Christian."
An obvious signifier of the decline of popularity of hard rock and metal during this time was the lack of video play the bands were receiving. It was becoming harder and harder to find these acts on TV. I asked former MuchMusic VJ and music programmer Craig Halket if there was a calculated decision to move away from playing heavy metal and hard rock videos in the early to mid-nineties, and if so, what were the determining factors in this decision?
"I think there were a number of factors. One of them was that ratings had started to drop. I think that was more an overall thing. Trends were already starting to change in the early nineties away from people watching music on TV as much as they used to. Certainly there wasn't the Internet, which hadn't really exploded at that point, but viewership numbers were down. When grunge exploded, there was a lot of crossover there, like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden; some would call them hard rock/metal bands but because they were from Seattle, they became grunge bands. Those bands became more mainstream, but they had started on The Power Hour. We were playing Alice in Chains and Soundgarden in the early days and they became more mainstream. So when that happened, there was less requirement for a niche program, and that's when it went from The Power Hour to The Power 30, and there weren't as many great videos. Certainly a lot of [metal] bands had been around for a long time. There were still those bands, but there was a lot of sameness developing in the early nineties. You know, if you had long hair and you happened to spend some time on the Sunset Strip, it became a little bit clichéd."
Aside from the fall from financial grace and the loss of the adulation and adoration of an adoring fanbase whose tastes have changed, there are other emotional and psychological factors that come from having to face the reality that the endeavour you have poured your heart and soul into is no longer working. When there were bills to pay and mouths to be fed, the deep sense of camaraderie forged by years of digging in the heavy metal trenches was put to a test that sometimes cannot be withstood.
Brighton Rocks' Gerry McGhee elaborates. "I mean, the reality that it's coming to an end is hard. At that point I think we'd probably been together eight or nine years. Around '91 we did Love Machine. I think we got together in '83 because I got married in '84. Actually, I got married on the Saturday, and the Monday we were playing in Montreal. I didn't get a honeymoon, but I mean, that was the way it was, that was the way Brighton did things... I think it may have been a little easier for me because I was the only guy in the band who was married and had kids, so when I used to come off tour, you know, I didn't get the luxury of going to the strip clubs like the rest of the guys, I got put into reality — the garbage needs taking out. A mortgage, you know? Feeding kids. So I always felt I was pretty well grounded, but it was tough when you live and breathe and eat something like that for that amount of time and then all of a sudden you aren't there anymore.
"I guess I would compare it with what an athlete must feel like when he finally retires. When you go through all that stuff and you know your career is over and you are used to the training camps, the playing, flying with the guys, dinner with the guys, sleeping in the dorms with the guys, and then it's done and you are out of the public eye as well. You're not in that arena with TV interviews, radio interviews, the shows, it's all kind of gone and it's a bit of a withdrawal. That's mainly why, after that, I mean, I did spend some time in L.A. after I'd left. I was only thirty years old, but I just said I'm done. I'm officially calling it quits. And I didn't do any more recording, I didn't do any more writing, I just basically closed that chapter of my life and said okay, what am I going to do now? And I'd like to stay in the music industry. Fortunately, I did find my way back in to another end of it. When you've done something for so long and basically been on the road since you were, like, fifteen years old... it was almost half my life and then you come down and say okay, so what do I do to earn a living?"
When the audiences dissipate and the records are no longer selling, there is still one revenue stream that exists beyond a band's commercial peak, provided said band had enough hits that have reached the "classic rock" level of consistent radio airplay. And if you were lucky enough to be one of the writers of the hits, the royalties accrued through music publishing could be enough to sustain the writer through lean times.
Fortunately for Derry Grehan, he was one of those writers and was able to continue to make a living as a musician without having to take another job.
"There's definitely been some valleys over the twenty-five or thirty years, there's been some ups and downs and some really lean times, as you know, being a musician, especially in Canada... being a songwriter, the blessing is the royalties, even though they would be not as much in some periods as they are in others, but I can say, 'Thank God for SOCAN [The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, which distributes royalties],' you know? Those things keep you going in real lean times, but we would always try to play a few gigs, even at the lowest point, so I tried not to have to just give it all up and go get a day job. I did anything I could to stay in the music."
For Rick Hughes of Sword, the change from rocking arenas with Bon Jovi to being shoved away into the rock's proverbial "Where Are They Now" files to make way for the new grunge movement was swift and vicious.
"It was like a bushfire, it was finished. No more hair metal, no more heavy metal, no more rock metal ... it was grunge. And the thing is that if you had been a metal player and a metal singer then you could not fake it, even if you tried putting on a different shirt. We were so used to going onstage [with the] rock star attitude and pushing it, and then it all became anti-rock star. Some people tried at the time, I remember. They went from hair metal to grunge, and they changed their clothes but people went 'Nah, I'm not buying it ... you're not gloom, I can feel it, there is happiness in you.' [laughs]"
The hair, makeup, and clothes sported by many hard rock and metal bands seemed to be the focus of a large part of the ridicule hurled at these bands by the rising "anti-rock-star elite." It seemed that the larger-than-life aspects of the heavy metal wardrobe and performance ethic were under attack by a new aesthetic that spat in the flashy faces of eighties-influenced hard rockers. But hey, is laughing at the fashion sense of what came before you really anything new? Did rockers not mercilessly heckle the fashion choices of the disco-loving Studio 54 set? Perhaps it's harder to take when the jokes are coming at your expense, and the jokes came fast and furious to those who had dared to walk as one of the big-haired lipstick-and-leather pack at some point in their careers.
Walsh: "When I was growing up — I've got two brothers ten years older than me, so in the seventies I was, as a kid the same age as my son, six or seven years old, listening to groups like KISS, BTO, Nazareth, Aerosmith, Queen, Alice Cooper, and the list goes on. I was hearing this because it was what my brothers were listening to. That was the seventies and they all wore tight jeans with bell bottoms and, you know, moustaches and long hair [laughs]. That whole bit. And then the eighties came and with the excess that was going on, and I guess the advent of technology and Silicon Valley and all that stuff, then you had bands like Van Halen coming out, all these bands that were a little less dark. They weren't influenced by, let's say, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, like the Iron Maidens and stuff, which I might add adopted a little bit of that glam look with some of the T-shirts and sweatbands and spandex they wore, but with that excess all of a sudden came guys like David Lee Roth who were more flamboyant. It's kind of like the 'ginos' and 'ginas' in high school with the giant cobra hairdos who drove the Camaro IROCs. When they look back at their school pictures they have a laugh now, too.
"But the thing about grunge coming in was it was the era of the 'anti-rock star.' So if you had hair that was as high as the ceiling, it would now be as low as the ground. It was the complete opposite. And with that came also not just the image but even the music, where it wasn't cool to be able to play anymore. I remember seeing the band Nitro with Jim Gillette and Michael Angelo Batio, these great musicians, technically amazing, but the most over-the-top dress and hair and everything as well. But that was the era, it was flamboyant and part of showmanship. When I go to the circus, I don't want to see the ringleader standing there in a checkered lumber coat going, 'Hey welcome to the show.' And I'm like, 'When did they pull Joe Blow out of the audience and give him the opportunity to be the emcee of the night?' You know what I mean? We're going to see a show. These people are there to entertain us, whether it be with dress, lights, smoke, action, whatever."
One of the Canadian bands that took a lot of flak for a perceived change in their musical approach in the face of the grunge movement was Sven Gali. Their 1995 album In Wire was recorded in Seattle by producer Kelly Gray, who had just produced the multi-platinum debut from Candlebox, the archetypal example of "commercial grunge."
Andy Frank: "Yeah. In Wire was in lots of ways very different. Somewhere between our first record and In Wire it was like the whole music industry flipped on its head. Nirvana and Pearl Jam broke and then there was a huge backlash against eighties rock music, and we were at the end of that wave. So part of that was that we also listened to music and our musical tastes had changed. The actual music that went into In Wire was a very natural, organic writing and recording process. It wasn't a grunge record at all ... it was just a very pure creative process, really."
Nick Walsh remembers that, amongst certain members of the rock community back in Toronto, Sven Gali's decision to go to Seattle and record with a "grunge" producer was seen in a different light.
"When Sven Gali did that second record, they went to Seattle and recorded with Kelly Gray. They were in Seattle, dude. That was the mecca of the music that killed it for everybody, and they went and did their record there. I mean, for some at that time, they considered Sven Gali traitors!"
But Walsh had been there, too, and is quick to sympathize with the plight of a band that, after making a successful debut album doing the type of music the members loved, now found itself faced with a shift in music industry and popular taste. And herein lies a question: When is a change in direction considered growth, and when is it considered bandwagon-jumping? It seems that the labels sometimes added to the artistic confusion faced by these artists.
"When you're in an industry that's dog-eat-dog and you're striving to survive and make a career out of it and people are telling you what to do, sometimes it gets really confusing, you know? And it's always the band's second album, because when your band signs a deal you think 'This is great, this label believes in us, they believe in our music, our look, our attitude, our live show. They're signing us for us, this is fantastic.' You put out the first record, then the second record comes along and now they're telling you what you need to do in order to stay on their label, basically. I remember when we were doing our second record with EMI before we left the label and we were doing demos and stuff. They were telling me, 'Don't scream anymore, that's not happening. Rock screams aren't happening anymore.' The key words were, 'Try to be more organic.' And I'm like, 'We're not Nine Inch Nails! We use real guitars and my voice, how much more organic can you be?' Like, what are you talking about, more organic? Do you mean, dress like Blind Melon and don't bathe for two weeks? Is that more organic? Don't use deodorant? What do you mean? But that was what they were telling us. And meanwhile, at the time they're telling me not to scream, but then you've got a guy like Chris Cornell screaming 'Jesus Christ Pose' and 'Outshined' and stuff. It's like, how much are you really focusing on this music?"
An event that has been widely acknowledged in the Canadian industry as a metaphor for the changing of the musical guard in the early nineties is the infamous "crashed limo incident" at the 1994 Juno Awards. The incident involved Slik Toxik bassist Pat Howarth and has long been a source of laughs and bad jokes at the expense of Slik Toxik as a band and metal as a genre. Here, Nick Walsh offers a first-hand account of what really happened that night.
"We were working with [producer] Glen Robinson and things seemed to be going rather well, but unfortunately at that time, our bass player, Pat, was going through some — I guess you could call it a depression — he had a disability that everyone was pretty much unaware of at the time, because you know when you're partying all the time and self-medicating with alcohol and legal narcotics and so forth, you know it's really, really easy to mask what's really going on. Unfortunately, he was going through something and he was taking a certain kind of medication that didn't really — what's the word, the cocktail of the medication and alcohol didn't really sit well and he wasn't himself.
"He happened to get walked out to a limousine that unfortunately was running. All the limousines outside of this big Capitol-EMI Juno party were running, much like tour buses. So you know, we had already taken out our guitar player, Rob, who had said, 'I've had too much to drink, I don't want to make an ass out of myself. I'm going to go into limo and just sleep this off until it's time to go.'
"So next on the list was Pat. We walked him out and thought everything was going to be okay. Five or ten minutes later I got a tap on my shoulder. Somebody who worked at the place asked me if I was the singer of Slik Toxik. And here I am, thinking, Hey dude, you want my autograph? [laughs] He says, 'The two gentlemen that you just walked out to the car? Well, they've just written it off up the street.' And that was the beginning of the end, so to speak. Again, the odd part about this story is, first of all, here's a guy going through some personal troubles. Nobody's concerned about that. Everybody's more concerned with the negative press it's gonna bring. And let's sweep it under the carpet. If this was the U.S., they would have made sure we had a single to release a week later and that everybody and their mother put us on the front page of the magazines [laughs]. You know, that would have made the front page of next week's Rolling Stone, but in Canada where everybody is, as you said before, a little bit more humble and reserved, they just want to sweep that under the carpet.
"The unfortunate part is that it was a guy who had some problems and people mistook it as one of those sort of rock 'n roll rebel stories, which it totally is not. And then, me, being the frontman of the band, everybody pictures me in the driver's seat. I wasn't even there, you know? I was actually sitting down with Kim Mitchell and the guys from [hip-hop group] Dream Warriors, ready to have my first beverage of the evening [laughs]. That's how that turned out."
Daryl Gray, like many musicians, took the changes in stride and found positives in the change as well, a chance to perform for a more intimate audience.
"I think we all missed playing the big sheds but none of us could say that we hadn't missed playing the bars either, because I think that any musician will tell you that playing in a packed bar can be way more fun than playing in a packed arena. It's just a perception difference, like in the packed bar everybody is so close that you can see the sweat dripping off the ends of their noses."
Derry Grehan: "It's tough, because you have this immense popularity and then it starts to wane, as it does with everybody, and man, it's a short ride. It's like going to Six Flags Park and you get on this amazing roller coaster ride, but it's over too fast and you just want it to last forever, but it doesn't."
I can't really say that the nineties were all awful for me. In that decade I ultimately did get to have my first experiences with recording with signed acts and established artists and touring. But I wasn't me. I would lie in interviews, and when the hipster weekly art rags would interview one of my bands, I would make fun of the very people who influenced me. I cut my hair, wore the ridiculous fucking polyester shirts that every dumb-ass modern rock band of the mid- to late-nineties wore (we all looked like bad rock versions of the cast of Swingers). I had to fight my every instinct as a player just to land gigs. In the end, this probably forced me into being versatile, which has served me well as musician over the years. But I wasn't happy. I wasn't me. I fell into the trap that so many artists fall into, chasing trends, chasing new acts to play with that didn't really move me. The dream started to work against me, and I started to forget why I got into music in the first place.
But here's the thing ... at the end of the day, no matter what the situation, the truth comes out. You have to face what you are and who you are. Every musician in this world has a genetic imprint that becomes apparent when they sing or play their instrument. When that is coupled with the real inspirations of their youth, magic can happen. Otherwise you're just faking it.
Fortunately for me, and the fans and artists of the heavy metal genre, burgeoning technological advances (while admittedly killing big parts of the recording industry and the highway to rock 'n roll as we knew it) brought those factions driven underground together in a way that breathed new life into the music that rocked us so hard in the eighties and early nineties.
# Hard Rock of Ages: Standing the Test of Time
I both love and hate the Internet. I love it as a communication tool, but I hate the word. I guess this is just part of my ancient way of viewing the world, but it really bothers me that so much of the way we reach out these days is intangible. In a world of MP3s, emails, and Facebook, I'm a straight-up vinyl, phone calls, and (real) face time-loving Luddite. The word Internet just sucks me out of my stylized comfort zone, kinda like looking at an album cover on an iPad when you really want to feel the cardboard jacket under your fingertips. When I think about most of the messed-up shit or disagreements that I have been involved with in the last decade, it usually started with a bunch of Internet cyber ga-ga ... problems that just don't seem to happen when you communicate eyeball-to-eyeball. We all know how illegal downloading has drastically altered the face of the music industry, and a lot of great music people (good friends of mine, in fact) have been seriously hurt by the changes over the last twelve years or so. Certainly, the traditional way for an artist to make dreams come true has changed in turn.
And yet, the fact of the matter is that the Internet has saved my favourite type of music. That's right, the Internet SAVED HEAVY METAL!
Okay, that statement could be construed as overly dramatic, and really, the statement could be applied to any type of music that has fallen out of favour. The Internet really lays out a musical smorgasbord that is open for everyone to sample from a wide variety of fare (and steal it easily), and really, this has made the modern listener immune to the consultation of marketing pressure and contrived trends from the big record labels (at least for the most part ... God love 'em, they are still trying). Now the pressure and contrivance comes from the people themselves, man, the new gatekeepers we call bloggers, the self-appointed experts of the best way to spend your time surfing. Anyone passionate enough about a subject can reach out and grab ya via our wonderful wireless world of connectivity.
Through my musically shame-ridden late nineties, as I'd come home from a particularly uninspiring rehearsal or gig (okay, they weren't all bad, I played with some great musicians), I would comfort myself by holing up in the secrecy of my apartment and trolling for info on my favourite bands of yesteryear. It was like a warm blanket, a comfort to go digging and find old magazine ads, promo shots, and articles from back in the day. Many of the sites I would go to were fan-based, and there were forums where people posted their memories, thoughts, and opinions, as well as links to other materials. I started to realize that there were communities forming, and that I really wasn't alone in my desire for the sounds and looks of the eighties-inspired bands. I was also amazed at how many never gave up and were still forging musical pathways that the mainstream music press was not alerting the public to.
The Internet's provision of mutually beneficial access has also been a major part of the revitalization of this music. Just as it has allowed bands to find and target the demographics that may have once seemed lost to them, it has also allowed the fans to reach out and express what the music has meant to them over the years.
Says Gerry McGhee, "The Internet is an amazing thing. I remember there was a video up (on YouTube) for 'Still the One' and it was used with all these pictures behind [a lyric video]. One of the lyrics was wrong so I emailed and said 'Hey, by the way that lyric's wrong' and the person who put it up came back and said 'I can't believe it's you, I'll fix it right away!' After a little chatting back and forth I asked where she was, and she said Mexico City. You know, we never played there, and when you see [old videos on YouTube] it's like that's why all that kind of stuff still sells today out of here, because it's opened up [by the Internet]. We didn't really care if the Canadian music industry recognized us as long as the people did, and when somebody says 'Hey man, I remember driving around town listening to Young, Wild and Free in my '72 Monte Carlo, cranking it up,' that's the people who I'm impressed with."
This "by the people, for the people"-fuelled resurgence in the popularity of metal and hard rock does beg a question in this closing chapter. After all those early years vying for the attention of the record labels, did the bands feel that they ever truly established any sort of legacy or respect from the Canadian music industry machine?
Don Wolf, who went on to re-form and secure White Wolf a new record deal and a European tour in the mid-2000s while also continuing his musical journey through vocal coaching, writing, and producing for other artists, had this to say about the industry's perceptions of White Wolf's contributions to the Canadian music landscape.
"Not sure if it was really given the chance here in Canada, and we seemed to have a bigger following in the U.S. than in Canada... I think we were part of the beginnings of a metal revolution in Canada with bands like Kick Axe, Helix, and other bands of those days, but were never really recognized here for that — oh well!"
Russ Dwarf says, "I don't think so, really. I think we've always been the underdogs. We get overlooked a lot, but c'est la vie. The industry is one thing, but the people that actually listen to the songs, that's the real thing. And I don't know, it's always been our lot in life in Canada for some reason, but I don't let it upset me. I'm a total patriot, I love Canada and I'm a Canadian through and through."
With a gig singing with Canadian legends Moxy, a new acoustic album in the can, and a new Russ Dwarf electric album to be produced by legendary producer Andy Johns forthcoming, Russ is still very active in music. His Killer Dwarfs comrade Darrell Millar is also forging a new path to success with his band Automan, where he moves out from behind the kit to be the frontman.
"We had a Juno nomination, video awards, and a gold record. I mean, it reflected what we did," says Sven Gali's Andy Frank. "The more interesting part for me is that we played a couple of gigs in the last few years. Everyone is old and shitty and all that, but on the other hand the thing is to remember the fun times and the gigs in 1990, '91, '92. It really was a part of that time for people who were of the right age in Canada. It was way cooler to me to know that we were in this thing, and as a band we were very close to our audience. We lived with them, we partied with them every day, so we actually have a lot of friends from that time. To know twenty-five years later that the songs and gigs that you played are really good, positive memories for a lot of people in Canada is way cooler to me, to know that you've made a tiny little impact creatively on people in the early nineties."
"I will tell you the first answer that came to my mind," says Carl Dixon. "My answer is no, but I feel like we're a part of the Canadian rock audience's history. Coney Hatch has not been measured, quantified, awarded, or nominated for a single award in the Canadian industry where the money guys are. But where the listeners are, we have been recognized."
Having had the pleasure of working with Carl in both full band formats and as an acoustic duo, I can say with absolute certainty that this is a man who thrives off the pure energy of human interaction. Dixon's post-Coney Hatch years saw him playing numerous roles as a professional musician. He had notable stints as a guitarist/keyboardist with Canadian legend April Wine prior to landing a prestigious gig as the lead vocalist for The Guess Who, filling the role left vacant by one of Canada's greatest musical exports, Burton Cummings. It was during his stint with The Guess Who that I first met Carl. A booking agent by the name of Ken Sherwood had witnessed my band Crash Kelly playing somewhere, and he thought we would be a good fit for a support slot on a Carl Dixon solo gig. At that point, which would have been mid-2000s, I would have been afraid to look like a geek by gushing to Carl how much I loved Coney Hatch, but naturally I was eager to make an impression on someone I admired. Fortunately, we made a good impression on Carl's daughter Carlin, and there was talk of Carl and I doing some work together ... this was thrilling stuff.
On April 14, 2008, Carl was involved in a serious automobile accident in Australia while working with his daughter Lauren on a TV show called The Saddle Club. Carl was in an induced coma for days as his body healed from the severe trauma. He was told that it was his healthy lifestyle and peak physical condition that saw him survive the crash. Of course, there is a lot more to that story, but it is one that Carl will tell in his own book, in his own words.
I will say that the first time I saw him after the accident was two years later. I had just returned from a South American tour with Nelly Furtado and received an email asking me if I'd like to play guitar with Carl and an all-star band featuring Mark Santers on drums and Tim Harrington (Aldo Nova, Honeymoon Suite) on bass. We would be performing a night of Coney Hatch music, so naturally I jumped at the chance. When Carl came to my house to run over guitar parts I could see that he was still dealing with the physical challenges of his accident. I was completely in awe of how great the guy looked compared to when I had seen pictures of him at the Full Metal Package benefit concert that featured Helix, Brighton Rock, Russ Dwarf, and Andy Curran's Soho 69. His attitude in light of all that had happened to him was astounding, but I could tell that this was someone who had been through the wringer.
But man, when it came to gig time, I saw a transformation that continues to inspire me to this day. The music that was coming from inside this man was also outwardly altering him, healing him ... at one point he was on top of the PA, delivering the goods in a glory that was very much in the present. What I saw that night was nothing less than the physical manifestation of a vocation, a life's calling. I was honoured to be a part of it. A re-formed Coney Hatch recently signed a recording contract with Frontiers Records, home to Def Leppard, Whitesnake, and a host of other melodic hard rock heavyweights, and the band is lined up for a number of major festival appearances in the summer of 2013.
Brian Vollmer realized that building his brand back up from zero was going to be a slow process. (One year the sole Helix gig was an outdoor concert at a Ski-Doo festival in June, on the grass, to a handful of people). So he focused in on small, manageable goals and kept his eye on the bottom line.
"I basically realized that it all begins with the dollar and making money, so I picked my hometown and I got a gig there and I just made sure that we filled the seats and the guy that was hiring us made money. I just slowly did that and I ended up going back with Bernie Aubin [owner of the Canadian Classic Rock booking agency and drummer to this day for The Headpins] for western Canadian dates and I just slowly built the band back up."
And how did the Internet help Brian bring Helix back from the grave that grunge dug?
"When I took over the band in the mid-nineties, one of the first things I did was I went to an old high school chum, Ron Kingyens, who had worked at [electronics retailer] Radio Shack as long as I'd been in Helix, so he knew computers inside out and he actually had approached me previously about doing the website. So I handed things over to him, just sent him all the info and he put together an award-winning website. Part of the website was the merchandise store and part of the money I make is from that. We communicate probably more with our fans now on Facebook, because Facebook is immediate, whereas the website basically I update once a week. You can find the dates and things like that, but for immediate news on the band we use Facebook."
One of the things that makes Brian's website so compelling is the vast and very open history that he lays out — the story of Helix as told via www.planethelix.com is a compelling story of success, failure, redemption, and all points in between. It was through Helix's website that I reached out to Brian over the years, planting the seed that should he ever need a guitar player, I was up for the gig ... it only took four years of trying (and a referral from my journalist friend Mitch Lafon!) to actually get an audition with Helix. It was for the bassist position, and the feeling of walking out of Brian's elaborately designed, MTV Cribs-featured house (a result of Brian's and his amazing wife Lynda's incredible imagination and a lot of sweat equity) as a newly minted member of Helix has stayed with me long after.
It's funny to think that after all those years of taking millions of dollars of record company money to create a larger-than-life image, it is the DIY aesthetic and grassroots honesty that have helped resurrect the Helix brand. Of course, this was also aided by Brian's commitment to doing the absolute best he could with the resources he has had at his disposal.
"I learned very good business principles from Bill [Seip, manager] when he was with us. As soon as we do a gig I am usually doing a breakdown sheet the next day. Always take care of your books and know where your money is going. I'm pretty tight with cash. I'm always looking for the cheapest way to do things without sacrificing quality. Other aspects of the music business have changed, but keeping track of that stuff hasn't."
Having worked with Brian on three Helix records in the last four years, I can attest to the veracity of this statement. I have been a proud business partner on three Helix records that were independently financed by Brian (my time as a co-producer, session musician, and project co-ordinator were counted as an investment), and these recordings have been the first of my career of which I have received regular royalty cheques for actual record sales, a source of great pride to both Brian and myself. It has also been amazing to have developed a songwriting relationship with him. A few songs have even seen us enjoy some chart action on rock radio. To hear a song that I had a hand in writing coming out of my car radio speakers, performed by the first band I ever heard in concert, is the stuff of that rock 'n roll fantasy that Bad Company was talking about.
It has also been amazing to watch as bands like Helix, Honeymoon Suite, Brighton Rock, Coney Hatch, and almost all of the others mentioned in this book have come roaring back on the festival circuits, many of them with new record deals from any number of labels (big and small) that realize that while record sales are still in dramatic decline, the people that are buying records are the ones who grew up with the love of the tangible product, the fans of the classic rock artists, in particular hard rock and heavy metal artists. Canadian metal is well represented at major melodic rock festivals in Europe like Firefest in England, the M3 and Rocklahoma festivals in the U.S., open air festivals like Wacken in Germany, and Sweden Rock in, uh ... Sweden. It is interesting to note that fans of heavier metal seem to be impervious to trends and change. A more loyal following is seemingly passed on from generation to generation.
Mike Campagnolo says, "Razor has always had some underlying respect given to them by people who understand the metal scene, for sure. Only lately have I noticed a lot more recognition from the industry towards the band and its history. My kids can look me up on YouTube now and they usually get a kick out of that. I think the multimedia age has definitely helped with the sustainability of Razor."
"For the past ten years we have enjoyed a resurgence of popularity, but the nineties were a bit harder, mainly the early nineties, of course," says Michel Langevin. "It happened really quick as well. In 1990, we were touring with Faith No More, Soundgarden, Rush, and we were selling tons of albums, and then the year after, when 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' came out, it was a bit harder already for everybody playing metal. But then again, it didn't have such a negative impact on me because what are you gonna do? I'm sure everybody felt like that when The Beatles showed up, like, how can you compete with that? It's fresh air, a new decade, new crowd and all that. But it had an effect on the band and we split up for the first time in '91. That was a time in the early nineties when metal took on a bit of a low profile, but then again, soon after we were able to go to Europe and play crazy festivals because it was always healthy over there. Also, Pantera, Machine Head, Fear Factory became huge and they were flying the metal flag really high, so it came back in the picture.
"What really brings me back to Voivod is travelling, touring around the globe. We have a very loyal following and we meet our friends. Every time we go out, people show up and it's really like there were many times in Voivod's career when the band either didn't exist or it was just Piggy [guitarist] and me, or Snake [vocalist] and me, and every time we spent a couple of years on hiatuses, we would get antsy, phone each other, and find a new way of getting back on the road. When we re-formed in 2008, we started going to places we had never been before — South America, Asia, and last October we played in Russia, in Moscow, for the first time and people were chanting 'Voivod' like twenty minutes before we showed up onstage. It was truly amazing and it's really what brings me back to music. People have to understand that we have very good cult status in many places on earth, so it's easier for Voivod to re-form once in a while and go to Russia or Spain than it is for many other bands that were around in the eighties. We can always do it and people will show up. That's an advantage, some kind of a cult status, I guess."
Rob Urbinati of Sacrifice's views of how he feels the industry views heavier bands is a decidedly harsher one, no doubt an opinion forged after years of indifference even during thrash's heyday. He feels the indifference affects any band outside of a perceived Canadian mainstream sound.
"The Canadian music industry is a joke. It barely even recognizes metal, never mind Sacrifice. Bands like Blue Rodeo and Tragically Hip seem to get all the media attention when there are many people making music outside the mainstream that could actually break out internationally with a bit of a push. Mainstream Canadian rock for the most part will not do that. Even the good Canadian rock like Danko Jones is criminally overlooked in this country. Propagandhi barely gets a mention anywhere, and they are outstanding. Sacrifice had never even appeared once in a Toronto newspaper until 2009. At the end of it all, we don't need recognition from Blue Rodeo or Red Rider fans, but it does piss me off that bands I like are overlooked on their own soil."
I think we've established that being a Canadian rock star rarely means sustained financial security, even at the peak of a band's popularity. Bills need to paid, and of course that means taking on other forms of employment, inside or outside the music industry. One of the most fascinating examples of an intermingling of two seemingly disparate worlds is Killer Dwarfs guitarist Mike Hall's decision to enlist in the Canadian Armed Forces as a guitar-playing soldier.
"In an effort to have a more contemporary sound and approach, the CF began recruiting guitarists a few years back. I always saw the U.S. bands advertising for musicians but never the Canadians. I jumped at the chance. I was tired of hustling, and I was the second man hired in 2009. There was an audition process — send in a tape and bio. If they liked what they heard, they would fly you out for a live audition. Because of my experience, education, versatility, and ability I was granted a 6A qualification. This means there is actually no musical training necessary.
"They offered me the job. I was ready to go and join one of the six bands in the Canadian Forces. But first... boot camp. The thing is, I am a soldier first, and I'm good with that. Some musicians might not be. I took all the same military training as any other new recruit. It was tough at forty-seven years of age, but I showed up in shape, bought into the program 100 percent, and left four months later a beast of a man. Because of my 6A qualification, I was promoted to corporal upon graduation from BMQ [basic military qualification]. I hadn't touched a guitar the whole time.
"The Music Branch sent me out to Winnipeg, where they were in the process of creating a big RCAF Show band. This band has some of the best players and vocalists in the CF. We do everything you could imagine, the latest pop hits, new country, classic rock, metal, disco, etc. I have travelled all over the world with this band. We perform for the troops, represent Canada at military tattoos [military music festivals], play various government functions, community events, fundraisers, cocktail parties, and concerts at the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C. It's fun. Lots of travel ... it's a dream come true for me. I'm never bored and practise every chance I have.
"In 2011, I was sent to PLQ [Primary Leadership Qualification] for two months of senior NCO [non-commissioned officer] training. A few months after that I was promoted to sergeant, which is the rank I hold today. This is a senior NCO rank. No other trade would move people up this fast.
"I went over to Afghanistan in March 2011 and performed for the troops in Kandahar with my old buddies in [Toronto band] the Carpet Frogs. Because I am a full-time soldier, I had to be armed and ready to go if something went wrong. I had some extra training over and above my 'musician' trade before I went. Thankfully, I didn't need to use it. Nick Sinopoli [lead singer for the Carpet Frogs] was laughing when I walked out of my room in my desert combat uniform with a 9mm Browning strapped to my leg!
"In the spring of 2012 a bunch of us appeared on a national TV show, a reality show called Canada Sings. We kicked ass and won $25,000, which we donated to the Soldier On program, an organization that helps CF members and their families cope with injury and various unique aspects of life in the military."
Another musician who tried another career path was Slik Toxik's Nick Walsh, but not before exploring a different musical life in the mid-nineties.
"After the Slik thing, I had written a batch of songs and put together another band which was very short-lived, called Raised on Mars. That project found me sort of casting myself within that alternative rock movement that was going on at the time, and I don't want to say grunge, but I would say more like things that were alternative like Smashing Pumpkins, different tones, you know? I was getting into different bands at the time, and in every scene good and bad comes out of it.
"So I was into what I felt were some of the good bands and they were starting to influence me, and they also cleaned all the garbage that was within our sort of [metal] genre. After that didn't happen for me, I thought, You know, I'm gonna try something completely different. I've been a character most of my life and people have told me I should get into acting. So I tried my hand at it. I did some bit parts on some shows and some movies and some commercial work and so forth, but you know, come the early 2000s, I had opened a recording studio and when I started recording with other bands and seeing the fire that was still within me because of the passion of other people, I decided I'm going to just start doing this. I own my own studio, and I don't care if it takes me one year or five years or ten years to write my story again, but this is who I am, this is what I do. It took a while to come back into my own, and once I did then I realized... I am what I am, just like Popeye said. And you might as well embrace that to the max; don't try to cater to anybody else, and eventually your time will come around, because the bottom line to me is these people that I call leap-froggers, the people that jump from bandwagon to bandwagon or whatever, they never succeed because they are never honest with what they do.
"I think more than pop culture dictates trends and so forth — I think honesty rules at the end of the day and people can smell crap from a mile away. When you are just yourself, whether it's good, bad, or subjective to anybody's opinion, it usually prevails. I mean, there are so many artists out there, especially Canadian artists, songwriters, Neil Young, all these guys, that people would look at and they'd go like, 'This guy can't sing ... but man, he writes a hell of a song and you know it's him.' So at the end of the day that's why they find success, because they're honest with themselves and they're honest with everybody else. That's what I think people within our genre have done. Even some of the people from back in the eighties that I listen to, they're now playing at these Monsters of Rock boat cruises and the M3 Rock Festival, Rocklahoma, and all this stuff. There's a place for everybody and there's obviously a market for everybody, too."
Aside from his acting work, Walsh has since gone on to front two relatively successful projects, Revolver and Famous Underground. I was proud to be able to work with Nick in Revolver as a co-guitarist alongside Gene Scarpelli, son of Goddo's Gino Scarpelli. Nick and I bonded quickly over a shared love of the same types of music, but also over our struggles to rediscover our musical identities. It has been gratifying for me to see Nick stick to his musical guns while also being open to current influences. Famous Underground's recent signing to a European management and record deal is testament to Nick's hard work and vision.
Harry Hess from Harem Scarem has had much success in his post-Harem Scarem life (the band actually reconvened in 2013 for a re-record of their classic Mood Swings album and live festival appearances), but he is still searching for what really defines success.
"I'm signed to Universal Music Publishing as a writer. I have travelled the world the last three years writing with Universal writers all around the world, people in Sweden that have written number one Billboard pop tracks. I went to Nashville and wrote with guys that have written number one hits for Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, all that stuff, and oddly enough, the vibe when we're having lunch or at the end of the session is that they don't know [what defines success] either, you know? [laughs]. They'll look at me and say, 'I haven't had a hit in five years, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do,' and I'm like, 'What?' I've worked with guys that have worked with Madonna and Kylie Minogue and Jessica Simpson and one of the guys who I'm good friends with said, 'Yeah, I've got nothing going on right now and I don't really know what I'm going to do next week.'
"If you let that dictate whether you're successful or not, you can look at anybody in a twenty-year career and say, 'Wow, look what this person has done and what they've accomplished. They've sold a lot of records, they've made a lot of money,' but I'll bet you at some point in that month or that week or that year they had a time when they felt they were not successful. I mean, it goes up and down, and over a long career you will not have success every year greater than the last year, so at some point it is inevitable that you'll look back and go, 'Oh, I'm not doing so well' or 'I didn't do so well that year.' The point is to keep going and try for another success, and if you're good at what you do, it will probably happen.
"I look at it completely differently now than I did when I was eighteen or nineteen, because I have the luxury of perspective to look back at it and say, 'Well this is what I considered to be success.' But if I were nineteen and sold seven million records out of the gate, I wouldn't know what to say. I mean, I was at Warner when Alanis Morissette accepted her plaque for whatever it was, like, diamond in Canada, and she was like in her early twenties at the time and she gets up there, accepts the plaque and goes, 'Well, only way to go from here. That's down.' [laughs] I thought that was fucking awesome. Somebody that's like twenty-one, twenty-two years old accepts this plaque in the middle of — you remember what that was like. I mean, it was unstoppable. But she had the presence of mind to know... and that's exactly what happened."
A very rarified group of artists goes on to make a great living solely by performing their own original music. The reality for most of the groups I've talked to is that they have had to involve themselves in a number of endeavours to sustain a living. The best term I ever heard for a mix of musical and non-musical jobs came from Helix's Brent Doerner, who, when questioned about what he did for a living, replied, "I'm a Guitarpenter." Perfect.
So if you ain't in it for the money, ya gotta be in for love, love, love. Or at least the memories of a life out of the ordinary, and the experiences that the adventure has brought to fruition.
David Rashed, Haywire: "When I look back, the thirteen years with the band were some of the best times with many experiences. We were fortunate to be able to travel and experience all that we did. The band really has a special connection, and when we regroup, we're reminded of that."
Stacey Blades, L.A. Guns: "I cherish those times of busting my ass on the scene in Toronto in the late eighties and early nineties. I think it made me stronger as a musician, seeing that there is greatness there but at the same time a big roadblock. Knocking down that roadblock, I'm kind of proud I did that."
Russ Graham, Killer Dwarfs: "It was the best thing. I lived my dreams, my life was great ... it is great. I'm totally proud of the Dwarfs. Great players, great writers, and troopers in the rock wars."
Derry Grehan, Honeymoon Suite: "When we go out on tour there are a lot of older fans now who are in their forties and fifties, and it's really nice when they say 'I met my wife at your show, and the music is a memory for me.' The music brings back a great memory of a time when they were younger."
When you hear the word memories, it is so easily to immediately associate that with nostalgia. And let's face it, nostalgia plays a huge part in any sort of resurgence of music from a past era. I know that when I put on a Slik Toxik record, a Helix record, or a Coney Hatch record, I am immediately transported back to a time of innocence, a time before I knew things I wish I still didn't know about the world. It feels warm and safe, which is why these bands and their fans find each other: to celebrate those times. But to say that the value of this music in the current day begins and ends there does a disservice to the work these artists put in. It also does a disservice to Canadian history, because the impact that these acts have had on the culture is relevant, and it is important. And yet, in any book about Canadian music I have ever read, these heavy metal and hard rock heroes have been relegated to footnote status at best. For someone like me, who has been blessed to make a life of music because of the influence and impact of these artists, this is simply unacceptable. In my youth, their music provided me with shelter from the cold world outside, inspiration to achieve, and ultimately a vehicle which has allowed me to travel the world. In my current gig with Nelly Furtado, I have had the opportunity to play on big stages with massive production, just like the ones I would scribble on my binders in school. I am indebted to Nelly, a world-class musician and beautiful human being, for allowing me to fully savour those moments in my leather jacket and motorcycle boots, with a low-slung Les Paul or Kramer 84 on my shoulder. Her generosity in allowing me to be that twelve-year-old living out his dream is something I will forever be grateful for.
This is a book about the pursuit of the rock 'n roll dream in Canada, through the eyes of artists that inspired me to go for the same dream, or at least my interpretation of it. And with the focus of this music book being Canadian artists, I had to ask the question: Do you feel your nationality helps define you as an artist?
Brian Vollmer, Helix: "I find that people are people. I find there is good and bad and it doesn't matter if you're an American band or a Canadian band. There are British guys that are great, there's British guys that are assholes. There are Canadian guys that are great, and there are Canadian guys who are assholes."
Darby Mills, Headpins: "My nationality defines me as a human ... O Canada! I am truly graced and thankful for anyone that has found a smile, a hope, or even a tear in the music I have helped to create. My wish is to do so for as long as people continue to listen ... or maybe even after that! [laughs]"
Derry Grehan, Honeymoon Suite: "I'm proud to be a Canadian, and I think we have a real Canadian identity and a good history with people."
Rick Hughes, Sword/Saints & Sinners: "One thing is for sure: I am a French Canadian who loves to sing in English."
Lee Aaron: "Yes, especially as a rock artist overseas. They love Canadian rock bands there and feel we have a unique Canadian sound. I wear that badge proudly."
So yeah ... there is a whole full circle thing going on here with this rock 'n roll story. This story began with hockey, and it seems only fitting to end it with hockey. Is there a correlation between Canada's national sport and some of the nation's hard rock and heavy metal heroes?
Brian Vollmer, Helix: "Well, the biggest comparison I'll use to a hockey team is that when you walk onstage every night you want to do a good job, but there are some nights you just can't find the groove, and I would imagine hockey teams are the same ... they always walk on the ice to win but sometimes they can't find the groove!"
Russ Graham, Killer Dwarfs: "I come from a huge sports family and I played hockey of course, I'm Canadian — hockey and beer. I think when you play those arenas it's like a dream come true because you've gone down and seen Rush every New Year's Eve at Maple Leaf Gardens."
Gerry McGhee, Brighton Rock: "We actually had a Brighton Rock hockey team that me and Steve Skreebs [bassist] played on for many years. We were also on a rock 'n roll all-star team with Andy Curran, Carl Dixon, Larry Gowan, Rik Emmett [Triumph], and a whole bunch of guys."
Sean Kilbride, Haywire: "Absolutely. When I was a kid, the first concerts I went to were at the Halifax Forum, home of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs of the AHL. When KISS, April Wine, or Cheap Trick would come to town, that's where they'd play. When Haywire first broke, there was a gig in Dominion, Cape Breton, at the local arena on a sweltering summer day, and I remember us walking around the back of the boards from the stage and watching through the Plexiglas as the crowd got hosed down by firemen. Whether it was a rink in Deep River, Ontario, or the Calgary Saddledome, there was usually the smell of hockey. We opened for Corey Hart at the old Montreal Forum and they put us in the visitors' dressing room. I thought I had truly arrived."
Nick Walsh, Slik Toxik: "Definitely! Being a Canadian kid seeing concerts at hockey arenas made playing those arenas a true dream to aspire to. And as odd as this sounds, team-wise, I found a band to have the same sort of positions: Centre: Lead Vocals, Wingers: Guitars, Defence: Bass, and Goalie: Drums! [laughs]"
Carl Dixon, Coney Hatch: "Oh, the goalie is the drummer [laughs]. And yeah, I often felt like when we were on stage the singer is the centre, the playmaker, and right and left wing were the bass player and guitar player. It sounds like the French Connection storyline for Coney Hatch, where everybody was hitting their part just right and we all anticipated one another's moves and successfully completed the plays. That's what a band feels like onstage when the energy is right and everybody is on and you're responding to the energy of the crowd. It's very similar to hockey. The one thing I found, because I got to meet a lot of pro hockey players over the years, was that all the hockey players I knew secretly wanted to be musicians. And all the musicians I knew, from Canada at least, wanted to be hockey players."
In some small way, my hope in writing this book is for people to see Canadian heavy metal in a similar light to the way we view hockey ... as a source of great national pride, a part of our cultural history. I'll spare you the analogies about well-placed hits, blood, sweat, and tears, and coming up through the minor league ranks for a crack at the big time ... but allow me one indulgence.
My dad, Des Kelly, was a right winger with the Memorial Cup– winning Barrie Flyers of the OHL, and he also spent time with the notorious Johnstown Jets of the EHL in the fifties (the team that the movie Slapshot was modelled after). He played in Johnstown alongside his brother Orville "Crash" Kelly, whose nickname I borrowed for my glam rock band. One thing he always told me when he coached me in my modest minor hockey days was, "You never score on the shot you don't take." All the bands in this book had the balls to take their shot in one of the toughest, yet greatest music markets in the world. And at some point, in some way, each one of them managed to put the puck in the back of the net.
# Afterword
You know, I bitch and moan a lot about how the mid-nineties were such a huge drag... and in a lot of ways they were for me. But really, it was the era in which I truly cut my professional teeth. And I did enjoy a lot of things about my time playing with different bands of different genres. I was forced to be a diverse musician, as my first musical true love had fallen hopelessly and painfully out of style. I recognize now that this is in no way a bad thing. Being a true musician is not necessarily about simply absorbing and reflecting one set of influences (as totally awesome as those influences may be!). It is about taking the passion of our early musical loves and allowing them to mix and merge with the inevitable exposure we receive to the wide world of opportunity that exists within different genres. We don't need to deny our roots, but sometimes we need to accept that we need to be flexible and open to circumstances (musical or otherwise) that we do not and cannot control.
For me, the way I survived, and hell, even sometimes thrived, as a player in the nineties and the first decade of the millennium was by allowing the heavy metal and hard rock that is in my genetic makeup to inform the other styles of music I was playing. When my good friend Thom McKercher, the director of Classics and Jazz at Universal Music Canada introduced me in 2006 to Charles "Chuck" Daellenbach of the Canadian Brass and the owner of Opening Day Entertainment Group, I was presented with a unique opportunity: to make classical guitar recordings, not as a classical guitarist, but as a rock player who had studied the classics. It was amazing appearing on classical radio stations and doing promo tours of high-end bookstores and explaining the connection between composers like Tarrega, Albeniz, and Villa Lobos, and heavy metal guitar. As my A&R man Thom put in a print ad for The #1 Classical Guitar Album (the title refers to the popular repertoire, not the player in this case!), "Not all great riffs are played at 100db"! I'm pretty sure that was the first classical guitar album ad to ever run in Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles magazine, by the way.
I am also very lucky to get called upon to do sessions with some of Canada's best producers, and I feel good knowing that it is because of my influences and the way I play that I am called, not in spite of those things. My good pal, amazing guitarist, and formative influence, Tim Welch of Sylum/National Velvet/Images in Vogue and many others always reminds me of something when I'm playing him music I've been working on. Even when I think I'm sounding like someone else when I'm working on a project, even when I'm trying to sound like someone else... I'm always going to end up sounding like me. And that me is not made up of the latest hipster sounds. My musical fingerprint is the manifestation of a love for a music I discovered in a hockey dressing room, that inspired me on a hockey arena stage, and that has ultimately led to me tread the boards of venues that I never thought (but always dreamed) I'd get to perform in.
I am by no means a rock star. But I am a rock fan, and this fanaticism has gifted me with the experiences I currently get to enjoy. I am so very grateful to have played "Devil's Deck" with Carl Dixon, "Helluvatime" with Nick Walsh, and to play "Rock You" as a member of Helix. I am also grateful that the lessons these artists have taught me allow me to make a living as a musician. It is not lost on me that it is through their sacrifices that I get to be a small part of this glorious lineage, this Canadian heavy metal and hard rock history that I am hoping Metal on Ice will help bring into the light. Preferably a spotlight, on an 80-foot arena rock stage with rows of Marshall stacks, a double bass drum kit on a sky-high riser, and enough pyro to rival the Northern Lights.
Rock You.
# Selected Discography
(The Platters that Mattered to a Young Sean Kelly)
This discography does not constitute a complete list of bands or their recordings... this is, very selfishly, I might add, a collection of the recordings that resonated with me in my youth, and continue to do so to this day. Or to put it another way: If I invited you over to my basement studio for a beer, I might spin some of these as a means of introducing you to my favourite Canadian hard rock and metal bands.
Helix
No Rest for the Wicked (1983 Capitol/EMI)
Walkin' The Razor's Edge (1984 Capitol/EMI)
Long Way to Heaven (1985 Capitol/EMI)
Wild in the Streets (1987 Capitol/EMI)
Back for Another Taste (1990 Capitol/EMI)
Coney Hatch
Coney Hatch (1982 Anthem/Mercury)
Outta Hand (1983 Anthem/Mercury)
Friction (1985 Anthem/Mercury)
Kick Axe
Vices (1984 Pasha/CBS)
Welcome to the Club (1985 Pasha/CBS)
White Wolf
Standing Alone (1984 RCA)
Endangered Species (1985 RCA)
Anvil
Metal on Metal (1982 Attic)
Forged in Fire (1983 Attic)
Strength of Steel (1987 Metal Blade)
Killer Dwarfs
Stand Tall (1986 Maze/A&M)
Big Deal (1988 Epic)
Dirty Weapons (1990 Epic)
Method to the Madness (1992 Epic)
Big House
Big House (1991 BMG)
Harem Scarem
Harem Scarem (1991 WEA)
Mood Swings (1993 WEA)
Slik Toxik
Smooth n' Deadly EP (1991 Capitol/EMI)
Doin' the Nasty (1991 Capitol/EMI)
Sven Gali
Sven Gali (1992 BMG)
Brighton Rock
Young Wild and Free (1986 WEA)
Take a Deep Breath (1988 WEA)
Love Machine (1991 WEA)
Syre
It Ain't Pretty Being Easy (1990 A&M)
Honeymoon Suite
Honeymoon Suite (1984 WEA)
The Big Prize (1985 WEA)
Racing After Midnight (1988 WEA)
Sword
Metallized (1986 Aquarius)
Sweet Dreams (1988 Aquarius)
Haywire
Don't Just Stand There (1987 Attic)
Nuthouse (1990 Attic)
Lee Aaron
Metal Queen (1984 Attic)
Lee Aaron (1987 Attic)
Body Rock (1989 Attic)
Headpins
Turn it Loud (1982 Solid Gold)
Line of Fire (1983 Solid Gold)
Toronto
Lookin' for Trouble (1980 Solid Gold)
Head On (1981 Solid Gold)
Get It on Credit (1982 Solid Gold)
Voivod
Killing Technology (1987 Noize)
Dimension Hatröss (1988 Noize)
Nothingface (1989 Mechanic/MCA)
Sacrifice
Forward to Termination (1987 Diabolic/Metal Blade)
Soldiers of Misfortune (1990 Fringe/Metal Blade)
Razor
Evil Invaders (1985 Attic)
Malicious Intent (1986 Attic)
# With Regrets: Bands that Deserved a Mention
As this book was delivered into my editor's able hands, I was still nagged by the fact that I didn't really mention a few deserving bands. They may not have played a big a role in my own early music journey, but I would later come to either interact with members of the bands or discover their importance. In some cases, I just didn't have time to give them their due properly in context of the narrative. Anyway, enough lame excuses... a doffing of the cap to:
Triumph: Rik Emmett, Gil Moore, and Mike Levine, your arena rock history is touched upon briefly in the book. Thunder Seven, Sport of Kings, and Surveillance all served as backdrop to my musical youth, and the amazing albums that came before these were crucial to the development of Canadian hard rock... I look forward to diving further into your history in future musings (and Phil X, your contributions via the Edge of Excess album are duly noted!). If it seems criminal they are not in a book about Canadian hard rock and heavy metal, well... it may be. But there is a bigger story about this consummate power trio that I think might have to be written in a book featuring another consummate power trio... I've said too much.
Goddo: I never owned a Goddo album until I began playing with guitarist Gino Scarpelli's son Gene in the bands Revolver and then Crash Kelly. I was missing out. Greg Godovitz, Doug Inglis, and Gino served up classic high-energy rock that influenced a ton of people via Polydor Records albums that were staples of the early Canadian hard rock diet. Read Greg's book Travels With My Amp to get the full Goddo story, and many more. Guitar players could also do worse for themselves than to go check out the guitar playing of both Scarpelli men, who are blues rockers par excellence.
Santers: Rick Santers, Mark Santers, and Rick Lazaroff were, by their own website's admission, "Underrated, and under the radar," but a listen to their back catalogue yields some fine melodic rock rewards. Each member is a stellar musician (Rick Santers was recruited by Triumph as a second guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist on their Sport of Kings tour, and also contributed compositionally to the album of the same name), and the crowd I saw them draw at a reunion show in Toronto a few years back confirms that Santers was a much-loved and important part of the hard rock story in Canada.
Moxy: Pioneers of the mid-seventies through early eighties Canadian hard rock scene, they were another band that made an impact in the U.S. via Texas DJ Joe Anthony. Led by the vocals of Buzz Shearman and the guitar of Earl Johnson, the band toured with the likes of Black Sabbath and Boston, and even recorded two albums with legendary Aerosmith producer Jack Douglas at the helm. When you have the UK music press calling you the Canadian Led Zeppelin, it speaks volumes about your ability to speak with volume!
Reckless: Steve Madden, I picked up a vinyl copy of your 1984 album Heart of Steel when I was on tour recently. You were there at the beginning of hair metal in Canada, when it was still an edgier beast. Kudos for following your dream and immortalizing yourself and your band on wax.
Rockhead: Vancouver's Bob Rock is most famous as the world-class producer who spun gold and platinum for Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Kingdom Come, Bon Jovi, and other hard rock and metal giants. He was also a hit maker in his own right in Canada with The Payolas and Rock and Hyde. But I will always be grateful for the fact that he released a self- titled album in 1992 under the moniker Rockhead. I loved this album for great Mott the Hoople-meets-hair metal tracks like "Bed of Roses" and "Chelsea Rose," but I also loved it for the fact that Bob's entire modus operandi for putting the band together was born out of a yearning to go play some classic rock in a little club somewhere in England with loud Marshall amps. The fact that he took a singer from an AC/DC cover band in British Columbia (Steve Jacks) and took the kid to Europe to open for Bon Jovi and make a bigass rock production record just kinda warms my heart. Rock took some of the loot he made from sonically realizing the rock 'n roll dreams of other bands, and then invested in his own dream, and for that he truly deserves the last name he was blessed with.
Annihilator, Varga, and Exciter, when the book about Canadian thrash metal is written, I know that your stories will be writ large and in boxcar letters. I salute your virtuosity, and the fact that all three acts are still out showing the world that Canadian thrash is second to none.
I regret wholeheartedly that I am undoubtedly missing people from this list... I wish I had the time and resources to acknowledge every band, every musician who slugged it out on this path that is so rewarding, yet so challenging. Here's hoping that the Metal on Ice community can extend beyond these pages and serve as a landing for all of you bands, musicians, and fans to share your stories of the pursuit of our shared passion.
Billboard-charting guitarist Sean Kelly is a native of North Bay, Ontario. He moved to Toronto in the early 1990s to study classical guitar under renowned instructor Eli Kassner at the University of Toronto. At the same time he started to seek his fame and fortune as a rock guitarist. After playing in several local bands, he formed his own band, Crash Kelly, in which he both sang and played lead guitar. The band has released three albums via Century Media, the world's largest independent heavy metal label, and toured with hard rock legend Alice Cooper.
Sean also currently tours as lead guitarist for Grammy Award–winning superstar Nelly Furtado and has performed with and written a number of songs for many multi-platinum acts, including Helix, Carole Pope, and Rough Trade, as well as former Guns N' Roses member Gilby Clarke, former Guess Who vocalist Carl Dixon, and many other notable stars.
In the last few years, he has recorded three classical guitar albums that have won great acclaim and reached the classical music bestseller charts.
The songs of Metal on Ice were recorded to accompany the book and feature new versions of some of the iconic songs mentioned in the book, sung by their original singers. It will be a Fall 2013 release on Coalition Music (Records)/Warner Music Canada.
# Acclaimed Fiction from Dundurn
Barrett Fuller's
by Scott Carter
978-1459706934
$19.99
Barrett Fuller is a world-famous and very wealthy children's author who writes under a pseudonym because he's a self-absorbed womanizer and drug-user. His life changes when he receives an extortion letter, challenging him to live up to the morals he currently espouses in his books. He is presented with a series of tasks to complete or face having his identity revealed to the public, resulting in the ruin of his financial empire.
>Richard Fuller, Barrett's nephew, has a secret too, and it's one no kid should bear. He knows why his father left the family and he's never told his mother.
>When the extortionist challenges Barrett to spend time with his nephew, their respective secrets move towards a collision that will change their lives forever.
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# Acknowledgements
Thank you to:
The artists and insiders who shared their stories for this book.
Erin and Des for all of their love and support
Allister Thompson for his faith in this project and for helping me rock some of those arena stages.
The staff at Dundurn Press.
Julie Gibb and Kerry Kelly for their detailed and thoughtful transcription work.
To the Coalition Music family, thank you for helping me take Metal on Ice beyond the page and onto the stage!
Sean Palmerston for helping me find the thrashers!
Drew Masters and Brian Vollmer for sharing your own writing in this book.
Martin Popoff, for continuously feeding my heavy metal appetite with your great books.
# Copyright
Copyright © Sean Kelly, 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
Editor: Allister Thompson
Design: Courtney Horner
Epub Design: Carmen Giraudy
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Kelly, Sean, 1972-
Metal on ice [electronic resource] : tales from Canada's hard rock and heavy metal heroes / by Sean Kelly.
Electronic document in multiple formats.
Issued also in print format.
ISBN 978-1-4597-0711-5
1. Heavy metal (Music)--Canada. 2. Rock music--Canada.
I. Title.
ML3534.6.K295 2013 782.421660971 C2013-900809-8
We acknowledge the support of the **Canada Council for the Arts** and the **Ontario Arts Council** for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the **Government of Canada** through the **Canada Book Fund** and **Livres Canada Books** , and the **Government of Ontario** through the **Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit** and the **Ontario Media Development Corporation**.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.
J. Kirk Howard, President
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| {
"pile_set_name": "Books3"
} | 0.000211 |
---
author:
- Hông Vân Lê and Mobeen Munir
title: 'Classification of compact homogeneous spaces with invariant $G_2$-structures'
---
[^1]
In this note we classify all homogeneous spaces $G/H$ admitting a $G$-invariant $G_2$-structure, assuming that $G$ is a connected compact Lie group and $G$ acts effectively on $G/H$. They include a subclass of all homogeneous spaces $G/H$ with a $G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structure, where $G$ is a compact Lie group. There are many new examples with nontrivial fundamental group. We study a subclass of homogeneous spaces of high rigidity and low rigidity and show that they admit families of invariant coclosed $G_2$-structures (resp. $\tilde G_2$-structures).
[*MSC: 57M50, 57M60*]{}\
[*Keywords: compact homogeneous space, $G_2$-structure*]{}
Introduction
=============
In recent years manifolds admitting a $G_2$-structure have attracted increasing interests of physicists and mathematicians. These manifolds can be geometric models in the theory of superstrings with torsion [@GMW2004]. In another field, a recent work of Donaldson and Segal [@DS2009] suggests that a right framework for a gauge theory in dimension 7 is a class of manifolds with non-vanishing torsion $G_2$-structure. A main source of computable models of manifolds with $G_2$-structures are homogeneous spaces or spaces of co-homogeneity one [@II2005], [@CF2006], [@CS2002].
In this note we classify all compact homogeneous spaces $M ^7$ of the form $G/H$ such that $G$ is a connected compact Lie group acting effectively on $G/H$, admitting a $G$-invariant structure of $G_2$-type or of the non-compact form $ \tilde G_2$-type. This classification extends the classification by Friedrich-Kath-Moroianu-Semmelmann of all simply-connected compact homogeneous nearly parallel $G_2$-manifolds in [@FKMS1997]. We study manifolds with $\tilde G_2$-structure, not only because of their striking similarity with those admitting a $G_2$-structure, but they present an interesting class in pseudo Riemannian geometry [@Kath1998]. We also like to point out that even the classification of symmmetric spaces with holonomy contained in $\tilde G_2$ is open.
Recall that a 7-dimensional smooth manifold $M ^7$ is said to admit [*a $G_2$-structure*]{} (resp. [*a $\tilde G_2$-structure*]{}), if there is a section of the bundle ${{\mathcal F}}(M^7 )/G_2 $ (resp. ${{\mathcal F}}(M ^7)/\tilde G_2)$ over $M ^7$, where ${{\mathcal F}}(M ^7)$ is the frame bundle over $M^7$. It is well-known that $G_2$ (resp. $\tilde G_2$) is the automorphism group of a 3-form $\phi$ (resp. $\tilde \phi$) on ${{\mathbb R}}^7$, [@Reichel1907], [@HL1982 p. 114], or [@Bryant1987 p. 539]. Such a 3-form $\phi$ (resp. $\tilde \phi$) is called a [*3-form of $G_2$-type*]{} (resp. [*$\tilde G_2$-type*]{}). It is known that the $GL({{\mathbb R}}^7)$-orbits of $\phi$ and $\tilde \phi$ are the only open orbits of the $GL({{\mathbb R}}^7)$-action on $\Lambda ^3 ({{\mathbb R}}^7 ) ^*$, see e.g. [@Bryant1987], [@Hitchin2000], [@LPV2008]. Any 3-form on these open orbits is called [*a stable 3-form*]{}, [@Hitchin2000], or [*a definite 3-form*]{}, if it lies in the orbit of $\phi$, or an [*indefinite 3-form*]{}, if it lies in the orbit of $\tilde \phi$. The existence of a $G_2$-structure (resp. $\tilde G_2$-structure) on a manifold $M ^7$ is equivalent to the existence of a definite differential 3-form $\phi$ (resp. indefinite differential 3-form $\tilde \phi$) on $M ^7$.
The plan of our note is as follows. In section 2 we collect important properties of the groups $\tilde G_2$ and $G_2$, which are needed for our classification. In section 3 we classify homogeneous manifolds $G/H$ admitting invariant $\tilde G_2$-structures, where $G$ is a connected compact Lie group and $H$ is a closed Lie subgroup (not necessary connected) of $G$, see Theorem \[Theorem.2.3.1\]. This problem is equivalent to finding all pairs $(G, H)$ where $H$ is a closed (hence compact) subgroup of a compact Lie group $G$ such that the image of the isotropy representation $\rho(H)$ is a subgroup of $\tilde G_2\subset Gl (7, {{\mathbb R}})$. We observe that any such homogeneous space $G/H$ also admits an invariant $G_2$-structure, hence $\rho(H)$ is also a subgroup of $G_2 \subset Gl(7, {{\mathbb R}})$. In section 4 we classify all homogeneous manifolds $G/H$ admitting invariant $G_2$-structures, where $G$ is a compact Lie group and $H$ is a closed Lie subgroup (not necessary connected) of $G$, see Theorem \[Theorem.3.3.1\]. Our classification is reduced to finding all pairs $(G, H)$ such that the image of the isotropy representation $\rho(H)$ is a subgroup of $ G_2\subset Gl (7, {{\mathbb R}})$. We also compute the dimension of the space of all $G$-invariant $G_2$-structures on a homogeneous manifold $G/H$, see Remark \[Remark.3.3.2\].a. In section 5 we study a special class of homogeneous manifolds $G/H$ admitting invariant $G_2$-structures using our classification. Among these spaces there are many known examples of manifolds admitting $G_2$-structures. We explain some known properties of these examples using simpler arguments based on our classification. We also present some new results concerning these spaces.
Let us describe the method of our classification. First we notice that $G/H$ admits a $G$-invariant $G_2$-structure (resp. $\tilde G_2$-structure), if and only if it admits a $G$-invariant definite 3-form (resp. indefinite 3-form). In the first step we find all pairs of corresponding Lie algebras $({{\mathfrak h}}\subset {{\mathfrak g}})$. In the second step we find the associated pairs of Lie groups $(H\subset G)$. The first step is done using representation theory and is fairly standard, even it could be done using some special software package. There is no algorithm known to solve the second problem. So we have developed a set of techniques to find the normalizer of a given connected Lie subgroup, and after that we can find all Lie subgroups (not necessary connected) with a given Lie algebra obtained in the first step.
Finally we remark that the problem we solve in this note is a part of a more general question to classify all homogeneous spaces $M=G/H$ admitting $G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structures or $G$-invariant $G_2$-structures. If we require $M$ to be compact and with finite fundamental group, by the Montgomery theorem [@Montgomery1950 Corollary 3], $M$ has also a transitive action of a compact subgroup $G' \subset G$. Thus $G$ is a subgroup of the full diffeomorphism group of $M= G'/(G'\cap H)$ preserving a given $G'$-invariant $\tilde G_2$- (resp. $G_2$-) structure on $M$.
The groups $\tilde G_2$ and $G_2$
==================================
In this section we recall the definitions of $\tilde G_2$ and $G_2$. We describe the maximal compact subgroup of $\tilde G_2$, which is unique up to conjugacy by elements of $\tilde G_2$. We also describe maximal compact subgroups of $G_2$. These subgroups are needed for our classifications in sections 3 and 4.
The group $\tilde G_2$ and its maximal compact subgroup $SO(4)$
---------------------------------------------------------------
We refer the reader to [@Bryant1987] for a definition and properties of the exceptional Lie group $\tilde G_2$. For the convenience of the reader we briefly describe the group $\tilde G_2$, which is less familiar than its dual compact group $G_2$.
Let us fix a basis $e^1, \cdots , e^7$ in $({{\mathbb R}}^7) ^*$. Denote by ${{\omega}}^{ijk}$ the 3-form $e ^i \wedge e ^j \wedge e ^k\in \Lambda ^3 ({{\mathbb R}}^7) ^*$.
\[Definition.2.1.1\] [@Reichel1907], see also [@Bryant1987 Definition 2, p.543]. The group $\tilde G_2$ is defined as the subgroup $\{ g \in GL({{\mathbb R}}^7)|\, g ^* (\tilde \phi ) = \tilde \phi\}$ where $$\tilde \phi = {{\omega}}^{123}-{{\omega}}^{145} -{{\omega}}^{167} -{{\omega}}^{246}+{{\omega}}^{257} +{{\omega}}^{347} + {{\omega}}^{356}.$$
\[Lemma.2.1.3\][@Bryant1987 Theorem 2] The group $\tilde G_2$ is the automorphism group of the split-octonion algebra. The group $\tilde G_2$ is connected.
Theorem 2 in [@Bryant1987] cited above is given without a proof (but it can be proved in the same way as in the proof of [@Bryant1987 Theorem 1]). A similar explanation for the first assertion of Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.3\] can be found in [@LPV2008 §6.2], where we proved that $\tilde G_2$ is a subgroup of the automorphism group of the Malcev simple algebra of dimension 7, which is the imaginary part $ Im\, {{\mathbb O}}_S$ of the split-octonion algebra ${{\mathbb O}}_S$. Since the multiplication on the Malcev algebra is the imaginary part of the octonion multiplication on $ Im\, {{\mathbb O}}_S$, we get easily $\tilde G_2 \subset Aut ({{\mathbb O}}_S)$. The other inclusion $Aut ( {{\mathbb O}}_S)\subset \tilde G_2$ can be verified straightforwardly. A detailed proof for the second assertion of Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.3\] can be found in [@Le2006b] (the first version, which is also available at the arxiv server), namely this assertion is a direct consequence of Lemmas 2.1 and 2.2 proved therein.
As a topological space, $\tilde G_2$ is a direct product of its maximal compact Lie subgroup and a vector space.
\[Lemma.2.1.6\] The maximal compact subgroup of $\tilde G_2$ is $SO (4)$. The inclusion of $SO(4) \to \tilde G_2 \to Gl({{\mathbb R}}^ 7)$ acts on ${{\mathbb R}}^7$ with two irreducible subspaces of dimension 3 and dimension 4. Any compact subgroup of $\tilde G_2$ is conjugate to a subgroup in the maximal compact subgroup $SO(4)$.
The first assertion of Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.6\] is known to experts in the Cartan theory of real semisimple Lie groups but we don’t find an explicit proof of it in standard text-books. In [@Le2006b Corollary 2.4] we give a topological proof of this assertion. For the convenience of the reader we give here another algebraic proof, which explains also the second assertion of Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.6\]. By [@Helgason1978 Theorem 1.1, p.252] the maximal compact Lie subgroup of $\tilde G_2$ is connected whose Lie algebra is a maximal compact Lie subalgebra in $\tilde {{\mathfrak g}}_2$. Note that ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)={{\mathfrak su}}(2)+{{\mathfrak su}}(2)$ is a maximal compact Lie subalgebra of $\tilde {{\mathfrak g}}_2$ which can be described in terms of the root decomposition of the complex Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak g}}_2 ^ {{\mathbb C}}$, namely it is the intersection of the normal form $\tilde {{\mathfrak g}}_2$ of ${{\mathfrak g}}_2 ^{{\mathbb C}}$ and the compatible compact form ${{\mathfrak g}}_2$. Using the weights of the representation of the subalgebra ${{\mathfrak su}}(2) +{{\mathfrak su}}(2) \subset \tilde {{\mathfrak g}}_2$ on $ {{\mathbb R}}^7$, it is easy to see that the corresponding connected Lie subgroup in $\tilde G_2$ is $SO(4)$ and the corresponding representation is a sum of two real irreducible representations of dimension 3 and dimension 4. This proves the first and the second assertion of Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.6\]. The last assertion of Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.6\] is a consequence of [@Helgason1978 Theorem 2.1, p. 256].
We now describe another way to construct an explicit embedding of $SO(4)$ into $\tilde G_2$, see [@HL1982 chapter IV,(1.9), p. 115], since it will be useful in our computations later. The group $Sp(1) \times Sp(1)$ acts on the split-octonion algebra ${{\mathbb O}}_S = {{\mathbb H}}\oplus {{\mathbb H}}e$ as follows: $$\chi (q_1, q_2) ( a+ b e) : = (q_1 a \bar q_1+ q_2 b\bar q_1 e).
\label{2.1.7}$$ It is easy to see that this action defines an embedding of $SO(4)$ into $\tilde G_2$. Thus we can regard this maximal compact subgroup $SO(4)$ as the intersection $\tilde G_2 \cap (SO (Im\, {{\mathbb H}}) \times SO ( {{\mathbb H}}e) )$. Taking into account [@Helgason1978 Theorem 1.1, p.252] this construction also gives a proof of the first and the second assertion of Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.6\].
To distinguish an abstract Lie group $SO(4)$ (resp. a Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)$) with its image inside $\tilde G_2$ (resp. $\tilde {{\mathfrak g}}_2)$ we denote the later one by $SO(4)_{3,4}$ (resp. ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$). Note that the conjugacy class of $SO(4)_{3,4}$ in $Gl({{\mathbb R}}^ 7)$ is defined uniquely by the highest weights of its representation. We denote by ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{3,4}$ the Lie subalgebra in ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$ corresponding to the Lie subgroup $\{ \chi (q_1, 1)| q_1 \in Sp(1)\}$ in formula (\[2.1.7\]), and by ${{\mathfrak su}}(2) _{0,4}$ the Lie subalgebra corresponding to the Lie subgroup $\{ \chi(1, q_2)|, q_2\in Sp(1)\}$. The conjugacy of ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}= {{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{3,4}+ {{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{2,4}$ in $gl({{\mathbb R}}^7)$ is defined uniquely up to conjugacy by the highest weights $(2,0)$ and $(1,1)$ of the irreducible components of the representation of ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)$ explained in Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.6\] and in (\[2.1.7\]). The weight $(2,0)$ corresponds to the irreducible real representation of dimension 3, and the weight (1,1) corresponds to the irreducible real representation of dimension 4. We refer the reader to [@Onishchik2004 §8] for a comprehensive exposition of the theory of real representations of real semisimple Lie algebras, or [@VO1988 Appendix] for a compact exposition of the theory. Since $SO(4)$ is connected, the conjugacy class of an embedding $SO(4) \to Gl({{\mathbb R}}^ 7)$ is defined uniquely by the representation of its Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)_1+ {{\mathfrak su}}(2)_2$, where ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)_1$ (resp. ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)_2$) is the Lie algebra of the first (resp. the second) subgroup $Sp(1)$ defined just before (\[2.1.7\]).
We also remark that there are three non-conjugate subalgebras in ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$ which are isomorphic to ${{\mathfrak so}}(3) = {{\mathfrak su}}(2)$. We denote by ${{\mathfrak so}}(3)_{3,3}$ the third Lie subalgebra in this subclass. It is defined by the diagonal embedding of ${{\mathfrak so}}(3) ={{\mathfrak su}}(2)$ into ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}= {{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{3,4} + {{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{0,4}$.
We summarize a part of our discussion in the following
\[Lemma.2.1.8\] The image of a representation $\bar \chi: SO(4) \to Gl ( {{\mathbb R}}^7)$ is conjugate to $SO(4)_{3,4} \subset Gl({{\mathbb R}}^7)$, if and only $\bar \chi$ is a sum of two irreducible real representations, one of dimension 3 with the highest weight $(2,0)$, and the other of dimension 4 with the highest weight $(1,1)$.
The group $G_2$ and its maximal compact subgroups
-------------------------------------------------
\[Definition.3.1.1\] [@Reichel1907], see also [@HL1982 IV.1.A, p.114], and [@Bryant1987 Definition 1, p.539]. The group $G_2$ is defined as the subgroup $\{ g \in GL({{\mathbb R}}^7)|\, g ^* (\tilde \phi ) = \tilde \phi\}$ where $$\phi = {{\omega}}^{123}+{{\omega}}^{145} +{{\omega}}^{167} +{{\omega}}^{246}-{{\omega}}^{257} -{{\omega}}^{347} - {{\omega}}^{356}.$$
We observe that $\phi + \tilde \phi = 2 {{\omega}}^{123}$.
Dynkin’s classical result [@Dynkin1952] asserts that the Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak g}}_2$ has exactly three (up to conjugation) maximal subalgebras of dimensions 8, 6 and 3 respectively: ${{\mathfrak su}}(3), {{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}, {{\mathfrak so}}(3)_7$, from which we have seen ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$ in the previous subsection. The Lie subalgebra ${{\mathfrak su}}(3)$ is the intersection ${{\mathfrak g}}_2 \cap {{\mathfrak gl}}({{\mathbb R}}^6) \subset {{\mathfrak gl}}({{\mathbb R}}^7)$ for any embedding ${{\mathfrak gl}}({{\mathbb R}}^6) \subset {{\mathfrak gl}}({{\mathbb R}}^7)$, see e.g. [@CS2002 §2] for a proof. The Lie subalgebra ${{\mathfrak so}}(3)_7$ is defined by a real irreducible representation of ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)$ of real dimension 7.
Let us fix the basis $(e_i)$ of ${{\mathbb R}}^7$ dual to the basis $(e ^i)$. Denote by $D_7$ the element $diag (-1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1)\in Gl({{\mathbb R}}^7)$. It is easy to check that $D_7$ preserves the form $\phi$, hence $D_7 \in G_2$.
For any element $a$ of order $k$ in a group $G$ we denote by ${{\mathbb Z}}_k[a]$ the cyclic subgroup in $G$ generated by $a$.
\[Lemma.3.1.3\] Any maximal proper subgroup in $G_2$ is conjugate to one of the following subgroups in $G_2$: $SU(3) \cdot {{\mathbb Z}}_2[D_7]$, $SO(4)_{3,4}$, $SO(3)_7$.
This Lemma is likely known to experts (see e.g. [@CS2002 §8, p.112] for a statement without a proof that the normalizer ${{\mathcal N}}_{G_2} (SU(3))$ is $SU(3)\cdot {{\mathbb Z}}_2[D_7]$), but we do not have a reference with a proof of it. For the convenience of the reader we give here a proof of Lemma \[Lemma.3.1.3\] using the Dynkin result above, combining with the invariance principle as well as with the Schur’s Lemma and its consequence stated below.
- [*Invariance principle*]{}. Suppose that $H^0$ is a (connected) subgroup of $G\subset SO (W)$. We denote by $U $ the fixed-point subspace of the action of $H^0$ on $W$. Then the normalizer ${{\mathcal N}}_G(H^0)$ preserves the subspace $U$ and its orthogonal complement $U^\perp$.
- [*Schur’s Lemma and its consequence*]{}. Suppose that the inclusion $H^0 \to G \to Gl ({{\mathbb R}}^n) \to Gl ({{\mathbb C}}^n)$ gives a complex irreducible representation of $H^0$ in $Gl ({{\mathbb C}}^n)$. Then the centralizer ${{\mathcal Z}}_G (H^0)$ is equal to the center ${{\mathcal Z}}(G)$ of $G$. Using this we can compute ${{\mathcal N}}_G (H ^ 0)$ easily, taking into account the relation $ Int (H^0) \subset {{\mathcal N}}_G (H^0)/{{\mathcal Z}}_G(H^0)\subset Aut(H^0)$.
Applying the invariance principle to $W= {{\mathbb R}}^7, U = {{\mathbb R}}$, we conclude that if $x\in{{\mathcal N}}_{G_2} (SU(3))$ then either $x\in Gl ({{\mathbb R}}^6)\cap G_2 = SU(3) $ or $x\cdot D_7\in Gl({{\mathbb R}}^6) \cap G_2 = SU(3)$, what proves the first assertion. To compute ${{\mathcal N}}_{G_2} ( SO(4)_{3,4})$ we apply the invariance principle to the space $W =(\Lambda ^3 ( {{\mathbb R}}^7)^* ) ^\perp_\phi$ which is the orthogonal complement to $\langle \phi \rangle _{{\mathbb R}}$ in $\Lambda ^3 ({{\mathbb R}}^7 ) ^*$. Note that $\phi _0 = \phi - 7 {{\omega}}^{123}$ is an element of $W$, and $U = {\langle}\phi_0{\rangle}_{{\mathbb R}}$ is the fixed point subspace of the induced $SO(4)_{3,4}$-action on $W$. By the invariance principle $U$ is invariant under the induced action of ${{\mathcal N}}_{G_2} (SO(4)_{3,4})$. Note that for $g\in {{\mathcal N}}_{G_2} (SO(4)_{3,4})$, we have $g^* (\phi _0) = \pm \phi_0$, since $g\in SO(7)$. If $g ^* (\phi _0) = \phi_0$, then $g$ must belong to $SO(4)_{3,4}$. If not, then $g ^* ( 7{{\omega}}^{123}) = 2 \phi - 7{{\omega}}^{123}$. Taking into account that $g$ preserves the induced norm on $W\subset \Lambda ^3 ({{\mathbb R}}^7 ) ^*$, we obtain a contradiction. Hence ${{\mathcal N}}_{G_2} (SO (4)_{3,4})= SO(4)_{3,4}$. Using the Schur’s Lemma and its consequence, taking into account that ${{\mathcal Z}}(G_2) = {{\mathbb Z}}_1$ [@Helgason1978 p.516], we conclude that the normalizer ${{\mathcal N}}_{G_2} (SO(3) _7)$ is $SO(3) _7$, the connected Lie subgroup having Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak so}}(3)_7$.
Compact homogeneous manifolds admitting invariant $\tilde G_2$-structures
==========================================================================
In this section we classify homogeneous manifolds $G/H$ admitting $G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structures, where $G$ is a compact Lie group and $H$ is a closed Lie subgroup (not necessary connected) of $G$. Since $H$ is a compact Lie group, this problem is equivalent to the classification of all pairs $(G, H)$ such that the image of the isotropy representation $\rho(H)$ is a compact subgroup of $\tilde G_2\subset Gl (7, {{\mathbb R}})$. In subsection 3.1 we reduce the classification problem to a representation problem, which is essentially linear when we classify only the corresponding Lie algebras $({{\mathfrak g}}, {{\mathfrak h}})$. The hardest part is to find all disconnected closed Lie subgroups $H$ whose isotropy representation maps $H$ into a subgroup of $\tilde G_2$. In subsection 3.2 we summarize our classification in a table. We also compute the dimension of the space of $G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structures on each manifold $G/H$.
Reduction to a representation problem
-------------------------------------
In this subsection we first find Lie algebras $({{\mathfrak h}}\subset {{\mathfrak g}})$ of compact Lie groups $(H\subset G)$ such that $(G/H)$ admits a $G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structure, and then we find the corresponding pairs $(H\subset G)$. Though the first step is a standard technique, we describe all these algebras in detail, since we use this description in the second step.
Let $G$ be a connected compact Lie group which acts transitively on a connected compact smooth manifold $M^7 = G/H$. Without lost of generality we can assume that $G$ acts effectively on $M$.
Let $\langle , \rangle _{{\mathfrak g}}$ be a left and right invariant metric on $G$. Denote by $\rho$ the isotropy representation of $H$ on the tangent space $T_{eH} G/H = {{\mathbb R}}^7$. Let ${{\mathfrak g}}$ (resp. ${{\mathfrak h}}$) be the Lie algebra of $G$ (resp. $H$). We write ${{\mathfrak g}}= {{\mathfrak h}}+ V$, where $V $ is the orthogonal complement to ${{\mathfrak h}}$ w.r.t. $\langle , \rangle _{{\mathfrak g}}$. Denote by $\bar \rho$ the induced isotropy action of ${{\mathfrak h}}$ on $ V$. Since the action of $G$ is almost effective, $ker \bar \rho = 0$.
Taking into account Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.6\] and our discussion at the end of subsection 2.1 we get immediately
\[red1\] $G/H$ admits a $G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structure if and only if $\rho (H)$ lies in a compact subgroup $SO (4)_{3,4} \subset Gl(V)$. Consequently, the Lie subalgebra $\bar\rho({{\mathfrak h}}) \subset {{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$ is one of the following subalgebras
1\) $\bar\rho( {{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$; (we shall use $``= "$, “be", “coincide with", “equal to" for “be conjugate to", if no misunderstanding arises).
2\) $\bar\rho({{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathfrak so}}(3)$ with three possible embeddings into ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$:\
(2a)- $\bar \rho ({{\mathfrak h}}) = so(3)_{3,3}$;\
(2b)- $\bar \rho ({{\mathfrak h}})= {{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{3,4}$;\
(2c) - $\bar \rho ({{\mathfrak h}}) ={{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{0,4}$.
3\) $\bar\rho({{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathfrak so}}(3)+ {{\mathbb R}}$ with two possible embeddings into ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$;\
(3a) - the summand ${{\mathfrak so}}(3) \subset \bar\rho({{\mathfrak h}})$ coincides with ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{3,4}$,\
(3b) - the summand ${{\mathfrak so}}(3) \subset \bar\rho({{\mathfrak h}})$ coincides with ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{0,4}$.
4\) $\bar\rho( {{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathbb R}}^2 $.
5\) $\bar\rho( {{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathbb R}}^1 = {{\mathfrak so}}(2) $ (there are infinitely many inequivalent embeddings of ${{\mathfrak so}}(2)$ into ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)$).
6\) $\bar\rho({{\mathfrak h}}) = 0 $.
Let us explain our method to find all pairs $(H \subset G)$ satisfying the conditions in our classification.
By Levy decomposition theorem we can represent $G $ as a quotient $(G ^{sc} \times T^k)/Z $, where $G^{sc}$ is a connected simply-connected semisimple compact Lie group and $Z$ is a finite central subgroup of $\hat G = G ^{sc} \times T^k$. Denote by $p$ the projection $\hat G \to G$. Note that the action of $\hat G $ on $\hat G/ p ^{-1} (H)$ is almost effective. Moreover the image of the isotropy action of $p^{-1}( H)$ on $V$ coincides with the image of the isotropy action of $H$ on $V$. Hence $\hat G/p ^{-1}(H)$ admits a $\hat G $-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structure, if $G/H$ does. Next we observe that the effectiveness of the action of $G$ on $G/H$ is equivalent to the relation ${{\mathcal Z}}(G) \cap H = Id$, assuming that the action of $G$ on $G/H$ is almost effective, i.e. $\ker \bar \rho = 0$. This is equivalent to the relation ${{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G) \cap p ^{-1} (H) = Z$. Under the assumption that $\hat G$ acts on $\hat G/H'$ almost effectively, we reduce a classification of all pairs $H\subset G$ satisfying our conditions to a classification of all pairs $(H'\subset \hat G)$ such that $\hat G /H'$ admits a $\hat G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structure. To get the corresponding groups $H\subset G$ we set $G = \hat G/ ({{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)\cap H')$, $H = H'/ ( {{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)\cap H')$. We solve this problem in the following steps. In the first step, for each possibility among (1) -(6) above, we find all pairs $({{\mathfrak h}}\subset {{\mathfrak g}})$ of a compact Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak h}}$ of co-dimension 7 in a compact Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak g}}$ such that the adjoint representation $\bar \rho ({{\mathfrak h}})$ on $V$ is the given possibility, moreover $\ker \bar \rho = 0$. Then we find a connected Lie subgroup $H^0\subset \hat G$ with the given Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak h}}\subset {{\mathfrak g}}$. As we have mentioned above, this step is fairly standard.
In the second step we find all Lie subgroups $H$ in $\hat G$ with Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak h}}$ obtained in the first step. This subgroup lies in the normalizer ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G}(H^0)$. It is an extension of a finite subgroup $\Gamma$ in ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} (H^0)/H^0$ by $H^0$. In our note we compute the normalizer of a connected Lie subgroup $H^0$ in a compact Lie group $G$ by using ad hoc methods for each separate case. The invariance principle as well as the Schur’s Lemma and its consequence are also used frequently in our consideration.
In the third step we verify if the isotropy action of this subgroup $H$ on $V$ lifts to an embedding into the group $SO (4)_{3,4}\subset \tilde G_2$.
In the final step we compute ${{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)\cap H$, knowing ${{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G) = {{\mathcal Z}}( G^{sc}) \times T^k$. The center ${{\mathcal Z}}(G^{sc})$ is known, see e.g. table 10 in [@VO1988].
Now we proceed to consider each possibility listed in Lemma \[red1\].
[*Possibility 1 with $\bar\rho( {{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$*]{}. Taking into account Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.8\] we conclude that ${{\mathfrak g}}$ must be semisimple. Since $\dim {{\mathfrak g}}= 13$ and ${{\mathfrak g}}\supset {{\mathfrak so}}(4)$, we conclude that $ {{\mathfrak g}}= {{\mathfrak so}}(5) + {{\mathfrak so}}(3)$.
\[Proposition.2.2.1\] Suppose that $\hat G/H$ admits a $\hat G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structure such that their corresponding Lie algebras $({{\mathfrak h}}\subset {{\mathfrak g}})$ are in possibility 1. Then $\hat G= G^{sc} = Sp(2)\times Sp(1)$. The corresponding Lie subgroup $H$ is either $Sp(1)_1\times Sp (1)_2$, or the normalizer $Sp(1)_1 \times Sp (1)_2\times {{\mathbb Z}}_2[{{\mathcal Z}}(Sp(1))]$, described in the proof below. The kernel of the $G^{sc}$-action is ${{\mathbb Z}}_2$, or ${{\mathbb Z}}_2 \times {{\mathbb Z}}_2[{{\mathcal Z}}(Sp(1))]$ respectively.
In this case the embedding $\Pi: {{\mathfrak h}}={{\mathfrak so}}(4) = {{\mathfrak so}}(3)_1 +{{\mathfrak so}}(3)_2 \to {{\mathfrak g}}= {{\mathfrak so}}(5) +{{\mathfrak so}}(3) $ is defined as follows. $\Pi$ is a direct sum of the canonical embedding $\Pi ^0 : {{\mathfrak h}}= {{\mathfrak sp}}(1)_1 + {{\mathfrak sp}}(1)_2 \to {{\mathfrak sp}}(2) = {{\mathfrak so}}(5) \subset {{\mathfrak g}}$ and the projection $\Pi ^1 $ from ${{\mathfrak h}}$ to the ideal ${{\mathfrak so}}(3) \subset {{\mathfrak g}}$. In this note we use frequently isomorphism ${{\mathfrak sp}}(1) = {{\mathfrak so}}(3)={{\mathfrak su}}(2)$, so ${{\mathfrak sp}}(1)_i$ denotes the same subalgebra ${{\mathfrak so}}(3)_i$, i =1,2. The space $V$ is $W + W ^\perp$, where $W$ is the orthogonal complement of $\Pi^0 ({{\mathfrak sp}}(1)_1 + {{\mathfrak sp}}(1)_2)$ in ${{\mathfrak sp}}(2)$ and $W^\perp$ is the orthogonal complement of $W$ in $V$. We also denote by $\Pi$ the lift of the representation $\Pi$ to the corresponding simply connected Lie group $G^{sc}$. Let $Sp(1)_i$ be the corresponding Lie subgroup in $G^{sc} = Sp(2) \times Sp(1)$ with Lie subalgebra ${{\mathfrak sp}}(1)_i$. Below we decompose ${{\mathfrak sp}}(2) = \Pi^0 ({{\mathfrak h}}) +W$ in a matrix expression, cf. [@Helgason1978 p. 446].
$${{\mathfrak sp}}(2) = \left(\begin{array}{cccc}
ia_1 & w_1 & z_1& w_2\\
- \bar w_1 & ia_2 & w_2& z_2\\
-\bar z_1 &- \bar w_2 & -ia_1 & w_1\\
- \bar w_2 & -\bar z_2& -\bar w_1 & -ia_2\\
\end{array}\right) \subset {{\mathfrak su}}(4), w_i , z_i \in {{\mathbb C}}\text{ and } a_i \in {{\mathbb R}}.$$
The subspace $W$ consists of those matrices with vanishing $a_i$ and $z_i$. Here is a matrix representation of
$$W ^\perp =\{ \left(\begin{array}{cccc}
0 & 0 & 0& 0\\
0 & -ia_2 & 0& -z_2\\
0& 0 & 0 & 0\\
0 & \bar z_2& 0 & ia_2\\
\end{array}\right), \left (\begin{array}{cc}
ia_2 & z_2\\
-\bar z_2& -ia_2\\
\end{array}\right)\} \in {{\mathfrak sp}}(2) + {{\mathfrak sp}}(1).$$ By Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.8\], the image of the adjoint representation $\rho(Sp(1)_1 \times Sp(1)_2)$ on $V = W+ W ^{\perp}$ is $SO(4)_{3,4}$. Using the invariance principle, we conclude that the normalizer of $Sp(1)_1 \times Sp (1)_2$ in $G ^{sc} = Sp (2) \times Sp(1)$ is $(Sp (1)_1 \times Sp (1)_2)\times {{\mathcal Z}}(Sp(1))$. This proves the first and the second assertion of Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.1\]. The last assertion follows from a direct computation.
[*Possibility 2 with ${{\mathfrak h}}= {{\mathfrak so}}(3)$*]{}. Recall that there are three sub-cases (2a), (2b) and (2c). We denote by $SO(3)_{3,3}$ (resp. $SU(2)_{3,4}$, $SU(2)_{2,4}$) the connected Lie subgroup in $SO(4)_{3,4}$ whose Lie algebra is ${{\mathfrak so}}(3)_{3,3}$ (resp. ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{3,4}$, ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{2,4}$).
From Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.8\] we get immediately
\[Lemma.2.2.2\] An embedding $\Pi : so(3)\to gl ( {{\mathbb R}}^7)$ can be factored as an embedding $\Pi: so(3) \to so(4)_{3,4} \subset gl ( {{\mathbb R}}^7)$, if and only if one of the following three conditions holds.
Case (i). $\Pi$ is a direct sum of two real irreducible representations of dimension 3 and one trivial representation. In this case the image of the induced embedding $\Pi _* ({{\mathfrak so}}(3))$ is ${{\mathfrak so}}(3)_{3,3}$ associated with case (2a).
Case (ii). $\Pi$ is a sum of one real irreducible representation of dimension 4 and one real irreducible representation of dimension 3. In this case the image of the induced embedding $\Pi _* ({{\mathfrak so}}(3))$ is ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{3,4}$ associated with case (2b).
Case (iii). $\Pi$ is a sum of a real irreducible representation of dimension 4 and three real representations of dimension 1. In this case the image of the induced embedding $\Pi _* ({{\mathfrak so}}(3))$ is ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{0,4}$ associated with case (2c).
Lemma \[Lemma.2.2.2\] implies that ${{\mathfrak g}}$ cannot contain a commutative ideal of dimension greater than or equal to 4. Taking into account $\dim {{\mathfrak g}}= 10$, we conclude that ${{\mathfrak g}}$ must be one of the following Lie algebras:\
i) ${{\mathfrak g}}= {{\mathfrak so}}(5)$,\
ii) ${{\mathfrak g}}= {{\mathfrak su}}(3) + {{\mathbb R}}^2$,\
iii) ${{\mathfrak g}}= 3 {{\mathfrak so}}(3) + {{\mathbb R}}$.
Let us denote the element $diag (1, -1, -1, -1, -1)\in SO(5)$ by $D_{1,4}$. We denote by $p$ the projection from $Spin (5)$ to $SO(5)$. Then $p^{-1}({{\mathbb Z}}_2 [ D_{1,4}]) = {{\mathbb Z}}_2 \times {{\mathbb Z}}_2 \subset Spin (5)$.
Let $H$ be a Lie subgroup of a Lie group $G$ and $\Gamma$ be a finite subgroup of the normalizer ${{\mathcal N}}_G (H)$. We denote by $H \cdot \Gamma$ the Lie subgroup in $G$ generated by $H$ and $\Gamma$. If the intersection $\Gamma$ with $H$ is the neutral element $e \in G$, and $\Gamma$ is a subgroup of the centralizer ${{\mathcal Z}}_G(H)$, then we also write $H \times \Gamma$ instead of $H \cdot \Gamma$.
\[Proposition.2.2.3\] Suppose that $\hat G/H$ admits a $\hat G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structure such that their corresponding Lie algebras $({{\mathfrak h}}\subset {{\mathfrak g}})$ are in possibility 2. Then one of the following case happens.\
Case (i) with $\hat G = Spin (5)= Sp(2)$. Then $H$ is conjugate to one of the following subgroups\
- $Sp(1)\cdot \Gamma$, where $Sp(1)$ is diagonally embedded into $Sp(1) \times Sp(1) \subset Sp(2)=Spin(5)$ (case (2a)) and $\Gamma \subset p ^{-1}({{\mathbb Z}}_2 [ D_{1,4}])$. The kernel of the action is ${{\mathcal Z}}(Spin(5)) = {{\mathbb Z}}_2$.\
- $ Sp(1) \times \Gamma$, where $Sp(1)$ is the canonically embedded $Sp (1) \subset Sp (2)$ (case (2c)) and $\Gamma$ is a finite subgroup in $ Sp (1)_2 \subset {{\mathcal Z}}_{Sp(2)} (Sp(1))$ described in the proof below. The kernel of the $\hat G$-action on $\hat G/H$ is ${{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G) \cap \Gamma$.\
Case (ii) with $\hat G = SU (3) \times T^2$. Then $H$ is conjugate to $ SU (2)\cdot \Gamma$, where $SU(2)$ corresponds to the irreducible complex representation of ${{\mathfrak h}}$ into $ {{\mathfrak su}}(3)\subset {{\mathfrak g}}$ of dimension 2 (case (2c)) and $\Gamma$ is a finite subgroup of ${{\mathcal Z}}(SU(3))\times T ^2$. The kernel of the $\hat G$-action is $\Gamma$.\
Case (iii) with $\hat G = Sp (1) \times Sp (1)\times Sp (1) \times U(1)$. Then $H$ is $ H^0 \cdot \Gamma$. Here $H ^0$ is the subgroup $Sp (1)$ diagonally embedded in $Sp(1)\times Sp(1) \times Sp(1)\subset \hat G$ (case (2a)) and $\Gamma$ is a finite subgroup of $ {{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)$. The kernel of the $\hat G$-action is ${{\mathbb Z}}_2[{{\mathcal Z}}(H^0)] \cdot \Gamma$.
In case (i) direct computations on Lie algebras show that there are only two possible (up to a conjugation) embeddings ${{\mathfrak so}}(3) \to {{\mathfrak so}}(5)\subset gl ({{\mathbb R}}^5)$ whose irreducible components are of real dimensions 3, 4 respectively. The first one has its adjoint representation on $V$ as a sum of two real irreducible representations of dimension 3 and one trivial representation, so it is case (2a). The corresponding pair of connected Lie groups is $(Spin (3)\subset Spin (5))$.
The isotropy representation of the second embedding of ${{\mathfrak h}}$ into ${{\mathfrak so}}(5)$ is a sum of one real irreducible representation of dimension 4 and three real irreducible representations of dimension 1, so it is case (2c). The corresponding pair of connected Lie groups is $(Sp(1)\subset Sp (2))$.
We now examine which disconnected Lie subgroup $H$ in $G$ satisfies the condition of case (i). First let us assume that its identity connected component $H^0 = Spin(3) \subset Spin(5)=G$ satisfies the condition of case (ii), associated with possibility (2a). To find the normalizer ${{\mathcal N}}_{Spin (5)} Spin (3)$ we project it into the group $SO(5)$. The normalizer ${{\mathcal N}}_{SO (5)} (SO (3))$ is $S(O(2) \times O(3))$, according to the invariance principle. The group $S(O(2) \times O(3))$ is generated by $SO(2) \times SO(3)$ and $D_{1,4}$, moreover $SO(2) \cdot {{\mathbb Z}}_2 [D_{1,4}]$ is ${{\mathcal Z}}_{SO(5)} (SO(3))$. Clearly $(Ad_{D_{1,4}})_{| V}$ belongs to $SO (4)_{3,4}$. Let $H'$ be the image of the projection of $H$ on $SO(5)$. Then $H' = SO (3)\cdot \Gamma$, where $\Gamma \subset (SO(2)\cdot {{\mathbb Z}}_2 [D_{1,4}])$. A direct calculation shows that the image of the adjoint action of $\Gamma$ on $V$ preserves the $SO(4)_{3,4}$-invariant subspace ${{\mathbb R}}^4 \subset V$, if and only if $\Gamma \subset {{\mathbb Z}}_2 [D_{1,4}]$. (Alternatively we compute that ${{\mathcal N}}_{SO(4)_{3,4}} ( SO (3)_{3,3}) = SO(3)_{3,3} \cdot {{\mathbb Z}}_2[a]$, where $a$ is the generator of the center ${{\mathcal Z}}(SO(4))_{3,4}$, which gives us the same conclusion.) A direct computation gives the kernel of the action.
Now we assume that $H^0$ satisfies the condition of case (ii), associated with possibility (2c). Using the invariance principle, we observe that the normalizer ${{\mathcal N}}_{Sp(2)} (H^0)$ is $H^0 \times Sp (1)_2$, where $Sp(1)_2\subset {{\mathcal Z}}_{Sp (2)}(H ^0)$. Thus $H $ is of the form $H^0 \times \Gamma$, where $\Gamma$ is a finite subgroup in $Sp(1)_2$. We observe that the image of the adjoint representation of $H^0 \times Sp(1)_2$ on $V$ coincides with the subgroup $SO(4)_{3,4} \subset \tilde G_2\subset Gl (V)$. Thus the adjoint representation of $H$ lifts to an embedding of $\rho(H)$ into $SO (4)_{3,4} \subset \tilde G_2 \subset Gl (V)$. This proves Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.3\], case (i).
In the second case (ii) the corresponding group $\hat G$ is $SU(3) \times T^2$. A simple calculation using Lemma \[Lemma.2.2.2\] shows that there is only one (up to a conjugation) Lie connected subgroup $H \subset \hat G$ such that ${{\mathfrak h}}={{\mathfrak so}}(3)$, and the image of the isotropy representation of the corresponding connected Lie group $H^0$ is a subgroup of $\tilde G_2$. The group $H^0$ is $ SU(2)\subset SU(3) \subset \hat G$ which corresponds to the irreducible complex representation of ${{\mathfrak h}}$ of dimension 2. Its isotropy representation is a sum of a real irreducible representation of dimension 4 and three trivial representations, so it corresponds to case (2c).
To complete our examination of this case (ii) we need only to consider the case of a disconnected subgroup $H$. Suppose that $H$ is a subgroup of ${{\mathcal N}}_{SU(3)\times T^2} (H^0)$ having $H^0$ as its identity connected component. According to the invariance principle, ${{\mathcal N}}_{SU(3)\times T ^2} (H^0)$ is $S(U(2) \times U(1)) \times T^2$. Thus $H$ has the form $H^0 \cdot \Gamma$, where $\Gamma $ is a finite subgroup of ${{\mathcal Z}}_{SU(3)} (SU(2))\times T^2$. Since the action of $\Gamma$ on $V$ has at least three trivial components of dimension 1, we conclude that $\rho (\Gamma)$ is a subgroup of $\rho (H^0)$. Hence $\Gamma\subset {{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)\times T^2$. This proves Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.3\], case (ii).
In the last case (iii) the corresponding group $\hat G$ is $Sp (1)\times Sp (1) \times Sp (1) \times U(1)$. Using Lemma \[Lemma.2.2.2\] we conclude that any connected subgroup $H^0$ must be embedded diagonally into $Sp(1) \times Sp(1) \times Sp (1)$. It is easy to check that the isotropy action of $H^0$ on $V$ is a sum of two real irreducible representations of dimension 3 and one trivial representation of dimension 1, so it corresponds to case (2a).
Now we prove that any disconnected subgroup $H\subset \hat G$ satisfies the condition of case (iii), if its identity connected component $H^0$ does. Let us compute ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} (H^0)$. Since $Aut (H^ 0) = Int (H^0)$, we have ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} (H ^ 0) = H^ 0 \cdot {{\mathcal Z}}_{\hat G} (H^0)$. Clearly ${{\mathcal Z}}_{\hat G} (H^0) = H^0 \cdot {{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)$. Hence the image of ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} (H ^0)$ under its isotropy action on $V$ is equal to the image of the isotropy action of $H^0$. This completes the proof of Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.3\].
[*Possibility 3 with ${{\mathfrak h}}= {{\mathfrak so}}(3) + {{\mathbb R}}$*]{}. Lemma \[Lemma.2.2.2\] implies that ${{\mathfrak g}}$ cannot contain a commutative ideal of dimension greater than or equal to 5. Since $\dim {{\mathfrak g}}= 11$, taking into account ${{\mathfrak g}}\supset {{\mathfrak h}}$, we conclude that ${{\mathfrak g}}$ is one of the following Lie algebras\
i) $3{{\mathfrak so}}(3) +{{\mathbb R}}^2$,\
ii) ${{\mathfrak so}}(5) + {{\mathbb R}}$,\
iii) ${{\mathfrak su}}(3) + {{\mathfrak so}}(3)$,\
iv) ${{\mathfrak su}}(3) + {{\mathbb R}}^3$.
We exclude the last case (iv), since by Lemma \[Lemma.2.2.2\] the adjoint representation of ${{\mathfrak h}}$ on $V$ restricted to ${{\mathfrak so}}(3)\subset {{\mathfrak h}}$ has no irreducible component of dimension 5, and if this representation has an irreducible component of real dimension 4, the other irreducible subspace has real dimension 3.
Suppose that $H_1$ and $H_2$ are connected Lie subgroups in a connected Lie group $G$ such that their Lie algebras ${{\mathfrak h}}_1$ and ${{\mathfrak h}}_2$ satisfy the condition $[{{\mathfrak h}}_1, {{\mathfrak h}}_2] = 0$. Then we denote by $H_1\cdot H_2$ the connected Lie subgroup in $G$ whose Lie algebra is the direct sum ${{\mathfrak h}}_1 + {{\mathfrak h}}_2$. From Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.8\] we get immediately
\[Lemma.2.2.4\] In group $SO(4)_{3,4}$ there is no subgroup of the form $SO(3) \cdot U(1)$. A subgroup $SU(2) \cdot U(1)\subset Gl ({{\mathbb R}}^7)$ corresponding to a representation $\Pi: {{\mathfrak su}}(2) + {{\mathbb R}}\to {{\mathfrak gl}}({{\mathbb R}}^7)$ can be seen as a subgroup of $SO(4)_{3,4}\subset Gl ({{\mathbb R}}^7)$, if and only if one of the following two conditions (i) and (ii) is fulfilled.\
(i) $\Pi$ is a sum of one real irreducible component of dimension 4, corresponding to the highest weight $(1,1)$ on its Cartan subalgebra, and one real irreducible component of dimension 2, corresponding to the highest weight $(0,1)$ on its Cartan subalgebra, and one trivial component of dimension 1 (so $\bar \rho({{\mathfrak h}})$ is in situation (3b)).\
(ii) $\Pi$ is a sum of one real irreducible component of dimension 4, corresponding to the highest weight $(1,1)$ on its Cartan subalgebra, and one real irreducible component of dimension 3, corresponding to the highest weight $(2,0)$ on its Cartan subalgebra (so $\bar \rho({{\mathfrak h}})$ is in situation (3a)).
Using Lemma \[Lemma.2.2.4\] (or Lemma \[Lemma.2.2.2\]) we also exclude the first case (i) of possibility 3 by looking at all possible embeddings of the summand ${{\mathfrak h}}\subset {{\mathfrak so}}(3)$ into ${{\mathfrak g}}= 2{{\mathfrak so}}(3) +{{\mathbb R}}^2$. It remains to consider cases (ii) and (iii).
\[Proposition.2.2.5\] Suppose that $\hat G/H$ admits a $\hat G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structure such that their corresponding Lie algebras $({{\mathfrak h}}\subset {{\mathfrak g}})$ are in possibility 3. Then one of the following cases happens. (A detailed description of $H$ will be given in the proof.)
In case (ii) with $\hat G = Sp(2) \times U(1)_2$, the Lie subgroup $H$ is $SU(2) \cdot U(1)_{k,l}\cdot \Gamma$ with $k\not = 0$, $(k,l) = 1$, and $\Gamma$ is a finite subgroup of $U(1)_2$. The kernel of the action is ${{\mathbb Z}}_2[{{\mathcal Z}}(Sp(2))]\times \Gamma$.
In case (iii) with $\hat G = SU(3) \times SU (2)$, the Lie subgroup $H$ is one of the following forms.\
- $H = SU(2)_{2,0} \cdot U(1)_{k,l} \cdot \Gamma$, where $\Gamma$ is a finite subgroup in ${{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)$, (so $\bar \rho({{\mathfrak h}})$ is in case (3b)), moreover $kl \not=0$. We have ${{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G) \cap H^0= Id$, if $(2k-3l)(4k-3l) \not = 0$. In general ${{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G) \cap H$ can be any subgroup of ${{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G) = {{\mathbb Z}}_3 \times {{\mathbb Z}}_2$ depending on $\Gamma$ and $k,l$.\
- $H =SU(2)_{2,3}\cdot U(1)_{1,0}\cdot\Gamma$, where $\Gamma \subset {{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)$, (so $\bar \rho({{\mathfrak h}})$ is in case (3a)). The kernel of the $\hat G$-action is ${{\mathbb Z}}_2[{{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)\cap H^0)] \cdot \Gamma$.
Let us consider case (ii) with ${{\mathfrak g}}= {{\mathfrak so}}(5)+ {{\mathbb R}}$. We can assume that the projection $\Pi _1 ({{\mathbb R}})$ of the summand ${{\mathbb R}}\subset {{\mathfrak h}}$ on ${{\mathfrak so}}(5)$ is nonzero, otherwise the kernel of the isotropy action of ${{\mathfrak h}}$ contains ${{\mathbb R}}$, and the action of $\bar \rho({{\mathfrak h}})$ is not faithful.
A direct computation shows that the embedding of ${{\mathfrak so}}(3)$ to ${{\mathfrak so}}(5)$ is associated with a real irreducible representation of ${{\mathfrak so}}(3)$ of dimension 4 (complex dimension 2), and the projection $\Pi_1 ({{\mathfrak h}})$ is the Lie algebra of the centralizer ${{\mathcal Z}}_{{{\mathfrak so}}(5)} ({{\mathfrak so}}(3))$. A subgroup $SU(2) \times U(1)\subset
Sp (2) \times U(1)_2$ having this Lie algebra is determined by 2 integers $(k, l)$ which are the coordinates of the component $U(1)$ w.r.t. $ U(1) _ {1 } \subset {{\mathcal Z}}_{Sp (2) } (SU (2))$ and $U(1) _ 2$. We denote this subgroup by $SU(2) \cdot U(1) _{k, l}$. By our condition $k \not= 0$ and $(k, l) = 1$. We check easily that the associated isotropy representation of $SU(2) \cdot U(1)_{k,l}\subset Sp(2)\times U(1)_2$ corresponds to case (i) in Lemma \[Lemma.2.2.4\].
Now let us find all Lie subgroups $H$ in $\hat G$ satisfying the condition of Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.5\], case (ii). By our consideration above it follows that the identity connected component $H^0$ of $H$ is embedded in $Sp(2)\times U(1)_2$ as $SU(2) \cdot U(1)_{k,l}$. Clearly $U(1)_2\subset {{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} (H^0) $. Using the invariance principle we conclude that ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} (H^0) = H^0 \times U(1)_2$. This proves the first assertion of Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.5\], case (ii). The second assertion follows by a direct calculation.
Now let us consider case (iii) with ${{\mathfrak g}}= {{\mathfrak su}}(3) + {{\mathfrak so}}(3)$. Denote by $\Pi_1$ the projection of ${{\mathfrak h}}$ on the summand ${{\mathfrak su}}(3)\subset {{\mathfrak g}}$ and by $\Pi _2$ the projection of ${{\mathfrak h}}$ on the summand ${{\mathfrak so}}(3) \subset {{\mathfrak g}}$. Using Lemma \[Lemma.2.2.4\] we conclude that $\Pi_1 ({{\mathbb R}})$ is nonzero, otherwise the restriction of the isotropy action to the summand ${{\mathbb R}}\subset {{\mathfrak h}}$ would have at least 5 trivial components. Repeating this argument, we conclude that $\Pi_1 ({{\mathfrak so}}(3))$ is also nonzero. Clearly the embedding of $\Pi_1({{\mathfrak so}}(3))$ into ${{\mathfrak su}}(3) \subset {{\mathfrak gl}}({{\mathbb C}}^3)$ must correspond to its complex irreducible representation of complex dimension 2, because its image commutes with $\Pi _1 ({{\mathbb R}})$. Hence the projection $\Pi _1 ({{\mathfrak h}})$ is defined uniquely up to automorphisms of ${{\mathfrak su}}(3)$. Hence the embedding of the component $ U(1)$ into $ SU (3) \times SU(2) = G ^{sc}$ is characterized by two integers $(k, l)$ which are the coordinates of $U(1)$ w.r.t. $U(1)_1$ and $U(1)_2$, where $U(1) _1 = {{\mathcal Z}}_{SU(3)} ( SU(2) )$ and $U(1)_2$ being a maximal torus of $SU(2)$. Further we observe that there are two possible sub-cases.
If $\Pi _2 ({{\mathfrak so}}(3))$ is empty, then $k \not = 0$ and $l \not = 0$. Denote by $SU(2)_{2,0}\cdot U(1)_{k, l}$ the connected Lie subgroup of $SU(3) \times SU(2)$ having Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak h}}$ with this property. Its isotropy representation corresponds to case (3b) in Lemma \[Lemma.2.2.4\].(i). If $\Pi_2({{\mathfrak so}}(3))$ is not empty, then $l = 0$, and hence $k = 1$. Denote by $SU(2)_{2,3}\cdot U(1)_{1,0}$ the Lie subgroup of $SU(3) \times SU(2)$ having Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak h}}$ with this property. Its isotropy representation corresponds to case (3a), see also Lemma \[Lemma.2.2.4\].(ii).
Now we consider disconnected Lie subgroups $H$ whose Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak h}}$ is in case (iii), the first sub-case (3b). Denote by the same $\Pi_i$ the lift of $\Pi_i$ from ${{\mathfrak g}}$ to $\hat G$. Since $k \cdot l \not = 0$, we have $$\Pi_2[{{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} (SU(2)_{2,0}\cdot U(1)_{k,l})] \subset
{{\mathcal N}}_{SU(2)} \Pi_2 (U(1)_{k,l}) =\Pi_2 (U(1)_{k,l})\cdot {{\mathbb Z}}_2[A_{(12)}].$$ Here $A_{(12)} = \left( \begin{array} {cc}
0 &\sqrt{-1} \\
\sqrt{-1}& 0 \\
\end{array}
\right)\in SU(2).$
But $Ad_{A_{(12)}}$ maps $U(1)_{k,l}$ to $U(1)_{k,-l}$. Now it is easy to see that ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G}( SU(2)_{2,0}\cdot U(1)_{k,l})= SU(2)_{2,0}\cdot U(1)_{k,l} \cdot U(1) \cdot {{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)$, where $U(1)\subset SU(2)\subset \hat G$.
Let $x\in H \cap U(1)$. Since $x$ commutes with $H^0$, if $Ad_x$ belongs to $SO(4)_{3,4}$, the image $Ad_x$ must belong to $Ad_{U(1)_{k,l}}$. Hence $x \in {{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)$. This proves $H \subset H^0 \cdot {{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)$. A direct calculation gives the kernel of the $\hat G$-action in this case.
In the next sub-case (3a), using the invariance principle, we conclude that ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G}(SU(2)_{2,3}\cdot U(1)_{1,0}) = SU(2)_{2,3}\cdot U(1)_{1,0}\cdot {{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)$. A direct computation completes the proof of Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.5\].
[*Possibility 4 with ${{\mathfrak h}}= {{\mathbb R}}^ 2$*]{}. If $rk\, {{\mathfrak g}}\ge 4$, then the dimension of the fixed-point of the action of $\rho (H)$ on $V$ is at least 2 which does not agree with the action of the maximal torus of $SO(4)_{3,4}$ on ${{\mathbb R}}^7$. Thus $ {{\mathfrak g}}$ must be one of the following Lie algebras\
i) ${{\mathfrak so}}(3) + {{\mathfrak so}}(3) + {{\mathfrak so}}(3)$,\
ii) ${{\mathfrak su}}(3) + {{\mathbb R}}$.
In case (ii) instead of working with $\hat G = SU(3) \times U(1)$ it is more convenient to work with $G=U(3) = \hat G/ D_3$, where $D_3 = \{ (g, g ^{-1}) | g = diag (e ^{ ({\sqrt{-1}2k\pi\over 3}}, e^{{\sqrt{-1}2k\pi\over 3}}, e^{{\sqrt{-1}2k\pi\over 3}}), k =1,2, 3\}$. We note that there is a 1-1 correspondence between connected Lie subgroups $H$ in $\hat G$ and connected Lie subgroups $H'$ in $U(3)$ having the same Lie algebra ${{\mathfrak h}}\subset {{\mathfrak g}}= {{\mathfrak su}}(3) + {{\mathbb R}}$. Furthermore, ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G}(H) = \pi ^{-1} ({{\mathcal N}}_{U(3)} ( H'))$, where $\pi : \hat G \to U(3)$ is the natural projection. Thus it suffices to work with $G=U(3)$. As we will see below, ${{\mathcal N}}_G(H')$ is generated by $H'$ and a subgroup $\Gamma \subset {{\mathcal Z}}(G)$. Hence, to get a full list of a classification in case (ii), working with $G=U(3)$ instead of $\hat G$, we need examine only one extra possibility, if the corresponding connected Lie subgroup $H \subset \hat G$ contains $D_3$.
\[Proposition.2.2.6\] In case (i) with $\hat G = SU (2) \times SU(2) \times SU(2)$, the Lie subgroup $H$ is of the form $U(1) _{0, 1, - 1} \cdot U(1) _{1, 0, - 1}\cdot \Gamma$, where $\Gamma \subset {{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)\times {{\mathbb Z}}_2[ (A_{(12)}, A_{(12)}, A_{(12)})]$. The kernel of the $\hat G$-action is ${{\mathbb Z}}_2[-Id, -Id, Id] \cdot ( \Gamma\cap {{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G))$.\
In case (ii) with $ G = U(3)$, the Lie subgroup $H$ is of the form of $U(1)_{k,k,k+1}\cdot U(1)_{m, m+1, m+1} \cdot \Gamma$, where $\Gamma \subset {{\mathcal Z}}( G)$. The kernel of the $ G$-action is $\Gamma$.\
A detailed description of $H$ will be given in the proof below.
Let us fix a subgroup $SO(2)_{2,2} \subset SO(3)_{3,3}\subset SO(4)_{3,4}$. We can choose a subgroup $U(1)_{0,4} \subset SU(2)_{0,4} \subset SO (4)_{3,4}$ such that these subgroups are generators of a maximal torus of $SO(4)_{3,4}$. Any subgroup $U(1)$ in this torus shall be denoted by $U(1)_{p,q}$ with respect to this lattice.
In case (i) let us fix a maximal torus $ U(1) _1 \times U(1)_2 \times U(1)_3 $ of $\hat G = SU(2)_1 \times SU(2)_2 \times SU(2)_3$ such that $U(1)_i \subset SU(2) _i$. Let $ T ^2 $ be a torus in $\hat G$ such that $\rho (T^2) \subset
SO(4)_{3,4}$. W.l.g. we can assume that $\rho ( T ^2) = U(1)_{0,4} \cdot SO(2)_{2,2}$. Let $U(1)_{k,l, m}$ be the preimage $\rho ^{-1} (U(1)_{p,q})$, where $(k,l,m)$ are the coordinates with respect to $U(1)_i$. The weights of the adjoint action of $\rho ^{-1} (U(1)_{p,q})$ on $V$ are $(1, \exp\pm 2k\sqrt{-1}\theta, \exp\pm 2l\sqrt{-1}\theta, \exp \pm 2m\sqrt{-1}\theta)$ which must coincide with the weights of the representation of $U(1)_{p,q}$ on ${{\mathbb R}}^7$ which are $(1,\exp \pm \sqrt{-1}p\theta, \exp\pm \sqrt{-1}q\theta,\\
\exp\mp \sqrt{-1}(p +q)\theta)$. Taking into account that the isotropy action of $U(1)_i$ on $V_i \subset {{\mathfrak su}}(2)_i$ is a double covering, we conclude that $k = \pm p, l = \pm q, m= \mp (p +q)$. Each choice of the sign of the weights of the action of the torus on $V ^7$ corresponds to a different solution of the coordinates $(k,l,m)$ of $T^2$. Observing that $T^2$ is invariant under the inverse map $ x\mapsto x ^{-1}$, we have actually only four different solutions for the coordinates $(k,l,m)$. Using the permutations between $SU(2)_i$, we get only three different solutions for $T^2$:\
$T ^2_1 = U(1) _{0, 1, -1} \times U(1)_{1, 0, -1}$, $T^2_2 = U(1) _{0,1,1} \times U(1)_{1,0,1}$, $T^2_3 = U(1)_{0,-1, 1} \times U(1)_{1,0,1}$.\
It is easy to see that $T^2_2 $ and $T^2 _3$ are equivalent up to automorphism of $\hat G$. Since we can change the orientation of each $U(1)_i \subset SU(2) _i$, the tori $T^2_1$ and $T^2_2$ are equivalent. Thus up to conjugation by automorphism of $\hat G$, there is only one choice of $T^2$ satisfying our condition.
To complete the examination of case (i) we need to find all disconnected Lie subgroup $H$ whose identity connected Lie component $H^0$ is the torus $U(1) _{0, 1, -1} \cdot U(1) _{1, 0, - 1}$. Clearly $T^3 = U(1)_1 \times U(1)_2 \times U(1)_3 \subset {{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} (H^0)$. Considering the projection of ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G}(H^0)$ on each factor $SU(2)_i$ we conclude that ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} (H ^0) \subset T^3 \cdot ({{\mathbb Z}}_2[A_{(12)}]) ^3 $.
A direct calculation shows that ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} (H ^0) = T^3 \cdot {{\mathbb Z}}_2[(A_{(12)}, A_{(12)}, A_{(12)})]$. Hence $H = H^0 \cdot \Gamma$, where $\Gamma$ is a finite subgroup in $ T^3 \cdot {{\mathbb Z}}_2[(A_{(12)}, A_{(12)}, A_{(12)})]$. Further we note that the element $Ad_{( A_{(12)}, A_{(12)},A_{(12)})}$ in $SO(V^7)$ is $ D_7 = diag (-1, 1, -1, 1-1, 1, -1)$, which belongs to $SO(4)_{3,4}$.
Clearly the element $Ad_x$ in $SO(V^7)$, where $x\in T ^3$, belongs to $SO(4)_{3,4}$, if and only if $x \in H^0 \cdot {{\mathcal Z}}(G)$. Thus the image $\rho(H ^0 \cdot \Gamma)$ belongs to $SO(4)_{3,4}$, if and only if $\Gamma \subset {{\mathcal Z}}(G) \cdot {{\mathbb Z}}_2[(A_{12}, A_{(12)}, A_{(12)})]$. A direct computation yields the second statement of Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.6\].
It remains to consider case (ii) with the corresponding group $ G = U(3)$. Now we use the notations $U(1)_1 , U(1)_2, U(1) _ 3$ for the generators of the maximal torus of $U(3)$. Suppose that there is $T ^2 \subset U(1)_1 \times U(1) _2 \times U(1)_3$ such that $\rho ( T^2) = U(1)_{0,4}\cdot SO(2) _{2,2} \subset
SO(4) _{3,4}$. The weights of the isotropy action of $U(1)_{k,l,m}$ is $(1, \exp\pm \sqrt{-1}(k-l), \exp \pm (l-m), \exp \sqrt{-1}(k-m))$ and the weights of the representation of $U(1)_{p,q}$ are $(\exp \pm p, \exp\pm q, \exp\mp (p +q))$. Thus $T^2 $ must be $U(1)_{k, k, k +1}\cdot U(1)_{m,m+1, m+1}$ or $U(1)_{k,k,k-1}\cdot U(1)_{m,m-1, m-1}$. These two families of solutions are actually mirror identical.
Now let us find all disconnected Lie group $H$ whose identity component $H^0$ is conjugate to the torus $T ^2_{k,m} =U(1)_{k, k, k+1} \cdot U(1) _{m, m+1, m +1}$. Since ${{\mathfrak h}}$ contains a regular element, it follows that the identity connected component of ${{\mathcal Z}}_{\hat G} (H^0)$ is a torus $T ^3$. Denote by $lT^3$ the Lie algebra of $T^3$. Using the invariance principle applying to $W _1 ^\perp = lT ^3 \subset {{\mathfrak g}}$, we conclude that ${{\mathcal N}}_G (H ^0)$ leaves $T^3$ invariantly. Hence ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} (H ^0)$ is a subgroup of ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G }( T ^3) = T ^3 \cdot \Sigma_3$, where $\Sigma _3$ is the Weyl group generated by two elements of order 3 and of order 2 in $SU(3)$.
Since $(Ad_{ \Sigma _3})_{| {{\mathfrak g}}} \subset SO ({{\mathfrak g}})$, an element $x\in \Sigma _3$ belongs to the normalizer ${{\mathcal N}}_G ( H^0)$, if and only if it leaves the orthogonal complement $\langle(-(m +1), (m- k) , k )\rangle _{{\mathbb R}}$ of ${{\mathfrak h}}$ in $lT ^3= {{\mathbb R}}^3$ invariantly. The generators of $\Sigma_3$ are
A\_[(123)]{} = (
[ccc]{} 0 & 0 & 1\
1& 0 & 0\
0& 1 & 0\
) B\_[(23)]{} = (
[ccc]{} -1 & 0 & 0\
0 & 0& 1\
0 & 1 & 0\
).
They act on $T ^3$ by permuting coordinates $k,l,m$. We conclude that ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} ( H ^0) = T ^3$, if $T^2_{k,m}$ is regular, i.e. if all three coordinates $-(m+1), (m-k), k$ are mutually different. If $T_{k,m}$ is singular, ${{\mathcal N}}_{\hat G} ( H^0) = T ^3 \cdot \Gamma_0$, where $\Gamma _0 \subset \Sigma_3$ and $Ad_{\Gamma _0}$ permutes two equal coordinates of $(-(m +1), (m- k) , k )$. Arguing as in case (i), we conclude that for regular tori $T^2_{k,m}$ we have $H = H ^ 0 \cdot \Gamma$, where $\Gamma \subset {{\mathcal Z}}(G)$. In this case ${{\mathcal Z}}(G) \cap H = \Gamma$. For a singular torus $T^2_{k,m}= H^0$ we need also to consider the case, when $H$ contains an element of $\Sigma _3$. A direct computation shows that the action $Ad_x$, $x\in \Sigma_3,$ permuting two coordinates of $T ^3$ acts on the invariant subspace ${{\mathbb R}}^3 \subset {{\mathbb R}}^7$ as $ (1, 1, -1)$, hence it does not belong to $SO(4)_{3,4}$. Thus this case cannot happen. This completes our proof.
[*Possibility 5 with ${{\mathfrak h}}= {{\mathbb R}}$*]{}. Clearly $rk\, {{\mathfrak g}}\le 5$, since the action of any group $U(1) \subset\tilde G_2$ on $ {{\mathbb R}}^7$ is non-trivial. Since $\dim {{\mathfrak g}}= 8$, we conclude that ${{\mathfrak g}}$ is one of the following Lie algebras:\
i) $2{{\mathfrak so}}(3) + {{\mathbb R}}^2$,\
ii) ${{\mathfrak su}}(3)$.
The Lie group $\hat G$ with Lie algebra $2{{\mathfrak so}}(3)+{{\mathbb R}}^2$ is isomorphic to $SU(2)\times SU(2) \times T^2$. By the same argument as in our consideration of possibility 4, case (ii), we can work equally with the group $U(2)\times U(2)$ instead with $\hat G$. To distinguish the isomorphic factors $U(2)$ in this decomposition of $ G$, we denote them by $U(2)_1$ and $U(2)_2$.
\[Proposition.2.2.7\] In case (i) with $ G=U (2)_1 \times U (2)_2$, the Lie subgroup $H$ is $U(1)_{k, k+1,l, l+1}\cdot \Gamma$, where $\Gamma$ is a finite subgroup of ${{\mathcal Z}}( G) = U (1)_1 \times U(1)_2$. The kernel of this action is $\Gamma$.\
In case (ii) with $\hat G = SU(3)$ the Lie subgroup $H $ is $U(1) _{k,l,m}\times \Gamma$, where $(k,l)= 1$, and $\Gamma$ is any finite subgroup of the maximal torus $T^2 \subset SU(3)$. If $k = l = 1$, then $H$ can also take the form $U(1)_{1,1,-2}\cdot \Gamma$, where $\Gamma$ is a finite subgroup in $SU(2)$. If $k\not= l$, the kernel of the $\hat G$-action is either $Id$ or ${{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G)$, depending on $\Gamma$. If $k = l=1$, the kernel of the $\hat G$-action is ${{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G) = {{\mathbb Z}}_3$.\
A detailed description of $H$ will be given in the proof.
Let us consider case (i) with $G = U(2)_1 \times U(2)_2$. Any embedding $ U(1) = \exp {{\mathfrak h}}$ into $G$ is characterized by a quadruple of integers $(k_1,k_2,l_1,l_2)$ which are coordinates of $U(1)$ in $ U(1)_{11} \times U(1)_{12} \times U(1)_{21} \times U(1)_{22}$, where $U(1)_{ij}\times U(1)_{ii} $ is a maximal torus of $U(2)_i$. We denote by $U(1)_{k_1,k_2,l_1,l_2}$ this subgroup $\exp {{\mathfrak h}}$. The isotropy action of $U(1)_{k_1, k_2, l_1, l_2}$ with parameter $\theta$ has weights $(\exp \pm \sqrt{-1}(k_1-k_2) \theta, \exp\pm \sqrt{-1} (l_1 - l_2) \theta, 1, 1, 1)$. Note that $\rho (U(1)_{k_1,k_2,l_1,l_2})$ can be written as $U(1)_{p,q}$ as in the proof of Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.6\], case (i). Since the weights of the representation of $U(1)_{p,q}$ on ${{\mathbb R}}^7$ are $(1, \exp \pm \sqrt{-1}p\theta, \exp \pm\sqrt{-1}q \theta, \exp \mp \sqrt{-1}(p+q) \theta)$ coincide with the weights of the isotropy action of $U(1)_{k_1, k_2, l_1, l_2}$, we conclude that $U(1)_{p,q}$ must be either $U(1)_{0,4}$ or $SO(2)_{2,2}$ (cf. with the proof of Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.6\], case (i)). So $k_1 - k_2 = \pm 1$ and $l_1 - l_2 = \pm 1$. Up to automorphism of $G$ all these solution subgroups are equivalent, so we will take a representative $U(1)_{k, k+1, l, l+1}$ of these solutions.
We compute ${{\mathcal N}}_G ( U(1)_{k,k + 1,l, l+ 1})$ easily, by using the projection of this subgroup on each component $U(2)_i \subset G$. Knowing ${{\mathcal N}}_{SU (2) } (U (1)) = U(1) \cdot {{\mathbb Z}}_2[A_{(12)}]$ we conclude that ${{\mathcal N}}_G ( U (1)_{k, k+1, l, l+ 1}) = T ^4$, if $(k +1) ^2 + (l + 1) ^2 \not = 0$. Otherwise ${{\mathcal N}}_G ( U(1) _{-1, 1,-1,1}) = T^4 \cdot {{\mathbb Z}}_2 [ (A_{(12)}, A_{(12)})]$.
In the first case $H = U(1)_{k, k +1, l , l+1 } \times \Gamma$, where $\Gamma$ is a finite subgroup of $T^4$. Since the isotropy action of $(\exp \sqrt{-1} \theta _1, \exp \sqrt{-1} \theta _2 , \exp \sqrt{-1} \tau_1, \exp \sqrt{-1} \tau_2)$ acts on the fixed-point subspace ${{\mathbb R}}^3\subset {{\mathbb R}}^7$ of $\rho(H^0)$ as the identity, we conclude that $(Ad_{\Gamma })_{ | V } \subset Ad_{U(1)_{k, k +1, l , l+1 }}$, hence $\Gamma \in H^0 \cdot {{\mathcal Z}}(G)$.
In case $k =1 = l$, a direct computation shows that the action of $Ad_{ (A_{(12)}, A_{(12)})}$ changes orientation of $V^7$. Thus the examination of this case can be done as in the previous case with $k\not = l$. This proves the first assertion of Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.7\]. The second assertion follows by direct computation.
Now let us consider case (ii). An embedding $\exp {{\mathfrak h}}= U(1) \to T ^2 \subset SU (3)= G ^{sc}$ can be characterized by a triple $(k, l, m)$ with $k+l+m = 0$ and $(k, l) = 1$. We denote this subgroup by $U(1)_{k,l,m}$. The weights of the isotropy action of ${{\mathfrak h}}$ on $V$ are $(0, \pm \sqrt{-1} (k-l), \pm \sqrt{-1} (l-m), \pm \sqrt{-1} (m-k))$. The group $ \rho ( U(1))$ can be embedded into $SO(4)_{3,4}$ by setting the coordinates $p, q$ of this subgroup $ \rho (U(1))$ in the maximal torus $ T ^2 $ of $SO(4)_{3,4}$ whose basis is subgroups $U(1)_{0,4} \subset SU(2)_{0,4}$ and $SO(2)_{2,2}\subset SO(3)_{3,3}$ as above. Since the weights of the action of $U(1)_{p,q}$ on ${{\mathbb R}}^7 $ are $1, \exp \pm \sqrt{-1}p\theta, \exp \pm \sqrt{-1} (-p +q)\theta, \exp \mp \sqrt{-1} q \theta$, we have $ p = (k -l), \, -p + q = (l -m), q = k -m$. If $k \not = l$, then $\ker \rho_{U (1)_{1,1,-2}} = {{\mathbb Z}}_3$.
To compute the normalizer ${{\mathcal N}}_{SU(3)} (U(1)_{k,l,m})$, as in the previous case, we observe that the connected component of ${{\mathcal Z}}_{SU(3)} (U(1)_{k,l,m})$ is $T^2$. Applying the invariance principle, we conclude that ${{\mathcal N}}_{SU(3)}( U(1) _{k,l,m})$ leaves the torus $T^2$ invariantly. Hence ${{\mathcal N}}_{SU(3)} (U(1)_{k,l,m})$ is a subgroup of the normalizer ${{\mathcal N}}_{SU(3)} ( T ^2) = T ^2 \cdot \Sigma _3$. Arguing as in possibility 4, case (ii), we conclude that an element $x\in \Sigma _3$ normalizes $U(1)_{k,l,m}$, only if $x = Id$, because $(k,l,m)$ is regular. Thus ${{\mathcal N}}_{SU(3)} (U(1)_{k,l,m}) = T^2 $, for $(k,l) = 1$ and $k \not = l$. It is known that ${{\mathcal N}}_{SU(3)} U(1)_{1,1, -2} = SU(2)\cdot U(1)_{1,1, -2}$.
Now let us consider a disconnected Lie subgroup $H$ whose identity component $H^0$ is $U(1)_{k,l,m}$. Clearly $H= H^0 \times \Gamma$, where $\Gamma$ is a subgroup of the maximal torus $T^2 \subset SU(3)$. The same argument as in the previous case implies that the image of $Ad_{T^2}$ is the maximal torus of $SO(4)_{3,4}$. This proves the third assertion of Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.7\]. Applying Lemma \[Lemma.2.2.4\].ii we prove the assertion for the case $k = l =1$. A direct computation of ${{\mathcal Z}}(G)\cap H$ completes the proof of Proposition \[Proposition.2.2.7\].
[*Possibility 6 with ${{\mathfrak h}}= 0$*]{}. In this case $H$ is a finite subgroup of a compact group $ G $ dimension 7. Thus $\hat G$ is one of the following cases:\
6i) $T^7$,\
6ii) $SU(2)\times T^ 4$,\
6iii) $SU(2)\times SU(2)\times U(1)$.
Clearly any group $G$ listed above admits a $G$-invariant 3-form of $\tilde G_2$-type. Since $T^7$ is commutative, wee need only to verify in case (6ii) (resp. case (6iii)), whether there is a finite non-central subgroup $H\subset G$ such that $\rho(H)\subset SO(3)$ (resp. $\rho (H) \subset SO(3)\times SO(3)$) is a subgroup of $SO(4)_{3,4} \subset G_2$. In case (6ii) the action of any element $e\in \rho (H)$ on ${{\mathbb R}}^7$ leaves a subspace ${{\mathbb R}}^ 5$ invariant. On the other hand, any element $e\not = Id \in SO(4)_{3,4}$ is conjugate to an element in $T^2 \subset SU(3) \subset SO(6) \subset SO(7)$, which cannot have its fixed point subspace in ${{\mathbb R}}^7$ of dimension greater than 3. Thus $\rho (H)$ consists only of the identity. In case (6iii), let $SO(4)_{3,4}$ be a maximal compact subgroup in $\tilde G_2$ containing $\rho(H)$, whose existence follows from [@Helgason1978 Theorem 2.1, p. 256] (see also Lemma \[Lemma.2.1.6\]). We note that $\rho (H)$ is a subgroup of $SO(3)\times SO(3)$ as well as a subgroup of $Gl ({{\mathbb R}}^6) \cap G_2 = SU(3)$, (this is a consequence of the transitivity of the $G_2$-action on $S^6 \subset {{\mathbb R}}^7$ [@Bryant1987], or see [@CS2002 §2] for an alternative argument), taking into account that $SO(4)_{3,4}$ is also a subgroup of $G_2$ by Lemma \[Lemma.3.1.3\]. Let $V_1 = {{\mathbb R}}^3$ and $V_2 = {{\mathbb R}}^3$ be invariant subspaces of $\rho(H)$ and $J$ be the complex structure on ${{\mathbb R}}^6$. There are two possibilities: either $V_2 = JV_1$, or $JV_1 \cap V_1 = {{\mathbb R}}^2_1 $ and $JV_2 \cap V_2 = {{\mathbb R}}^2_2$. In the first possibility $\rho (H) $ is a subgroup of $(SO(V_1) \times SO(V_2)) \cap SU(3) = SO(3)_{3,3}$. In the second possibility $\rho (H)$ is a cyclic subgroup of the form $(x, x^{-1}) \in SO(3) \times SO(3)$. Clearly these subgroups belong to $SO(4)_{3,4}$. Thus we get
\[Proposition.2.2.8\] i) Let $H$ be a finite subgroup of $T^7$. The action of $T^7$ on $T^7/H$ is effective, iff $H = \{e \}$.\
ii) Let $H$ be a finite subgroup of a compact Lie group $G = SU(2) \times T^4$. The quotient space $G/H$ admits a $G$-invariant 3-form of $\tilde G_2$-type, if and only if $\rho(H)$ is central.\
iii) Let $H$ be a finite not central subgroup of a compact Lie group $G = SU(2) \times SU(2) \times U(1)$. The quotient space $G/H$ admits a $G$-invariant 3-form of $\tilde G_2$-type, if and only if $\rho(H)$ is a subgroup of $ SO(3)_{3,3}$ or a cyclic group of the form $(x, x^{-1})\in SO(3) \times SO(3)$.\
Classification theorem
----------------------
In this subsection we summarize our computation in the previous subsection in the following Theorem \[Theorem.2.3.1\], taking into account our remarks before Propositions \[Proposition.2.2.6\] and \[Proposition.2.2.7\]. We also provide a formula to compute the dimension of the space of all invariant $\tilde G_2$-structures on a given manifold $G/H$, see Remark \[Remark.2.3.2\].d.
\[Theorem.2.3.1\] Let $G/H$ be a homogeneous space admitting a $G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structure. We assume that $G$ is a connected compact Lie group and $G$ acts effectively on $G/H$. Then $G/H$ is one of the following spaces
[ccc]{} Case & G & H\
1 & (Sp(2) Sp(1)) /[[Z]{}]{}\_2 & SO (4)\_[3,4]{}\
1 & SO(5) SO (3) & SO(4)\_[3,4]{}\
2ai,[[Z]{}]{}\_2 [[Z]{}]{}\_2 & SO(5) & SO(3)\
2ci,Sp(1) & Sp(2) & Sp (1)\
2ci,SO(3) & SO(5) & Sp (1)\
2cii & SU(3) T\^ 2 & SU(2)\
2cii & PSU(3) T\^ 2 & SU(2)\
2aiii & (Sp(1)Sp(1) Sp(1))/[[Z]{}]{}\_2 U(1) & SO(3)\
2aiii & SO(3) SO(4) U(1) & SO(3)\
2aiii & SO(3) SO(3) SO(3) U(1) & SO(3)\
3bii, (k,l)= 1, k= 0& SO(5) U(1) & SO(3) U(1)\_[k,l]{}\
3biii, (k,l)= 1, kl=0 & SU(3) SU(2) & SU(2)\_[2,0]{}U(1)\_[k,l]{}\
3biii, (k,l)= 1, kl=0 & SU(3) SO(3) & SU(2)\_[2,0]{}U(1)\_[k,l]{}\
3biii, (k,l)= 1, kl=0 & PSU(3) SU(2) & SO(3)\_[2,0]{}U(1)\_[k,l]{}\
3biii, (k,l)= 1, kl=0 & PSU(3) SO(3) & SO(3)\_[2,0]{}U(1)\_[k,l]{}\
3aiii & SU(3)SO(3)& SO(3)\_[2,3]{}U(1)\_[1,0]{}\
3aiii & PSU(3) SO(3) &SO(3)\_[2,3]{}U(1)\_[1,0]{}\
4i &(SU(2) SU(2) SU(2))/[[Z]{}]{}\_2& T\^2 T\^2 [[Z]{}]{}\_2\
4i & SO(3) SO(4) & T\^2 T\^2 [[Z]{}]{}\_2\
4i & SO(3) SO(3) SO(3)& T\^2 T\^2 [[Z]{}]{}\_2\
4ii & SU(3) U(1) & U(1)\_[k,k,k+ 1]{} U(1)\_[m, m+1, m+1]{}\
4ii & U(3) & U(1)\_[k,k,k+ 1]{} U(1)\_[m, m+1, m+1]{}\
4ii & PSU(3)U(1) & U(1)\_[k,k,k+ 1]{} U(1)\_[m, m+1, m+1]{}\
5i & SU(2) SU(2)U(1)U(1) & U (1)\_[k,k+1, l, l+1]{}\
5i & SU(2) U(2) U(1) & U (1)\_[k,k+1, l, l+1]{}\
5i & U(2) U(2) & U (1)\_[k,k+1, l, l+1]{}\
5i & SO(4) U(1)U(1) & U(1)\_[k, k+1, l, l+1 ]{}\
5i & SO(3) SO(3)U(1) U(1) & U (1)\_[k,k+1, l, l+1]{}\
5 ii, (k,l)= 1, k= l & SU(3) & U(1)\_[k,l]{} , U(1)\
5 ii, (k,l)= 1, k= l & PSU(3) & U(1)\_[k,l]{} , U(1)\
5ii, k = 1= l & PSU(3) & U(1)\_[1,1]{}, SU(2)\
6i & T\^7 & { e}\
6ii & SU(2) T\^4& (H) = { e}\
6ii & SO (3) T\^4& (H) = {e }\
6iii, \#(H)<& SU(2) SU(2) S\^1 & ( H) SO(3)\_[3,3]{}, (H) = [[Z]{}]{}\_k\
6iii, \#(H)<& SO (3) SU(2) S\^1& (H) SO(3)\_[3,3]{}, (H) = [[Z]{}]{}\_k\
6iii, \#(H)<& SO (3) SO(3) S\^1& (H) SO(3)\_[3,3]{}, (H) = [[Z]{}]{}\_k
In this table, spaces have the same covering, if and only if they have the same numeration. We also use the notation $PSU(3)$ for the quotient $SU(3)/{{\mathcal Z}}(SU(3))$.
We now define the degree of rigidity of $G/H$ as the dimension of the space of all $G$-invariant 3-forms of $\tilde G_2$-type on $G/H$, and we denote this degree by $d_3(G/H)$. This dimension is equal to the dimension of the space of all $G$-invariant 3-forms on $G/H$, since the $GL({{\mathbb R}}^7)$-orbit of $\tilde \phi$ is open in $\Lambda ^3 ({{\mathbb R}}^7) ^*$. Hence the degree of rigidity of $G/H$ equals the dimension of the space of all $\rho(H)$-invariant 3-forms on $V$.
We have the following decomposition (see e.g. [@Bryant1987], [@VO1988 table 5]) $$\Lambda ^3 ( V ^*) = \Lambda^3_1 (V ^*)\oplus \Lambda ^3 _{7}(V ^* ) \oplus \Lambda ^3_{27} (V ^*),$$ where $\Lambda ^3 _i(V ^*)$ is the component of dimension $i$. The component $\Lambda ^3 _1 $ is generated by $\tilde \phi$, the component $\Lambda ^3 _7$ is $\tilde G_2$-isomorphic (and hence $\rho(H)$-isomorphic) to $V ^* = V $, and $\Lambda ^3_{27}$ is $\tilde G_2$-isomorphic (and hence $\rho(H)$-isomorphic) to the space $S ^2 _0 (V ^*)$ of traceless quadratic forms on $V$. This isomorphism can be written explicitly as [@Bryant2005 (2.15)] $$i_{\tilde \phi} (\alpha \circ \beta) = \alpha \wedge *_{\tilde \phi} (\beta\wedge *_{\tilde \phi} \tilde \phi) + \beta \wedge *_{\tilde \phi}(\alpha \wedge *_{\tilde \phi} \phi).$$ Now let $\rho(H)$ be a subgroup of $SO(4)_{3,4}\subset \tilde G_2 \subset Gl ({{\mathbb R}}^7)$. Denote by $d_1$ the dimension of the fixed-point subspace of $V$ under the action of $\rho(H)$. Denote by $d_2$ the dimension of the subspace of all $\rho(H)$-invariant quadratic forms on $V$. Then we have $$d_3 (G/H) = d_1 + d _2.
\label{2.3.2}$$ Dimension $d_1$ is already explicit from the embedding $\rho : H \to SO (4)_{4,3}\subset Gl ({{\mathbb R}}^7)$. To compute $d_2$ we use the decomposition $S ^2 (\rho)$ computed in [@VO1988 table 5].
\[Remark.2.3.2\] a) Since $SO(4)_{3,4}$ is also a compact Lie subgroup of $G_2$, all of the homogeneous spaces $G/H$ listed above also admit $G$-invariant $G_2$-structures. Hence the dimension of the space of all $G$-invariant 3-forms on $G/H$ is at least 2.\
b) Some different spaces $G/H$ listed above are diffeomorphic as differentiable manifolds, e.g. $(Sp(2)\times Sp(1)/{{\mathbb Z}}_2)/SO(4)_{3,4}$ (case 1) and $Sp(2)/Sp(1)$ (case 2ci) are diffeomorphic to the standard sphere $S^7$. Other examples are the Wallach spaces in (5ii) with different (k,l). We refer the reader to [@KS1991 p. 466] for a precise formulation, when these Wallach spaces are diffeomorphic.\
c) As a consequence of our classification we get a new proof for a statement in [@Le2006a] that $S^3 \times S^4$ admits no homogeneous $\tilde G_2$-structure. Since $S^3 \times S^4$ is simply connected, by [@Montgomery1950 Theorem A] if $S^3 \times S^4$ admits a transitive action of a group $G$ it admits also a transitive action of a compact Lie subgroup $G' \subset G$. On the other hand $S^3 \times S^4$ is not in our list.\
d) Clearly the dimension of the space of $G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structures on $G/H$ is equal to $d_3(G/H) -1$.
Compact homogeneous manifolds admitting invariant $G_2$-structures
==================================================================
In this section we classify all homogeneous spaces $G/H$ admitting a $G$-invariant $G_2$-structure such that $G$ is a compact Lie group and $H$ is a closed Lie subgroup (not necessary connected) of $G$. Our strategy is similar to that one in the previous section. We also compute the dimension of the space of $G$-invariant $G_2$-structures on $G/H$, see Remark \[Remark.3.3.2\].a.
Reduction to a representation problem
-------------------------------------
We use the same method as in the previous section to classify all pairs $(H\subset G)$ of a compact Lie group $H$ in a compact Lie group $G$ such that $G$ acts effectively on $G/H$ and $G/H$ admits a $G$-invariant $G_2$-structure. First we will classify all pair of the corresponding Lie algebras $({{\mathfrak h}}\subset {{\mathfrak g}})$ such that $\bar \rho ({{\mathfrak h}}) \subset {{\mathfrak g}}_2$. Combining the list of maximal Lie subalgebras in ${{\mathfrak g}}_2$ and the list of Lie compact subalgebras in ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$ in the previous section we get the following list of compact Lie algebras $\bar \rho ({{\mathfrak h}})$ in ${{\mathfrak g}}_2$\
1) $\bar\rho( {{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$;\
2) $\bar\rho({{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathfrak so}}(3)$ with four possible embeddings into ${{\mathfrak g}}_2$. In the first three cases (2a), (2b), (2c) we have $\bar \rho ({{\mathfrak h}})\subset{{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$, see also subsection 3.1. In the last case (2d) we have $\bar \rho({{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathfrak so}}(3)_7$;\
3) $\bar\rho({{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathfrak so}}(3)+ {{\mathbb R}}\subset {{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$,\
4) $\bar\rho( {{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathbb R}}^2 $;\
5) $\bar\rho( {{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathbb R}}^1 = {{\mathfrak so}}(2) $ (there are infinitely many inequivalent embeddings of ${{\mathfrak so}}(2)$ into ${{\mathfrak so}}(4)$)\
6) $\bar\rho({{\mathfrak h}}) = 0 $;\
7) $\bar\rho({{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathfrak g}}_2$;\
8) $\bar \rho({{\mathfrak h}}) = {{\mathfrak su}}(3)$.
The first cases 1-5, except cases (2d), have been analyzed on the algebra level in the previous subsection 3.1. When lifting to the corresponding Lie subgroup we need to check whether the corresponding disconnected Lie subgroup $H$ belongs to $G_2$ but does not belong to $SO(4)_{3,4}$. Further, we notice that any subalgebra ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)$ in ${{\mathfrak su}}(3) \subset {{\mathfrak g}}_2$ is conjugate to ${{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{0,4}\subset {{\mathfrak so}}(4)_{3,4}$ or to ${{\mathfrak so}}(3)_{3,3}$.
\[Proposition.3.2.1\] Suppose that $\hat G/H$ admits a $\hat G$-invariant $G_2$-structure such that $\bar\rho({{\mathfrak h}})$ is one of possibilities 1-5 listed above, except case (2d). Suppose that $\hat G = G ^{sc} \times T ^k$ where $G^{sc}$ is a simply connected semisimple Lie group and $\bar \rho$ is a faithful representation. Then $(H\subset \hat G)$ must be one of the pairs listed in Propositions \[Proposition.2.2.1\], \[Proposition.2.2.3\], \[Proposition.2.2.5\], \[Proposition.2.2.6\], \[Proposition.2.2.7\], \[Proposition.2.2.8\]. Here we make the same assumptions for the cases considered in Propositions \[Proposition.2.2.6\], \[Proposition.2.2.7\] as in the previous section.
Let $H^0$ be the identity connected component of $H$. Since $H^0 \subset SO(4)_{3,4}$ the space $\Lambda ^3 ({{\mathbb R}}^3)$ is invariant under the action of $H^0$ on $\Lambda ^3 ({{\mathbb R}}^ 7)$. Thus the invariance principle implies that $\rho ( H) \subset G_2$, if and only if it belongs to $SO(4)_{3,4} = G_2 \cap (SO (3) \times SO(4))$. This completes the proof of Proposition \[Proposition.3.2.1\].
Let us consider the remaining cases. To handle the possibility (2d), we use our analysis in subsection 2.2. Case (2d) corresponds to case (2ii) with the associated embedding of ${{\mathfrak so}}(3) \to {{\mathfrak so}}(5)$ being a real irreducible representation of ${{\mathfrak so}}(3)$ of dimension 5. Its connected subgroup in $Spin (5) = Sp (2)$ is the subgroup $SU(2)_4$, defined by the irreducible complex representation of $SU(2)$ of dimension 4.
In possibility 6, the argument in the previous section yields that there is no new case.
In possibility 7, taking into account that $\dim {{\mathfrak g}}= 21$, we conclude that ${{\mathfrak g}}= {{\mathfrak so}}(7)$.
In possibility 8, taking into account that $\dim {{\mathfrak g}}= 15$, we conclude that ${{\mathfrak g}}= {{\mathfrak su}}(4)$ or ${{\mathfrak g}}={{\mathfrak g}}_2 + {{\mathbb R}}$.
\[Proposition.3.2.2\] Let $\hat G = G ^{sc} \times T ^k$, where $G^{sc}$ is a connected simply-connected semisimple Lie group. Suppose that $\hat G/H$ admits a $\hat G$-invariant $G_2$-structure such that the action of $\hat G$ is almost effective. Suppose that $(H\subset \hat G)$ is not listed in Proposition \[Proposition.3.2.1\]. Then $(H\subset \hat G)$ is one of the pairs listed below:\
Possibility (2d), $H = SU(2)_4 \subset Sp (2)$. The kernel of the action is ${{\mathcal Z}}(\hat G) \cap H = {{\mathbb Z}}_2$.\
Possibility (7), $H = G_2 \cdot \Gamma \subset Spin (7)$, $\Gamma \subset {{\mathcal Z}}(Spin (7)) = {{\mathbb Z}}_2$. The kernel of the action is $\Gamma$.\
Possibility (8), $SU (3)\cdot \Gamma \subset SU (4) $, $\Gamma \subset {{\mathcal Z}}(SU(4)) = {{\mathbb Z}}_4$. The kernel of the action is $\Gamma$.\
Possibility (8), $SU(3) \cdot \Gamma \subset G_2 \times S^1$, $\Gamma \subset {{\mathcal Z}}(G_2 \times S^1)$. The kernel of the action is $\Gamma$.
It suffices to consider the case of disconnected Lie subgroups $H$. We have examined cases 1-6, except (2d). Applying Schur’s Lemma to possibilities (2d) and (7), we conclude that ${{\mathcal N}}_{Sp (2)} (SU(2)_4)$ is $SU(2)_4$ and ${{\mathcal N}}_{Spin (7)} (G_2) = G_2 \cdot {{\mathbb Z}}_2$. Applying the invariance principle to possibility 8, we conclude that ${{\mathcal N}}_{SU(4)} (SU (3)) = S(U(3) \times U(1))$ and ${{\mathcal N}}_{G_2 \times S^1} (SU(3)) = {{\mathbb Z}}_2 [D_7] \times S^1$. Using the decomposition $S(U(3) \times U(1))= SU(3) \cdot {{\mathcal Z}}_{SU(4)}(SU(3))$, we conclude that the isotropy action of an element $g \in {{\mathcal N}}_{SU(4)} (SU (3)) = S(U(3) \times U(1))$ belongs to $G_2$, iff $g = g_1 \cdot h$ where $g_1 \in SU(3)$ and $h\in {{\mathcal Z}}(SU(4)) = {{\mathbb Z}}_4$. Finally we check easily that $Ad_{D^7}$ does not belongs to $G_2$, since $(S^6/{{\mathbb Z}}_2)\times S^1$ is not orientable. This proves Proposition \[Proposition.3.2.2\].
Classification theorem
----------------------
We summarize our examination in the previous subsection in the following
\[Theorem.3.3.1\] Let $G/H$ be a homogeneous space admitting a $G$-invariant $G_2$-structure. We assume that $G$ is a connected compact Lie group and $G$ acts effectively on $G/H$. Then $G/H$ is one in Theorem \[Theorem.2.3.1\] or one in the following list
[ccc]{} Case & G & H\
(2d) & SO(5) & SO(3)\_5\
7 & Spin (7) & G\_2\
7 & SO (7) & G\_2\
8 & SU(4) & SU(3)\
8 & SU(4)/[[Z]{}]{}\_2 & SU(3)\
8 & PSU(4) & SU(3)\
8 & G\_2 S\^1 & SU(3)
\[Remark.3.3.2\] a) We have the same formula $d_3 = d_1 + d_2$ as in the case of $\tilde G_2$. The dimension of the space of all $G$-invariant $G_2$-structures on $G/H$ is $d_3(G/H) -1$.\
b) Many spaces among those listed in Theorem \[Theorem.3.3.1\] have been known before. Case (2d) has been treated by Bryant in [@Bryant1987] and Bryant and Salamon in [@BS1989]. Case (5ii) has been examined by Cabrera, Monar and Swann [@CMS1994]. In [@FKMS1997] Friedrich and his coauthors classified all simply-connected compact homogeneous nearly parallel $G_2$-manifolds. We remark that a large part of homogeneous spaces listed in Theorem \[Theorem.3.3.1\] are quotients of spaces listed in [@FKMS1997].
Spaces $G/H$ with high rigidity or with low rigidity
====================================================
In this section we consider several examples of spaces $G/H$ with high rigidity or low rigidity. Many of these examples are known, but we provide simpler proofs of some known results based on our classifications. We also present some new results.
Spaces $G/H$ with $d_3 (G/H) = 1$
---------------------------------
Let $G/H$ be one of homogeneous spaces listed in Theorem \[Theorem.2.3.1\] or Theorem \[Theorem.3.3.1\]. Clearly $d_3(G/H) = d_1 + d_2$ is equal 1, if and only if $d_1 = 0$ and $d_2 = 1$, so $G/H$ is in possibility (2d) or possibility (7). In other words invariant positive forms $\phi$ on these spaces are defined uniquely up to rescaling. These spaces are well studied before [@Bryant1987], [@FKMS1997]. They are nearly parallel $G_2$-manifolds, i.e. $$d\phi = \lambda * \phi
\label{4.1.1}$$ for some constant $\lambda \not = 0$. We will give a brief explanation of this fact, which is close to the argument in [@Bryant1987]. It is easy to see that equation (\[4.1.1\]) holds, because $d_3(G/H ) =1$. To prove $\lambda \not = 0$, we observe that $d* \phi = 0$, since there is no $\rho(H)$-invariant 2-form on $V$. On the other hand, by [@AK1975] there is no invariant metric with zero Ricci curvature on $G/H$ [@AK1975]. Hence $\lambda \not = 0$.
Spaces $G/H$ with $d_3(G/H ) = 2$
---------------------------------
They are the spaces in possibilities (1), (2ci) with a nontrivial $\Gamma$, and in possibility (3aiii) listed in subsection 3.1. These spaces present an interesting class, since there are a 1-parameter family of inequivalent $G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structures on $G/H$, and a one-parameter family of inequivalent $G$-invariant $G_2$-structures on $G/H$.
An example of $ \Gamma$ in the possibility (2ci) is the icosahedral rotation group of order 60 which is isomorphic to the alternating group $A_5$. The space is a quotient of a sphere $S^7$ by $\Gamma$.
\[Lemma.4.2.4\] The dimension of the space of invariant 2-forms on $G/H$ with $d_3 = 2$ is less than or equal to 1. Any $G$-invariant 2-form on $G/H$ is closed.
The condition $d_3 = 2$ implies that $d_1 = 0$, since $d_2 \ge d_1 + 1$. Now we use the following decomposition of $G_2$-modules, see e.g. [@Bryant2005] $$\Lambda ^ 2({{\mathbb R}}^ 7 ) ^ * = {{\mathfrak g}}_2 + {{\mathbb R}}^ 7 .$$ Since $\rho(H) \subset G_2$, the above decomposition is invariant under the $\rho(H)$-action. Since $d_1 = 0$, the existence of a $G$-invariant 2-form on $G/H$ is equivalent to the existence of a non-trivial centralizer $c$ of $\rho (H)$ in ${{\mathfrak g}}_2$. Thus either ${{\mathfrak h}}= {{\mathfrak so}}(3) $, or ${{\mathfrak h}}= {{\mathfrak so}}(3) + {{\mathbb R}}$. In the first case, using our classification, we conclude that it is case (2cii) with ${{\mathfrak h}}= {{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{0,4}$. Considering the decomposition of $\Lambda ^2 ({{\mathbb R}}^7) ^*= \Lambda ^2 ({{\mathbb R}}^3 \oplus {{\mathbb R}}^4)^*$ with respect to the representation of ${{\mathfrak h}}={{\mathfrak su}}(2)_{0,4}$, we conclude that there exists a vector in $\Lambda ^2 ({{\mathbb R}}^3)^* = {{\mathbb R}}^3\subset {{\mathbb R}}^7$, which is invariant under the action of $\rho(H)$. This contradicts our remark above that $d_1 = 0$. In the second case, since $rk\, {{\mathfrak h}}= 2$, we conclude that $ c$ lies in the component ${{\mathbb R}}\subset {{\mathfrak h}}$. In fact it is case (3aiii). This proves the first assertion of Lemma \[Lemma.4.2.4\], and it gives rise to a unique (up to rescaling) $G$-invariant 2-form ${{\omega}}$ on $G/H$ as follows. We write $H = H_0 \cdot U(1)$. Let us consider the $U(1)$-fibration $G/H_0 \to G/ (H_0 \cdot U(1))$ whose fiber is $U(1)/ ( U(1) \cap H^0))$. The form ${{\omega}}$ is the curvature of this non-trivial $U(1)$-fibration. Thus ${{\omega}}$ is a representative of a $G$-invariant 2-form which is unique up to rescaling. Since it is closed, Lemma \[Lemma.4.2.4\] follows directly.
\[Theorem.4.2.5\] Let $G/H$ be a compact homogeneous manifold with $d_3(G/H) = 2$.\
a) Any $G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-structure and any $G$-invariant $G_2$-structure on $G/H$ is coclosed.\
b) There exists a unique $G$-invariant nearly parallel $G_2$-structure on $G/H$.
a\) It suffices to prove that $d\psi ^4= 0$, for any $G$-invariant stable 4-form $\psi$. We will show that the pairing of $*_\psi d\psi ^4 $ with any $G$-invariant 2-form ${{\omega}}$ is zero. This pairing is equal to the pairing of $\psi$ and $d{{\omega}}$. By Lemma \[Lemma.4.2.4\] this pairing is zero.
b\) The existence and uniqueness of a $G$-invariant nearly parallel $G_2$-structure on these spaces follows from a computation of the rank of a 4-form $d\phi$, here $\phi$ is a $G$-invariant 3-form on $G/H$, combining with the following observation. For all $G$-invariant 3-forms $\phi$, all 4-forms $d\phi$ are in the same conformal class. To prove this, we use the assertion that the dimension $d^1$ of the space of all 4-forms $d\phi$ is equal to 1, where $\phi$ is a G-invariant 3-form on $G/H$. To see it, we note that $d^1$ is less than or equal to 2. On the other hand, since the restriction of the Cartan form ${{\Omega}}^3$ to $V$: $${{\Omega}}^ 3(X, Y, Z) = \langle X, [ Y, Z] \rangle$$ is not zero on our spaces $G/H$ with $d_3 = 2$, and using $d{{\Omega}}^3 = 0$, we conclude that $d^1 \le 1$. A simple computation shows that $d^1 \not = 0$. Hence $d^ 1 = 1$. Consequently, for all $G$-invariant 3-forms $\phi$, all 4-forms $d\phi$ are in the same conformal class.
\[Remark.4.2.6\] The existence of $G$-invariant nearly parallel $G_2$-structures on spaces $G/H$ with $d_ 3 = 2$ and $\pi_1 (G/H) = 0$ has been established in [@FKMS1997] by a different method. In [@Hitchin2001] Hitchin suggests a variational method to find nearly parallel $G_2$-structures.
\[Example.4.2.9\] We consider case (1), see a detailed description in subsection 3.1. Using a method in [@Bryant1987] and [@Hitchin2000] we explain how to find all $G$-invariant $\tilde G_2$-forms and $G$-invariant $G_2$-forms on $G/H$. Recall that $V = W + W^\perp$. Take an orthogonal basis $(e_1, e_2, e_3)$ in $W ^\perp$. We choose another quaternion basis $e_4, e _5, e _6, e _7 \in W $ with respect to the action of ${{\mathfrak h}}$. Let $e^i$ be the dual basis in $V ^*$. Then the 3-form ${{\omega}}^{123}$ and the 3-form $\phi$ defined in Definition \[Definition.3.1.1\] are generators of our space of $\rho (H)$-invariant 3-forms on $V$. The space of $\rho(H)$-invariant 4-forms on $V$ is generated by $$\psi_1 = {{\omega}}^{4567}, \, \psi _2 = {{\omega}}^{4567} + {{\omega}}^{2367} + {{\omega}}^{2345} + {{\omega}}^{1357}- {{\omega}}^{1346} - {{\omega}}^{2356} -{{\omega}}^{1247}.$$ Any $\rho(H)$-invariant 4-form $\psi(a,b)$ on $V$ is of the form $a\psi_1 + b \psi_2$. We define the associated 2-bilinear form $g_{\psi(a,b)}$ on $ V ^* \otimes V^* $ with value in $[\Lambda ^7 (V ^*)]^2$ by setting [@Hitchin2001 8.4] $$g_{\psi(a,b)}(X^*, Y^*) = (X^* \wedge \psi(a,b))\wedge (Y^* \wedge \psi (a,b))\wedge \psi(a,b).$$ Since this is an invariant metric, and $d _2 = 2$, we calculate easily $$g_{\psi (a,b)} = (a^2 (2a+ 3b) [( e_1) ^2 + (e_2)^2 + ( e _3) ^2] + 3a^3[ (e_4 ) ^2 + ( e_5) ^2 + ( e _6) ^2 + (e _7)) ^2]({{\omega}}^{1234567})^2.$$ Hence $vol\, (\psi(a,b)) = (a) ^{3/2} (2a + 3b) ^{1/4} (3) ^{1/3}{{\omega}}^{1234567}$. Thus $\psi (a,b)$ is a stable 4-form, if and only if $a(2a +3b) \not = 0$. If $(2a +3b)a > 0$ then $*_{\phi(a,b)}\phi(a,b)$ is a $G_2$-form, if $(2a+3b) a < 0$ then $*_{\phi (a,b)}\phi(a,b)$ is a $\tilde G_2$-form.
Spaces with $d_3 (G/H) = 35$
-----------------------------
It is easy to see that $d_3 (G/H) \le 35$, and the equality is attained, if and only if $H$ is trivial. On $G = T^7$ any $G$-invariant $G_2$-structure (or $\tilde G_2$-structure) is torsion-free. Now let us look at the next non-trivial case with $ G = SU(2) \times T^ 4$ or $G= SO(3) \times T^4$.
\[extra\] Let $G$ be $SU(2) \times T^4$ or $SO(3) \times T^4$.\
(i) There is no $G$-invariant nearly $G_2$-structure on $G$.\
(ii) There is no $G$-invariant closed stable 3-form on $G$.\
(ii) The dimension of the space of coclosed $\tilde G_2$-forms as well as the dimension of the space of coclosed $G_2$-forms on $G$ is 19.
\(i) The existence of a nearly $G_2$-structure implies that the associated metric is Einstein. By a theorem due to Alexeevskii and Kimeldeld [@AK1975], the Ricci curvature of the associated metric is positive, which implies that the fundamental group of $G$ is finite. So we obtain a contradiction.
\(ii) Let us choose $e_1,e_2,e_3 \in {{\mathfrak su}}(2)$ such that $[e_1,e_2] = e_2, [e_1,e_3] = -e_3 $ and $[e_2,e_3] = e_1$. Let $e_4,e_5,e_6, e_7 \in lT^4$, the Lie algebra of $T^4$. Suppose that there exists a closed stable 3-form $\phi$. Assume that $\phi = c{{\omega}}_{123} + \phi_0$, where $\phi_0 ( e^{123}) = 0$. Then $\phi _0 = d\psi ^2 + V_1\rfloor {{\omega}}^{4567}$, where $\psi ^2$ is a $G$-invariant 2-form on $G$ and $V_1\in lT^4$. Since $d (e^1 \wedge e^2 ) = 0 = d( e^2 \wedge e^3) = d ( e^3 \wedge e^1)$, we can assume that $\psi ^2 $ has the form $ a_1 e^1 \wedge f^1 + a_2 e^2 \wedge f^2 + a_3 e ^3 \wedge f^3$ where $f^i \in (lT^4) ^*$. Thus $\phi= c{{\omega}}^{123} + a_1 e^2 \wedge e^3 \wedge f^1 + a_2 e^1 \wedge e^2\wedge f^2 + a_3 e^3 \wedge e^1 \wedge f^3 + V_1\rfloor {{\omega}}^{4567}$. Let $V_2 \in lT^4\setminus \{0\}$ such that $f^i (V_2) = 0$ for $i = \overline{1,3}$. If $V_1 = bV_2$, then $rk (\phi) \le 6$, so $\phi$ is not stable. If $V_1$ and $V_2$ are linearly independent, let us consider a space ${{\mathbb R}}^6 \subset {{\mathfrak g}}$ containing $(e_1,e_2, e_3, V_1)$ which is a complement to $V_2$. Let $\theta$ be the 1-form on ${{\mathfrak g}}$ such that $\theta (V_2) = 1$ and $\theta _{|{{\mathbb R}}^6} = 0$. Then $\phi = \theta \wedge \gamma_1 + \gamma _2$, where $\gamma _1\in \Lambda ^2({{\mathbb R}}^6)^* $ has length 1 and $\gamma_2 \in \Lambda ^3 ({{\mathbb R}}^6) ^*$. By [@BV2003 Lemma 2], which reformulates results in [@Westwick1981], $\phi$ is not stable.
\(iii) We set $$\phi _{\pm} = \pm {{\omega}}^{123} + {{\omega}}^{145} +{{\omega}}^{167} + {{\omega}}^{246} - {{\omega}}^{257} - {{\omega}}^{347} -{{\omega}}^{356}.$$ A simple calculation shows that $*_\phi\phi_{\pm} = \pm {{\omega}}^{4567} +d\psi ^3$, where $\psi ^3 = d( {{\omega}}^{167} +
{{\omega}}^{145} -{{\omega}}^{357} + {{\omega}}^{346} - {{\omega}}^{256} -{{\omega}}^{247})$, hence $*_\phi\phi_{\pm}$ is a closed form. Clearly the dimension of the family of coclosed stable forms at $\phi_{\pm}$ is equal to $\dim ( d {{\Omega}}_G ^ 3 ) +5 (=b_4(G))$. Now we compute $$\dim (d ( {{\Omega}}^ 3 _ G ) ) = 35 -\dim \ker d_{| {{\Omega}}^ 3_G} ,$$ $$\dim (\ker d _{| {{\Omega}}^ 3 _G } ) = 5 + \dim ( d ( {{\Omega}}^2 _G)),$$ $$\dim ( d ( {{\Omega}}^ 2_G)) = 21 - \dim \ker d _{| {{\Omega}}^ 2 _G},$$ $$\dim \ker ( d _{|{{\Omega}}^ 2 _G }) = 2 + \dim ( d ( {{\Omega}}^1 _G)) = 5.$$ Thus the dimension of the space of stable 3-forms at $\phi_{\pm}$ is 19. Applying this argument to other stable invariant 3-forms we complete the proof of Proposition \[extra\].
All the spaces considered above admit stable closed 4-forms. Using a method in [@Hitchin2001] we can construct metrics with $Spin (7)$-holonomy or metric with $Spin (4,3)$-holonomy on the product of these spaces with an interval. Hitchin considered only $Spin(7)$-holonomy, but his arguments are applied to the case of $\tilde G_2$-structure and $Spin (3,4)$-holonomy.
[**Acknowledgement.**]{} We thank Sasha Elashivili, Ines Kath and Jiři Vanžura for helpful remarks. We thank the anonymous referees for helpful suggestions and corrections, which improve our note greatly. H.V.L. is supported in part by Grant of ASCR IAA100190701. A part of this paper has been done while H.V.L. was visiting the ASSMS, GCU Lahore-Pakistan, and the University of Toulouse. She thanks these institutions for their hospitality and financial support. M.M. is supported in part by HEC of Pakistan.
[*Note added in proof*]{}. We thank Ines Kath for showing us a paper by F. Reidegeld [@Reidegeld2010], which partially overlaps with our results.
[99999]{} : Structure of homogeneous Riemannian spaces with zero Ricci curvature, Funktional Anal. i Prilozen 9 (1975), N 2, 5-11. , Multisymplectic formes of degree three in dimension seven, Suppl. Rend. Circ. Mat. Palemo, Serie II, Numero 71 (2003), 73-91. : Metric with exceptional holonomy, Ann. of Math. 126(1987), 525-576. : Some remarks on $G_2$-structures, Proc. of Goekova Geometry-Topology Conference 2005, Goekova Geometry-Topology , Goekova 2006. : On the construction of some complete metrics with exceptional holonomy, Duke Math Journal, 58 (1989), N3, 829-850. : Conformally parallel $G_2$-structure on a class of solvmanifolds, Math. Z. 252 (2006), 825-848. : Classification of $G_2$-Structures, J. of London Math. Soc. (2) 53 (1996),n.2, 407-416. : Cohomogeneity one $G_2$-structures, Journal of Geometry and Physics, 44,(2002), 202-220. : Gauge theory in higher dimension, II, arxiv:0902.3239. : The maximal subgroups of classical groups, Tr. Mosk. Mat. Obshch. 1 (1952), 39-166, translated in Amer. Math. Soc. Transl. (2) 6, (1957), 245-378. : On nearly parallel $G_2$-structures, J. of Geometry and Physics, 23 (1997), 259-286. : Superstrings with intrinsic torsion, Phys. Rev. D69, 086002, (2004). : Calibrated geometries, Acta Math.,148, (1982), 47-157. : Differential Geometry, Lie groups Symmetric spaces, Academy Press, (1978). : The geometry of three forms in six and seven dimensions, J. Diff. Geom. 55(2000),547-576. : Stable form and special metrics, Contemp. Math. 288(2001), 70-89. : $SU(3)$-Instantont and $G_2$, $Spin (7)$-Hetoric String Solitons, Comm. Math. Phys. 259, 79-102 (2005). : Some non-diffeomorphic homeomorphic homogeneous 7-manifolds with positive sectional curvature, J.D.G. 33(1991), 465-486. : $G_{2(2)}^*$-structures on pseudo-Riemannian manifolds, J. Geometry and Physics 27 (1998),155-177. : The existence of closed 3-forms of $\tilde G_2$-type on 7-manifolds, arXiv:math/0603182. : Manifolds admitting a $\tilde G_2$-structure, arXiv:0704.0503v1 (the first version). : Manifolds admitting stable forms, CMUC 49 (2008), N1, 101-117. : Simply connected homogeneous spaces, Proc. of AMS, vol.1, N4, (1950), 467-469. : Lectures on Real Semisimple Lie algebras and Their Representations, EMS, 2004. : Über trilineare alternierende Formen in sechs und sieben Veränderlichen und die durch sie definierten geometrischen Gebilde, Dissertation Greiswald, (1907). , Spaces admitting homogeneous $G_2$-structures, D.G.A. 28(2010), 301-312. , Riemannian geometry and holonomy groups, Pitman Research Notes in Mathematics, vol. 201, Longman, Harlow, 1989. : Lie groups and algebraic groups, Moscow, Nauka (1988), English translation in Springer Series in Soviet Mathematics, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1990. : Real trivectors of rank seven, Linear and multilinear algebra, 10, (1981), 183-204
[Address: Mathematical Institute of ASCR, Zitna 25, CZ-11567 Praha 1, email: hvle@math.cas.cz\
and ASSMS, Government College University, Lahore-Pakistan, email:mobeenmunir@gmail.com]{}
[^1]: H.V.L. is partially supported by grant of ASCR Nr IAA100190701 and M.M. is partially supported by HEC of Pakistan
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Native speakers focus of voting rights trial
Posted: July 2, 2014 - 1:03pm
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANCHORAGE — Two Alaska election officials testifying in a Native voting rights trial say they work hard to help Native language speakers, and describe their primary tools as bilingual poll and outreach workers who know the people in their villages.
Becka Baker, election supervisor for the Nome region, testified Tuesday in Anchorage that election personnel do their best in recruiting bilingual outreach workers.
"We sometimes call everybody in a village trying to recruit election workers," she said.
Baker is among four defendants in a federal lawsuit filed by the Native American Rights Fund on behalf of several Native villages and elders, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The plaintiffs say the state has failed to follow the U.S. Voting Rights Act, failed to provide complete translations of voting materials into Native languages.
Plaintiffs say the state lags behind the law for Yup'ik and Gwich'in speakers in three regions.
The state contends its program meets legal requirements, providing sample ballots and oral translations for some Native languages. Witnesses for the state have said it has gone out of its way to consult with tribal councils.
Baker and Growden said they understand the law's requirements and provide oral translations of the most important election material, such as sample ballots, ballot measures and registration information.
Growden also described her inability to get translations into Gwich'in, saying the last time she was able to arrange for translations was in 2008.
She said she contacted the Native Language Center this time around, and a Gwich'in speaker agreed to do the job, then backed out. Growden said the language of the oil-tax referendum on the August ballot was so complicated that the worker gave up.
Growden said she has found someone else but has not heard back from them. | {
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Consequences to water suppliers of collecting rainwater on housing estates.
The collection, storage and use of rainwater from roofs reduce the need for potable water. However, if water suppliers are to decrease their infrastructure costs as well as their operational costs (due to water savings), the rainwater system has to provide most of the time a significant percentage of the water demand. This paper adopts the viewpoint of the water suppliers and investigates how reliable this source of water is in the case of a housing estate, considering WC flushing as the only water demand. A housing estate was modelled and different realistic input scenarios (water demand for WC flushing, storage capacity, roof area, and rainfall) were defined. Three indicators were exhibited. The variability generated by each input on the indicators was evaluated. The indicators were estimated for 63 homogeneously distributed French cities. Among the indicators exhibited in this paper, the most relevant one is the percentage of water supplied from the tank that is secured during 95% of the days of the simulation. The main conclusion is that the optimum way of determining the storage capacity of the rainwater collection system is not the same from the viewpoint of the users than from the viewpoint of the water suppliers. Indeed, water suppliers tend to require bigger tanks in order to take into account the rainwater collection systems in their management plan. | {
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Neato X “Talon” build log
Just before we can go out and fly our beloved drones at the weekend, we wanted to share you the latest build log of the Neato X “Talon”. It is written by DutchWalnut_fpv, who also wrote the Realacc X210 build log. Thanks for it Stef!
Back in September I build the X210 (QAV-X clone) and I really enjoyed flying it! And I still do, it’s my favourite build and it flies perfect. But sometimes you gonna have dreams and plan the next big build. I really enjoy flying, but building quadcopters is one of my favourite and satisfying things to do as a sort of “second hobby”.
I’m gonna use Betaflight for my whole setup. Build a semi KISS before, but this time I decided to go for a Betaflight build. First I needed to plan my parts that goes in the new frame. I pre-ordered a Neato frame. It’s called Neato X “Talon” 5inch with all the extra’s on it.
Parts that I will be using:
First up was to layout my hardware and planning to do my build. There is not much room at all in the Neato X frame. So first up was puzzling it together to see if all components will fit. As I build along, the first issue that I encountered was the camera mount and the skirt. A Foxeer will fit perfectly, but my RunCam Swift mount was too wide. So I needed to sand some of the 3D-printed skirt off to fit the camera. The second issue was the placement of my Racerstar 30Ax4 v2 ESC. I didn’t wanted to place the solder-point on the side of the frame, because there is not enough space to fit and it’s not gonna bee that clean at all.
I mounted the DYS SE 2008 motors first, then I cut the cable sleeve to it’s needed length and pulled it over the wires with the shrink tubes. I wanted the build to be as clean as possible. So the cable sleeves will be a perfect finishing touch.
When all the sleeves were done, I connected the motor cables to the Racerstar ESC. As you can see on the picture it looks really clean.
Next up is the Betaflight F3 flight controller. This little flight controller is perfect for small builds and has everything on it. It’s developed together with BorisB and has an integrated OSD. I don’t need to solder a lot, only the LiPo connection, SBUS receiver, VTX in/out and motor wires.
The Betaflight F3 controller comes with filters, but I really like to use a 25V 1000uF capacitor against voltage spikes and for filtering my video output.
If you see white lines on your screen, be sure to add a capacitor on your LiPo feed.
After soldering it all together, I needed to check if it all fit’s perfectly in the build. Before I proceed any further to solder all the things must fit.
Next up is soldering the RunCam Swift and the Eachine TX526 to the Betaflight FC. I have cut the wires as short as I possible can. I’m using pins for my SBUS connection, because it’s easy to access if I need to clean the quadcopter.
Then it was time for another check-up. I soldered the signal wires from the ESC to the flight controller. To check if everything works, I needed to do a test if it powers up properly. I’m using a DIY smokestopper. The ‘lamp’ works as a circuit breaker. If a voltage spike occurs, I don’t have to unplug my LiPo (you can burn yourself because of the hot cables). So safety first!
How to make a smokestopper:
12V car bulb 5W/25W
XT-60 male connector
XT-60 female connector
Isolation tape
Soldering station
First solder the the ground wires of both XT-60 connectors. Then solder the XT-60 male connector positive wire to the 2 solder points on bottom of the bulb. Lastly solder XT-60 female connector positive wire to the side of the lamp. Put some isolation tape on it. That´s it!
After I plugged in the battery, no white smoke .
Next up was testing my receiver, VTX, camera and finishing my quadcopter. As you can see I have made it again as clean as I possibly can. All the things fits tightly.
The placement of the receiver antennas is not something you see nowadays, but it makes perfectly sense to me. When you fly above yourself (freestyle), the field of my connection is strongest on the bottom of the quadcopter. So I placed them not up, but downwards.
Does it have a negative effect? No! I have field tested it many times and did not get a single RSSI lost from flying low to the ground or up in the sky. The look is also really cool.
Note*: The build has changed in the last month, because I put pagoda antennas on all my builds and on my FatShark HD2. The signal is more stable and the range is better then with the old omnidirectional antennas.
If you have enjoyed reading the build log, follow DutchWalnut_fpv on Instagram, give him a like or a thumbs up!
Related | {
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Ashley Adams – Squirting in Public With Ashley Adams
Ashley Adams is one horny chick. She loves cock, of all shapes and sizes. This week called her up to have some public fun. Her insatiable lust for cock makes her crave cock any where at any time. Ashley Adams got her pussy stretched out in the open for everyone to see. Her and Peter Green fucked in several different locations all around town. She even made her self squirt as cars drove by. Ashley Adams swallowed cock and got fucked, making her cum several times and eventually received a hot load right in her mouth. | {
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Kukla's Korner Hockey
Q. Just comment on Nathan Horton delivering two Game 7 game-winning goals for you.
COACH JULIEN: Well, he certainly has played like a big-game player obviously. Overtime goals and winning goals. And I think for a guy who hasn’t played in the Playoffs for many years, he certainly has kept a lot of energy inside of him and a lot of obviously excitement to go out there and play the way he did.
And we thought it was fitting, not just for him, but for our team. I think this was probably one of our better games that we’ve played as far as there’s no big mistakes that I saw in the game. I thought it was a well-played Game 7.
We had energy. We had confidence. And certainly had some chances earlier on. But their goaltender was extremely good for them and kept them in the game.
But I thought it was a hard-fought series. Tampa Bay certainly deserves a lot of credit. The fact that where they were before this year for the last few seasons and to come back this year and play the way they did, and then push us straight to the limit in the third round of the Playoffs, I think they deserve a lot of credit.
From the ownership down, they’ve obviously done a pretty good job. And they certainly gave us all we could take. So I think even though they lost, I think they need to be congratulated on their season.
Q. Five-on-five play has been your team’s strength, season and Playoffs. When you saw Bergie take the puck around Stamkos and get his feet cut out from under him, did you decide then that it was going to be a five-on-five game right to the end?
COACH JULIEN: I think so. And rightfully so. We didn’t mind that at all. I think what I liked about the refereeing tonight, they let the two teams decide the outcome.
And I think both teams are very disciplined tonight. Even though, you know, we could question that call, it didn’t really matter at that point. It was about staying focused and doing the right thing here.
And, you know, I thought for what this game meant, I thought the referees handled themselves extremely well. I’m not saying that because we won, I’m saying that because even as it was 0-0, I liked the way they were handling it.
Q. You had received some criticism throughout the Playoffs and you couldn’t win the big game and whatever, talk about the feeling for you personally to have this accomplishment, to take this team to the Cup, a team that doesn’t have a true superstar in the sense of the word, and you’ve gotten them, especially in the biggest game, complete focus. Your thoughts on your accomplishment?
COACH JULIEN: To be honest with you, it doesn’t matter. I’ve said that before. It doesn’t matter what’s being said out there. What matters is what we accomplish. What we accomplished as a team and the way we played and the way we won this game is what matters to me. And right now, as you can see, I’m just happy to see those guys smiling in that dressing room.
What I care about is those guys in the dressing room. I don’t really care as far as whether it’s negative, positive. I do my job.
And I’ve said all along, when you take this kind of a job, everybody knows who you are, they know what you do, and you’re going to face criticism. That’s okay, as long as you’re doing the job and you know you’re doing the best you can. That’s what I’m trying to do.
And right now we’re four wins away from winning a Stanley Cup. And we understand what’s at stake here. We understand who we’re playing, a really good team that dominated the whole league this year.
And we’re going to have to play a lot like we did tonight if we want to give ourselves a chance. Right now that’s what matters to me is prepare those guys to face that challenge.
Q. Can you talk about what you spoke to your team in the timeout because obviously you ignited a fire, and a minute or two later, you scored the game’s only goal.
COACH JULIEN: Basically we had an icing, and the guys on the ice weren’t necessarily the guys I would want against the line that they put out there. So we know that they had set faceoff plays, and i made sure everybody knew what their role was on that and that we had to get the puck out and got a good change.
So we had to stay focused. After that, we had to make sure when we scored that goal not to panic, stay the course. And I thought we did a good job of that tonight. In the last five minutes, like I said, we just kept getting the puck back out and we kept putting it in deep. And our guys really were extremely focused and really disciplined tonight.
And as I said, I couldn’t have asked for a better game from our team in Game 7.
Q. Purcell had quality scoring chance shortly after the goal there. How important was Boychuk’s play?
COACH JULIEN: Well, it was, you know, a big second effort. That’s what we needed from our guys tonight. And he’s a guy that the game before got criticized for being on the ice for all five goals, but he is certainly one of those guys that comes to play and plays hard every night.
As I mentioned this morning, I wasn’t going to talk anything that was negative about our hockey club or about our players, and in return, you see the kind of game that this guy gave us tonight.
He’s very good for us, and it’s nice to see those guys redeem themselves. And our message to him this morning was that he had to park the stuff that happened in the past, and he had to think about what he had to do tonight. And he did a great job of that.
Q. On the winning goal, Ference was saying that’s a play that they’ve talked about a lot. Can you just explain how you coached them and did you see that play developing as it happened?
COACH JULIEN: Yeah, I think it was one of those things, you know, where they call it the 1-3-1. I would rather call it the left wing lock. Scotty Bowman is the one that started that.
I like the way that our guys made some decisions tonight as far as knowing when to rim it in and sometimes even to pass it, if we had guys going with speed.
So we used different entries tonight, which was to obviously keep them on their heels. And I think that was a great play. We walked the puck in, and obviously they made a great play of hanging on to it.
And Horts went to the net. When you’ve got a guy like Dave Krejci who has the puck, he normally finds those guys and made a great pass to Horts.
But we drove the net, we did what we were supposed to do, and we were patient with that puck. So it wasn’t always about rimming the puck in. And our guys chose a real good time here to make that pass and walk in.
Q. Z and Lucic were talking in the dressing room about the persistence and the character of the team helps them in a game where Roloson is stopping everything in sight in the second period. Could you address what you think that was all about in terms of the persistence and how that helped tonight?
COACH JULIEN: First of all, we knew we had to play a 60-minute game tonight. There couldn’t be a ten-minute lapse in our game. In Game 7, you’ve got to be so focused.
Our guys did a great job. I thought after 40 minutes and the amount of shots we had and some of the scoring chances we had, I know from the bench there, the one time it hit him in the mask, next time it hit him in the shoulder. We had to stay with it.
And I think what the Z and Lucic were talking about is that even after two periods, the guys didn’t get discouraged. They just had to keep going.
When I walked into the room before that third period, I really didn’t have much to say because I could hear what they were talking about, and they were bang on. The message was clear. It was direct. It was what you wanted to hear from your players.
So I came in just said a couple of things and basically said we shouldn’t have to change anything. We just gotta stick with it and eventually we get rewarded. And that’s what happened.
But the guys had the right mindset tonight. And they stuck with it. And we found a way to get that goal.
Q. Timmy’s had a long and winding career since his 15 years ago up in Vermont. Could you talk about why this is such a rewarding and fulfilling accomplishment for him?
But one thing I can say, he’s getting better. So you know, sometimes we talk about aging, and basically in his case, he’s getting better. And it’s an area where I don’t think Timmy’s had the opportunity to go to. And it means a lot to him.
And we played extremely well in front of him, but he still had to make some good saves and some important saves, and he made those. And our goal tonight was not to just rely on Timmy to win us a game. We had to do it as a team. And I think our guys responded well.
Timmy made the saves he had to make, and it’s very fitting for him to get a shutout in a game like that, because he’s been good for us all year. And he’s deserving of all the good things that are happening to him.
Q. You talk about how versatile your offense was, mixing it up. Seemed like the defense was just as versatile, really taking the body early and then partitioning off the ice. Later on, taking them out of the speed game. Was that part of the game plan or did that evolve as the game went along?
COACH JULIEN: No, that was part of the game plan. I think, you know, we’ve talked about that most of the series. Now, whether it happened all the time or not, that’s another issue.
But the one thing we wanted to do was really take away their time and space. And we always encouraged our Ds to close the gap. If we closed the gap, we took away some of their space. And by closing the gap, we also were in pretty good position to throw our body around.
But our guys battled hard tonight. I thought our forwards did a great job at directing them in the area that we wanted to direct them. And it was really, like I said earlier, it was a really good team effort.
And we’re a team that can play physical, and we were tonight. But we were disciplined in our physical play. And that was important as well.
Q. I’m wondering if there’s some personal validation for you staying the course and weathering some tough media storms throughout this season.
COACH JULIEN: I don’t know if you were here earlier, but I answered that question. And to me, staying the course is what I’m going to do right until the end. It doesn’t really matter. I’ve said that before. What matters to me is what’s inside that dressing room. And I care about those guys, and I care about the success. And inside that dressing room is important and I care about our fans.
So our fans deserve what’s happening right now, and hopefully we can get them better than what we did tonight. And that’s come back with a Cup. So that’s the important thing. And repeating myself.
When you’re in this job, you gotta be ready to take criticism. And as much as I’m getting criticism, I’m also getting a lot of pats on the back from other people and that’s important. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} | 0.000092 |
# opengl-client-for-library-in-c-subprocess.pkg
#
# This file implements the Mythryl side
# of the Mythryl <-> C interface
# layer for the Mythryl Opengl-in-subprocess
# Opengl binding. The C side is implemented by
#
# src/opt/opengl/c/in-sub/mythryl-opengl-library-in-c-subprocess.c
#
# Our alternative Opengl-in-main-process implementation is in
#
# src/opt/opengl/src/opengl-client-for-library-in-main-process.pkg
# Compiled by:
# src/lib/std/standard.lib
package opengl_client_for_library_in_c_subprocess
=
opengl_client_g( # opengl_client_g is from src/opt/opengl/src/opengl-client-g.pkg
opengl_client_driver_for_library_in_c_subprocess # opengl_client_driver_for_library_in_c_subprocess is from src/opt/opengl/src/opengl-client-driver-for-library-in-c-subprocess.pkg
);
| {
"pile_set_name": "Github"
} | 0 |
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